PAFirefighter11

Driving into work late this morning I heard a weird pop. Looked in my rear view mirror to see lots of smoke. Fun. Got off at my exit and found a side road:




Had to get it towed to work so I could work on it:


Then the fun began. I had to unbolt the AC which has 4 bolts, and 1 additional bolt that holds the upper bracket on top. I then disconnected the throttle cable and any attached wiring, then lifted it up and out of the way:


I then had to unbolt the full front bracket. This included unbolting the 3 bolts on the power steering pump so I could access 1 of the many bolts on the bracket. Don't forget to do the oil dipstick tube bolt on the passenger side, as well as several other main bolts. Make sure not to unbolt any of the water pump bolts. No alternator bolts need to be removed either. You can just keep them bolted to the bracket. The one bolt on the bracket near the hard line from the water pop is a pain. Use an open ended wrench on this one and slowly turn it 'til it's loose enough. You can then finagle the bracket out of the way, under the upper radiator hose, and move it up and off to the side to access everything under it:


There's the problem (Part #53008654 btw):


A little closer:


Everything back in and good to go:


All in all it wasn't a horrible job, just lots of bolts. The Jeep broke down at 10:30am; Had it towed back to work by 12pm; Drove 1 hour round trip to Jeff D'Ambrosio Jeep in Downingtown, PA; The Jeep was back up and running by 2:45pm. I'd like to never do that again though lol.