The boy got a new ride

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,275]

My son turned in the keys to his Audi A4 Cabriolet for a 2024 Rubicon 4xe, this is one NICE jeep!

 

Just Empty Every Pocket!

[wh500special 2,179]

Nice looking machine!

 

Make sure he files for the credit at tax time.   I think the Wrangler qualifies for a sizable one. 
 

Plug In Hybrids really seem like a great middleground.  It’s surprising there aren’t more choices out there. 
 

Enjoy it!

 

Steve

[adsm08 2,050]

6 minutes ago, wh500special said:

Nice looking machine!

 

Make sure he files for the credit at tax time.   I think the Wrangler qualifies for a sizable one. 
 

Plug In Hybrids really seem like a great middleground.  It’s surprising there aren’t more choices out there. 
 

Enjoy it!

 

Steve

 

IMO, as a certified EV tech, plug-ins are the best of both worlds in terms of what is available right now. Most of the ones that I am familiar with have a pretty small electric only range though.

 

The Ford plug-ins, which are the ones I know the best, only have about a 14-mile electric-only range. Looks like the 4xe can go about 21.

 

From a practical point of view I'd rather see the original Wrangler Hybrid proto-type built. It's arrangement looked more like the i3-Rex, where it was basically a fully electric vehicle with a little one-cylinder engine on board to run a generator to power the EV power train. This is essentially a scaled-down version of the powertrain used by diesel locomotives that allows CSX to claim "one ton of freight moved one mile on one gallon of fuel".

 

[Pullstart 62,850]

Wow!  $17,000!  (off) 

 

Congrats!

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,275]

He’s using it to commute to work, 35 miles each way. First week of ownership, he’s getting 34.2 mpg in hybrid mode, not too bad for driving a door down the road. Comes home at night, plugs in his level 1 charger, and the next day he’s full of electrons 

[953 nut 55,218]

Somehow an off road vehicle with an electrical cord connected to it seem like an oxymoron.              Looks good and the fuel mileage is impressive.

$ 17,000 OFF, last three new trucks I bought were all under $ 17,000..............................of course it has been a while since I bought a new truck.    

Hybrids are a great concept but there are so many extra parts and electronic components I would have to opt for the BEST EXTENDED bumper to bumper warranty. The price of repairs on conventional vehicles is getting outrageous, I can't imagine what it could be for something that complex.

[adsm08 2,050]

54 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

Hybrids are a great concept but there are so many extra parts and electronic components I would have to opt for the BEST EXTENDED bumper to bumper warranty. The price of repairs on conventional vehicles is getting outrageous, I can't imagine what it could be for something that complex.

 

I don't know about Sheep, but FoMoCo's hybrid component warranty is 10 years/100K miles.

[peter lena 8,625]

@nylyon  nice ! would  not hesitate on  , planning a  lubrication based body panel / seam , enhancement ! get after it before it starts . especially lower cab seam mounting , all related lines under cab /  engine area .   go oily , pete

[squonk 41,100]

From what I'm seeing online from a couple of reputable repair shops anything 2015 and newer is a roll of the dice. Direct injection is a killer on engines and every year more and more computers (modules) are added. When they fail one effects the other. One shop south of me had a Buick towed in with a no start. The rear differential module was shorted (as in rotted away)  bringing down the entire bus network. Good luck! 

[adsm08 2,050]

59 minutes ago, squonk said:

From what I'm seeing online from a couple of reputable repair shops anything 2015 and newer is a roll of the dice. Direct injection is a killer on engines and every year more and more computers (modules) are added. When they fail one effects the other. One shop south of me had a Buick towed in with a no start. The rear differential module was shorted (as in rotted away)  bringing down the entire bus network. Good luck! 

 

Last year I worked on a 15 F-150. It came in for intermittent "no key detected" message on the dash, an airbag light, driver's window wouldn't work at times, and BLIS malfunction warnings. It was a leaky tail light.

 

The blind-spot monitoring radar modules are mounted inside the tail lights. When the light housing took on water that module got wet and crashed it's network.

 

 

Direct injection isn't so bad, but it does require some extra up-keep.

