Problem with vehicle purchased from Westbury JEEP, Long Island
Thread Starter
JK Newbie
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
From: Long Island, New York
Problem with vehicle purchased from Westbury JEEP, Long Island
Long story short, 3 days ago I traded in my 07 Wrangler 2dr X for an 09 Sahara Unlimited 4dr with 28,6xx Miles on it and picked it up 2 days ago, Monday afternoon. The Sahara was Certified/Pre-Owned, so I expected little to no defects with the truck.
Fast forward to yesterday afternoon, driving towards my friends house with with another buddy riding with me. Put the windows down, heard a slight grinding sound, like the pads were slightly rubbing the discs while driving. Did not think of it at all as any problem?... 5 minutes go by, and we're at a red light. Light turns green and I accelerate. I go NOWHERE. The truck is at an absolute stand still, and I'm wondering WTH can this be, a large pothole I'm stuck in or something? I proceed to put the truck into neutral (Truck is auto, btw) then put it back into drive and wait a second until I give it gas again. This time, the truck jerks as if I just got rear ended by a small car going very slow and next thing I know, I'm rolling on the road with my brakes NOT WORKING. The pedal went all the way back, and it BARELY stopped the jeep. I pull into a parking lot directly to my left and park the truck, get out and realize the lower right passenger side tire is going flat as well. What could this be? I look under the truck and the calipers/pads are IN THE WHEEL WELL wedged somehow in between the shocks and wheel well I believe.
From there, got the jeep towed to the service/parts location. Waiting for a phone call this morning. Question is though, can I turn this into a legal thing? I mean, this truck wasn't even in my possession for more than 35 hours when this happend and I thought it was Certified/Pre-Owned, meaning 125 pt. check and inspection!?!?!? I was on the highway 10 minutes before this happend, and my brakes could have failed and tire could have gone flat there. It was not a pleasent experience.
Thoughts?
Fast forward to yesterday afternoon, driving towards my friends house with with another buddy riding with me. Put the windows down, heard a slight grinding sound, like the pads were slightly rubbing the discs while driving. Did not think of it at all as any problem?... 5 minutes go by, and we're at a red light. Light turns green and I accelerate. I go NOWHERE. The truck is at an absolute stand still, and I'm wondering WTH can this be, a large pothole I'm stuck in or something? I proceed to put the truck into neutral (Truck is auto, btw) then put it back into drive and wait a second until I give it gas again. This time, the truck jerks as if I just got rear ended by a small car going very slow and next thing I know, I'm rolling on the road with my brakes NOT WORKING. The pedal went all the way back, and it BARELY stopped the jeep. I pull into a parking lot directly to my left and park the truck, get out and realize the lower right passenger side tire is going flat as well. What could this be? I look under the truck and the calipers/pads are IN THE WHEEL WELL wedged somehow in between the shocks and wheel well I believe.
From there, got the jeep towed to the service/parts location. Waiting for a phone call this morning. Question is though, can I turn this into a legal thing? I mean, this truck wasn't even in my possession for more than 35 hours when this happend and I thought it was Certified/Pre-Owned, meaning 125 pt. check and inspection!?!?!? I was on the highway 10 minutes before this happend, and my brakes could have failed and tire could have gone flat there. It was not a pleasent experience.
Thoughts?
JK Super Freak
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,053
Likes: 0
From: East Stroudsburg, PA
Well the issue appears to be that the caliper bolts were probaly never tightened, that was your grinding and squeaking, when it let loose that was why your Jk wouldn't move, because they were jamming up the wheel, the jerking was them getting ejected out from the wheel. You had know pedal because once the caliper/pads were ejected, the piston could come completely out with no resistance as when it is on the rotor.
Definately a service technician f$#^ up!! I'm sure the dealership will make nice on that, It is not something they want to come back on them. As for anything legal, I'm no lawyer but would imagine they could argue it happened on its own enough to make any legal action not worth it. Not saying that I still feel they would probaly fix this without issue to avoid bad PR with a client. Plus they will bill it as warranty work.
Definately a service technician f$#^ up!! I'm sure the dealership will make nice on that, It is not something they want to come back on them. As for anything legal, I'm no lawyer but would imagine they could argue it happened on its own enough to make any legal action not worth it. Not saying that I still feel they would probaly fix this without issue to avoid bad PR with a client. Plus they will bill it as warranty work.
Thread Starter
JK Newbie
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
From: Long Island, New York
Well the issue appears to be that the caliper bolts were probaly never tightened, that was your grinding and squeaking, when it let loose that was why your Jk wouldn't move, because they were jamming up the wheel, the jerking was them getting ejected out from the wheel. You had know pedal because once the caliper/pads were ejected, the piston could come completely out with no resistance as when it is on the rotor.
Definately a service technician f$#^ up!! I'm sure the dealership will make nice on that, It is not something they want to come back on them. As for anything legal, I'm no lawyer but would imagine they could argue it happened on its own enough to make any legal action not worth it. Not saying that I still feel they would probaly fix this without issue to avoid bad PR with a client. Plus they will bill it as warranty work.
Definately a service technician f$#^ up!! I'm sure the dealership will make nice on that, It is not something they want to come back on them. As for anything legal, I'm no lawyer but would imagine they could argue it happened on its own enough to make any legal action not worth it. Not saying that I still feel they would probaly fix this without issue to avoid bad PR with a client. Plus they will bill it as warranty work.
