Every well balance relationship consist of quality time spent ensuring things are working well. This includes time spent with our Jeep and if you are like me, you don’t mind getting under the hood and doing a little bit of this quality work yourself. This is just a small, but necessary part of my consistent DIY Jeep maintenance care I do on the Road Rash rig regularly.
Mobil 1 5w-20 Engine Oil
When it comes to engine oil, this is the easiest and one of the most important things you can do to maintain your Jeep, keeping it running smoothly and prolong its longevity. I choose to use Mobil 1, 5W-20 SAE full synthetic oil for extended performance. It helps to protect crucial engine parts and allows you to go a bit longer before changing your oil again. Me personally, I usually change my oil every 6000 miles or so. Each oil change takes roughly 6 quarts of oil which cost and estimated $45. Doing the work yourself saves you a lot of money in labor cost and you can be sure the maintenance is done consistently on time.
Mopar Jeep Oil Filter
When changing your Jeep oil, it is good practice to also change your oil filter. This is very easy to do by unscrewing the oil filter housing at the top of the engine and removing the old oil filter. The replacement oil filter is made by Mopar, part number MO-349 and is sold at any of your auto parts store.
The cost to replace this oil filter is about $9.00, a very small cost to ensure your Jeep is well maintained and running properly. I would suggest changing your oil filter every time you change your oil.
Jeep Differential Oil
Another equally important DIY Jeep maintenance you must do to your Jeep is changing your front and rear differential oil. This is the oil that lubricates your gears in your Jeep. This is easily done on the “pumpkin” of your front and rear axel. You will see two plugs…. one toward the bottom of the pumpkin to drain the old oil and one toward the top to refill the diff oil. When you drain the oil, the bottom plug has a small magnet attached to the inside. This allows you to analyze the contents of your gears to see if there is any alarming shards of metal lingering.
I typically use a SAE 80W-90 Gear Oil by Lucas and change this differential oil every other oil change (around 12,000 miles) but possibly sooner if I have been “wheeling the Jeep” a bit harder and doing a lot of water crossings. The front usually takes about 1 qt while the back takes about 2 qts.
Simply Auto Maintenance App
Finally as a little “extra nugget” for you, I use an app called SimplyAuto to track all of my maintenance dates, reminders and notes for all of my vehicles. It is a fantastic app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. When you set up your app, you put in your maintenance schedule for each item (example: 6000 mi oil change).
Then, every time I fill up at the gas station, I enter in my milage, cost of gas, how many gallons it took to fill up and this will automatically calculate a very accurate “miles per gallon”. Because you put in your mileage, it will also notify you when it’s time to maintain your Jeep. I defiantly recommend this app if you are a DIYer like me.