Edited September 8 by adsm08

[squonk 41,100]

1 hour ago, adsm08 said:

 

 

 

 

Direct injection isn't so bad, but it does require some extra up-keep.

Like changing the oil every 3000 miles as opposed to10,000 recommended interval. Clogged PCV systems that over pressurize the crankcase and blow out rear main seals. Happened to my son 3 years ago on a sub zero day. 8 grand for a new engine.

[adsm08 2,050]

48 minutes ago, squonk said:

Like changing the oil every 3000 miles as opposed to10,000 recommended interval. Clogged PCV systems that over pressurize the crankcase and blow out rear main seals. Happened to my son 3 years ago on a sub zero day. 8 grand for a new engine.

 

5000 miles should be sufficient. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING should be going 10K miles between oil changes, I do not care what the manufacturer's recommended interval is.

 

And from a purely mechanical perspective I fail to see how a direct injection system is going to cause the PCV to clog any differently than a ported system would. In fact I suspect a ported system may be worse. Most of the tarry carbon deposits found in the intake system of a gas engine are from fuel that evaporated and then re-condensed inside the intake system. Ostensibly this should happen less than in a DI engine. The big disadvantage is no fuel hitting the back of the intake valves to mitigate carbon deposition there.

 

A PCV system that is constantly sucking filth from a crankcase that has an over-extended oil change interval will certainly clog faster though.

[squonk 41,100]

Detergents in fuel are not being sprayed onto the back of the intake valves in direct injected engines. Fuel injection cleaner added to gas will not clean valves either. Low tension rings used on the newer engines compounds the PCV issues.

[adsm08 2,050]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

Detergents in fuel are not being sprayed onto the back of the intake valves in direct injected engines. 

 

Which is why induction cleanings are more important in DI engines.

 

Quote

Low tension rings used on the newer engines compounds the PCV issues.

 

Not strictly speaking a DI vs PFI issue.

[wh500special 2,179]

2 hours ago, adsm08 said:

 

5000 miles should be sufficient. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING should be going 10K miles between oil changes, I do not care what the manufacturer's recommended interval is.

 

 

Uh oh. 
 

I’ve been doing the 10000 mile oil change interval in my cars since 2013 when I bought my diesel VW.  85k on that before VW bought it back, 110k on my first Ridgeline at trade-in time, 175k and counting on my Odyssey, and 40k on my current Ridgeline. 
 

My 2010 Ford Edge asks for 5k intervals, which is a bummer in comparison.  I’d bet it would be ok to stretch them a bit since it gets synthetic these days.    
 

I don’t plan to ever send the oil in for analysis.  It still seems as slippery when it comes out as when it goes in.  There isn’t a lot of shearing action in an engine compared to, say, a gearbox so oil can hold up pretty well for a prolonged period.  We rarely do short trips so everything gets warmed up and the relative hours on the engine are low compared to an in-town grocery getter. 
 

I pretty much follow whatever a manufacturer recommends as they should know the machine and its needs and have to support the product through the warranty period which can be quite long these days.  They test these things.  
 

True, they don’t want the car to last forever so you’ll buy a new one, but the people buying new cars are generally the type who regularly replace them with more new cars. That, and destruction of the car due to accidents mean there isn’t much need to shorten their lifecycle by implementing extended maintenance intervals as is commonly thought. 
 

I’ve no idea how having a PHEV affects the oil change interval.  Less ON time for

the engine could make them less frequent, but increased startup wear and perhaps tendency not to reach operating temperature could shorten them.  Makes

me wonder. 
 

Steve

[adsm08 2,050]

20 hours ago, wh500special said:

I pretty much follow whatever a manufacturer recommends as they should know the machine and its needs and have to support the product through the warranty period which can be quite long these days.  They test these things.  
 

 

This is the problem right here. The different manufacturers have all gotten pretty on par with reliability, and so the marketing war now is to make the car with the lowest cost of ownership. So basically they sit down and figure out what the bare minimum is to get the thing through warranty, and maybe a little past, and not really any more than a few thousand miles past where the average new car buyer trades it in.

 

This is why we have transmissions that fail catastrophically at 90K miles with 125K mile fluid change intervals and engines that develop oil consumption issues around 85-100K.