Spares for a Hemi?

[crossed-up]

In preparation for my Pyrenees trip in August I have been gathering some basic spares to take along 'just in case'. . I have been through most of the Jeep (an '05 WK Hemi with 78000 miles on it) over the last few months and happy that it is now in pretty fine fettle in terms general maintenance and normal service/wear items having replaced;

Front suspension joints, lower arms, ARB mounts, hubs/bearings.
Front shocks.
Front diff mounts.
Brakes - disks/pads/shoes all round + fluid change.
Engine and drivetrain fluids and filters etc.
New battery.
Wheels and tyres.

I'm not expecting any real issues and I will have done at least another full service on it before leaving. But I'm now thinking along the lines of mitigating any minor engine issues that are an inconvenience if you have spares, but a show stopping end of the trip if you don't. So apart from the usual top-up fluids and general emergency bits and bobs, I will be taking:

A coil pack + pair of the longest HT leads.
A crank sensor.
Drive belt.
Couple of spare plugs.

Anyone know of any specific issues with the Hemi that needs specific items/spares to deal with? The water pump was the only other thing I can think of potentially causing a problem that could be easily fixed if I carried a spare. Hemi's aren't exactly plentiful throughout Europe, so even a fairly minor problem can turn in to a big one if parts are needed.

 

[comptiger5000]

I'd try to scope out just how bad parts availability might be in a little more detail (what stores / dealers are in the areas you'll be in, do the stock parts for it, etc.) If it looks like you'd be able to get most stuff in a day or so, I wouldn't be too worried about carrying lots of spares. If it looks like it'll be really tough or a long wait for parts, I'd say anything that's cheap and you have space for should be on the spares list. So things like a spare TPS, maybe a water pump, spare idler pulleys if there's any in the belt system, maybe spare front axle shafts if you plan on pushing it a bit in the dirt.

 

[SSF556]

I would cruise this website and see if there are any common Hemi issues...most have been addressed here.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f67/

 

[1stDeuce]

I'll put out the opposite view from Comptiger5000...

You should be able to get parts just about anywhere you're going. (Fiat is French, right?) Worst case, you can have parts purchased here and shipped to you, but WK's were sold in France and Spain. I would keep your spare parts list very short, and more importantly, compact. Front axle shafts are OUT. I've never heard of them just breaking on a mostly stock WK, and even if you tear a boot, it'll go another 10k miles before it really causes a failure of the shaft.

Here's my list of spare parts I carry these days: Serp Belt. Spare fuses and a relay. A bit of wire. Tire plug kit and small compressor. Reasonable tool kit.
That's it.

The serp belt I carry is the used one from the last replacement. I zip tie it under the hood because if the new one should fail, it'll be sudden, and the vehicle will be un-driveable, since the water pump runs off it. In more than 600k miles of driving, I've never needed a belt, but the penalty for having it is nil, and not having it when I need it means I'm walking.

If your spark plugs are good now, you won't be touching them on the trip. Even if one should somehow fail, the engine will run on 7 cylinders until you can get one. Same for coil pack. (I believe it's coil on plug?) Tie rods, ball joints, u-joints, all should be checked out, but they're not going to fail in under 10k miles due to use or wear. I will suggest that if you have a higher mileage WK, you might check out the wheel bearings, but if they're tight and not making noise, I wouldn't replace them, since I've not ever had one fail suddenly.

IMO, the extra weight of carrying too much stuff is a far bigger concern to me than trying to be prepared for any sort of unlikely failure that I can come up with.

It's your trip, so you should do what you feel comfortable with. If that means you take way too much stuff, and need none of it, so be it. You will build confidence in your vehicle and probably whittle it down some for the next trip.

Hope you have a great trip!!
Chris

 

[comptiger5000]

I would carry the plugs and coil pack, as running on 7 cylinders is doing no favors to anything if you have a failure. If you don't unplug the injector on the dead cylinder, you're killing the rings by washing them with unburned fuel, and the unburned fuel can cause the cat to overheat and melt down too. And even if you do unplug that injector, you're limited to very light throttle to avoid the thing shaking itself to pieces, so it's not exactly a viable limp-home method.

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks for the input guys.

I have done quite bit of research already on the other Jeep forums on the Hemi and by all accounts there is nothing particularly to worry about, so I was only really concerned with the usual sensors and the like that can cripple a modern engine. If the Jeep was a few years younger, or if I knew more of its history I wouldn't even be bothering too much about it.

