Hello. Well it has finally happened to me. I bought my TJ new in Feb '97 and since accumulated a mere 31,402 miles on it since. Within the past month I noticed a slight ticking sound from the engine compartment while it was running. It has gotten louder since then. I contacted my dealership who said there wasn't anything they could do but that I should call DC customer service and see what they would do directly for me. I called them this morning and talked to a rep who basically stated that they wouldn't be able to do anything for me due to my vehicle being 4 years out of warranty. I replied by saying I understand that but I ONLY have 31,402 miles on my Jeep. She said they weren't willing to do anything, not even a split of the cost as I suggested. She stated that she was has the authority and is the final say in this matter! My biggest issue here is that I've been following this problem on the net for the past 4-5 years and I'm sure that DC knows it's a prevalent problem but won't rectify it properly, or not at all in my case. I've reported it to NHTSA but they only have 35 documented complaints about this problem on my Jeep. I know I've read about alot more instances of this occurring on various ng's. BTW, I've also tried going the Federal Emissions warranty route but was told that only includes the catalytic converter after the first 2 years/24000 miles up til 8 years/80,000 miles. What should I do now? Aftermarket headers? What Brand? What's Best? Mopar High Performance header? And, most importantly, how much is this going to cost me since DC has washed its hands of this/my problem? Anyone here experience this problem yet?
Thanks for letting me vent. Any help, guidance or assistance would be greatly appreciated.