If you have been reading some of my recent posts, you are probably aware that I have been talking about some of my exploits and experiences after being assigned to the JITC at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. My story today centers around a subject that I have written about a few times in the past. You may even remember reading about some of those stories such as an ill-fated camping trip that occurred at Riggs Flat Lake located along the top of the Pinaleno Mountains near Safford, Arizona. You may even remember a more recent story about that problematic Tempo from hell, as I liked to call it. That car gave me nothing but consternation and pain. Actually, it gave my wife consternation and pain. Cuz that was actually her car. My car was a Jeep Wrangler. My story today actually deals with my Jeep Wrangler rather than that problematic Ford Tempo. I never had issues with that Jeep Wrangler. Well, sure. I did have an issue with a dead battery once. And here’s the thing with the battery: I needed to get the battery and the charging system tested before I started replacing parts, so I did the next best thing. The Jeep had a manual transmission. All I needed to do was park it in low gear on a slope. Sloping inclined parking was not hard to find in Arizona, not even in my driveway. Thus, all I had to do was to put the Jeep in neutral and give it a little push, hop in, turn the key in the ignition, push in the clutch and shift the low gear, and then let out the clutch, which would start the engine. That technique worked like a charm over the weekend after I discovered the dead battery until I was able to go to AutoZone to get the battery and the charging system tested. After I learned that my problem was limited to a dead battery, I replaced the dead battery. Problem fixed. However, the catalytic converter was a more complex issue. Yes, I had an issue with a failed catalytic converter. I got a manufacturer’s recall notice on that catalytic converter. As a result, I got it replaced absolutely free-to-me when I took it in to the local Jeep dealer in Sierra Vista, so the problem was solved. Or so I thought. However, two years later, my Jeep started sounding like I had installed hot rod glass pack mufflers in it every time I started the damn thing or when I let off the gas to downshift or come to a stop. The exhaust would reverberate but not quite backfire. I thought, “what the hell? I had that shit fixed.” I started to second-guess the repair job that the mechanics did at the Sierra Vista Jeep dealer. Well, I didn’t do anything about it. I just lived with the noise. It didn’t really interfere with anything I did or use the Jeep for, and it didn’t affect the gas mileage that I was getting. As a result, I soon forgot about the problem. However, problems like that usually just don’t go away. Problems like that usually come back to bite you in the ass. And they usually come back to bite you when you least expect them to. Yep. It’s sad but true. This little problem was no different. Thus, my cool glass pack muffler sounding baffle effect in the exhaust, that I thought was cool, would soon rear its ugly head. After I moved to California to accept a position with a company as a software test engineer, I had to get my vehicle smog tested. Naturally, the Jeep failed the smog test due to the exhaust emissions. As a result, I took the Jeep over to a muffler shop to get it fixed. After an inspection of the exhaust system, the technician informed me that the catalytic converter had failed and that he was required by federal law to notify me that my catalytic converter was covered under my original vehicle warranty and that my original Jeep dealer had to fix it. I showed him the paperwork I had from when I had the catalytic converter replaced the first time. He replied, “either they sold you a lemon catalytic converter or they never replaced the first one.” I thought, “it was very likely that they never replaced the first catalytic converter. The Jeep dealer in Sierra Vista was known for being rather shady.” As a result, I took my Jeep to a Jeep dealer in San Jose and showed them the paperwork where I had the catalytic converter replaced under a recall the first time, and I showed them the failed smog test and the inspection report from the muffler shop. They replaced my catalytic converter absolutely free-to-me for the second time, or was it? Did my catalytic converter get replaced twice? Only God knows, and he was keeping his mouth shut. But, other than losing some time while my Jeep was in the dealership (both times) getting the catalytic converter replaced, I experienced no exercises in futility.
by 
by 