Thanks for mentioning the TPS Comptiger, I had forgoton about the drive-by-wire throttle! That may be something to check out.

Driving back from Spain to the UK on 7 cylinders is a great example of the sort of thing I was aiming guard against by carrying a few choice spares and my main concern was having to wait for parts that I could easily tuck away and take with me, especially as August is when mainland Europe, particularly Italy, shuts down for summer holidays. The Hemi does run twin coils and plugs per cylinder so it's very unlikely that you will loose a cylinder completely, and if you did the ECU also shuts down the injector to prevent damage. I'd still rather avoid it though for the sake of a coil pack - which I have had experience of failing on other vehicles.

Regarding WK parts in general in Europe, yes the WK's (WH in Euro spec) are quite numerous throughout mainland Europe the UK and they were actually built in Austria, but almost all are CRD's not Hemi's - something like 70% of cars sold in Spain and France are diesels. So anything Hemi specific tends to be problematic.

You can get most service items (brakes and air/oil filters etc), and common suspension wear items from motor factors, but anything else has to be ordered from specialists, the US or through the dealer. Fiat Chrysler have centralised all their spares in Italy, which is fine in theory for us in Europe but it can take a week or more to get stuff through the local dealers. Basically they carry very little stock, especially for 'oddball' models, which are always the ones I seem to like and have! My experience of getting FC parts (for the Crossfire, ZG, Commander and the Hemi) through the local dealer has been mixed - they don't even carry service items like transmission filters, and the parts I ordered for the Crossfire just never arrived at all after a month of waiting, and they seemed to have no way of finding out what the order status was other than 'on back order'. You also have to pay upfront.

Like I said, I am fine with all the running gear and service items, as I have either already replaced them or at least checked them, and I generally keep on top of things. I gained much more confidence in the Jeep's reliability after last October's trip to Mull, where it got a good shakedown being driven hard four/five up full of tools and gear, with a 500 mile drive to and from the island. And since then its been a reliable DD. The only issue recently was the front diff bushes collapsing and an oil leak from the flexible transmission lines. I've sorted the bushes, which was also an opportunity to checkout the front driveshafts and CV joints and wheel bearings, but I do still need to sort the oil leak. I will also be putting some new uprated shocks on the rear at some point before the trip as we were hitting the bump stops regularly on Mull.

We'll be travelling as light as possible, three up, with no roof rack or other appendages as I plan on getting everything stowed in the back around a lightweight single draw system. Most of the weight will be from camping kit, some photo gear, a 20l jerry can of fuel, a pair of waffle boards (14Kg), a trolley jack, and a personal clothing bag each. There is also some added weight from the full length skid plates. It would be interesting to take it down to the weigh bridge at some point.

Hopefully we will be organised enough to maintain a thread in the 'In progress' section nearer the time.

 

[Jim K in PA]

The only chronic failure point on our 2007 Hemi power XK has been the starter. We are on our third in 140k miles.

If you are taking parts, make sure you have the tools to change them.

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks Jim, I do believe that the starter was changed by the previous owner, but not sure exactly when. Were there any warning signs? I believe that some people have had trouble with the starter loom too.

And yes, I will have plenty of tools and I've been taking note of what I've used on various jobs to make sure I don't miss out on any odd ball spanner or socket sizes. The WK seems to use all the sizes between the spanners and sockets I normally use on my other vehicles!

 

[Jim K in PA]

There is, but not much, and difficult to describe. On the XK, the left pre-cat is right next to the starter. The starter is tiny, and essentially gets cooked by the cat. The Bendix unit starts to hang up and I can hear the slower disengagement of the starter gear from the ring gear. I know I have a couple of months after that.

The shop I use for all my starter/alternator work will NOT rebuild the little hemi starters. They only sell new replacements. He said there is little useable left in them when they fail.

I don't know if the WK has a different exhaust routing or better heat shielding of the starter.

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks for the extra info Jim I will keep a watch on it, and keep an eye out for new one too. I am pretty sure (from working on both) that the exhaust routing etc, is identical between the XK and WK. When I am next underneath I may investigate some shielding.

 

[Lavern23]

You should be good unless you drop a valve seat. I dropped one. At 48k and another at 211k. The first motor Chrysler took care of and I had to cover the next.