gautam

I agree with niku on this- there is no way that this, or any other SUV can be used for off-road driving. Apart from the low ground clearance, it does not have a low-range gear set, and lockable diffs, which are minimum requirements for any off-road vehicle. You also cannot disable the ABS brakes, which means that you will effectively have almost no brakes on loose surfaces. What you need is a vehicle with a flexible step-ladder chassis to allow the suspensions to keep the wheels on the ground. No SUV can do this, so I would definitely not use this Jeep for off road driving. You also need traction control, and although it might be available on this Jeep, it will be based on the ABS brake system, which means it will only work for about thirty seconds or so. If you want to go off-roading, you will be much happier with a diesel Toyota Land Cruiser truck, since it already has all the qualities you need to have in a proper off-road vehicle. Jeeps are at best expensive soft-roaders, and I fear you will be making a very expensive mistake if you take this vehicle off-road.

Hi decosta, The symptoms you describe are related to the quality of the power steering fluid, and possible damage to the pump caused be dirty fluid. Because of the small volume of fluid in the steering system, the deposists that form as a reult of the the degradation of the fluid have nowhere to go, but into seals, valves, and the pressure regulator in the system. The additives in power steering fluid break down after a few years, meaning that the fuid is no longer able to lubricate the pump and steering rack, which is why it gets harder to turn as the system heats up, because the moving parts expand, and the fluid cannot lubricate them because the additives in the fluid no longer work. The whining noise could be from damage caused to the pump due to poor lubrication, or fluid being forced through small passages that are partially clogged by sludge in the fluid. My guess would be that the pump is already damaged, but it may be possible to save the pump by doing the following: 1.) Add about a cup full of engine flush to the power steering system, and allow the pump to circulate the old fluid (with the engine flush added) for about thirty minutes or so. Turn the steering from side to side every few minutes to allow the engine flush to dissolve the sludge in the system. 2.) After about thirty minutes, let the system cool down, and drain the fluid from the reservoir. Add new fluid of the correct grade and type, and let the system run for a few minutes. 3.) Drain the fluid again, and repeat. You may have to drain and refill the reservoir several times until all the old fluid has been replaced, but this should solve the problem. If the pump remains noisy with new fluid, it is damaged, and you will have to replace it unfortunately. Hope this helps.

Hi Jeh, Both 0W and 5W are synthetic oils. 10W is a blend of synthetic and mineral oil also called as semi-synthetic. I must perhaps mention that by "synthetic", I mean that the oil does not contain crude oil pumped from the ground. Instead, it is made condensing hydro-carbon rich gasses like methane, carbon monoxide and others, depending on the characteristics the manufacturer wants the final product to have. Synthetic oil also contains additives like detergents, anti-foaming agents, corrosion inhibitors, and friction modifiers, but because synthetic oil does not react to oxygen as much as mineral oil does, the additives last longer, hence the longer oil change intervals on engines that run on synthetic oil. I hope that explains it a little better.

Hi, Interesting topic, and in our hot climate in the UAE, I would go for a full synthetic oil every time. However, some synthetic formulations are not miscible with mineral oil (or other types of synthetic oil), so make sure the label says it is miscible with mineral oil. The problem involves the raw materials the synthetic oil is made from. As a general rule, synthetics that are condensed out of methane and carbon monoxide are safe to use, since they can be mixed with almost any other oil, but some newer formulations don't mix with anything, which means that you will end up with something that looks like Jello, which will destroy your engine. Synthetic oil has the advantage that all the molecules are exactly the same size, which means that in practice, all the valleys and peaks (known as asperities) in the wear surfaces in your engine hold more oil. Thus, your piston rings have a bigger supply of oil, and since all the molecules are the same size, the entire cylinder wall surface area receives up to twice the amount of lubrication a mineral oil can supply. In addition, synthetic oil is much more thermally stable than any mineral oil. All this means is the the viscosity of the oil, which is the oil's resisance to flow, is more uniform during the entire temperature range of the engine. I am not too sure about all the available brands of oil in the UAE, but any oil that carries both the ASE, and European Auto Makers' Association seal of approval will work- provided it states on the label that it can be mixed with other oils.