An Interesting Story

[King Zarkon]

Hey Everyone!

So I've had my 64 wagoneer for 2 weeks now, and I mostly love it. It had a runaway idle problem which seems to be fixed with the help of the gracious members here.

I took it on it's first long-ish drive yesterday; 3 hours to my cottage. All went well, but I couldn't help but feel like it was still running just a little bit rough.

I happened to have some seafoam top-end cleaner laying around, and I'd had good success with it on my '99 TJ, so I thought I would give it a try.

Warmed up the engine, revved it up a little with the help of a stick from the woods, blasted the whole can in there, let it hot soak for 15 minutes and then took it for a spirited drive as recommended on the can.

Made a noticeable difference immediately. Throttle response seemed noticeably improved, and it seemed to have just a little more pep than before.

Excellent... until....

I stopped to grab some quick supplies, came out of the store, and the wagoneer.... is on fire.

Smoke pouring out from under the hood.

I pop it open and the battery straps are gone, and the battery has jumped off it's moorings and landed directly on the exhaust manifold, which of course melted a hole in the bottom of the battery.

I had a bottle of water in the back so I extinguished the situation, but man what a smell.

I was stuck, so I did what any rational jeep redneck would do, and put the battery in a plastic bag, duct taped it on, and drove it home.

So... any suggestions on a new battery??

[chubbinius]

Holy smokes (pun intended)! That's crazy, but glad the smoke was only melting plastic and not a fully engulfed ride.

I have had good runs from several of the Interstate batteries I have had in my vehicles. Each one has run to the full time plus a month or more (6 years two months on the Commander, 6 years three months on the Pilot, and 6 years three months on Commander the second go round).

Plan to add one to the 70 Wagoneer when the battery it had at purchase dies.

Did you replace the battery tray and hold down?

[78 WIDETRAC]

I would also look for a battery clamp, or at the very least some bungee cords. I try to buy to buy batteries from a local source that will warranty them if the go bad early. Car battery's are getting spendy.

[King Zarkon]

Yeah just replaced the battery and got a new rubber tie-down. Seems pretty solid. Jeep life always interesting

[rang-a-stang]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! (Chubbinius's pun)

I always buy my batteries from Costco for all my cars. They have, by far the best prices, and the warranty is really good too.

[fulsizjeep]

Man, that could have gone much worse. Glad I am not reading about another one burning to the ground. I have bought a few Autozone batteries over the years. No complaints.

About the only thing worse than having this happen at the store is to have it happen on the trail. Witness...

[Kaiserjeeps]

Interstate all the way. I have been torturing an Interstate in my CJ with severe draws winching trees and the occasional stupid stuck. The first one lasted 15 years with harder use, this one is fine and going strong after several years now.

You can get a original correct plastic coated battery hold down from partsdude4x4.com It is listed for a commando but is also correct for our wagoneers.
Hopefully you still have the threaded rods.

[offthebeatenpath]

Interstate all the way. I have been torturing an Interstate in my CJ with severe draws winching trees and the occasional stupid stuck. The first one lasted 15 years with harder use, this one is fine and going strong after several years now.

You can get a original correct plastic coated battery hold down from partsdude4x4.com It is listed for a commando but is also correct for our wagoneers.
Hopefully you still have the threaded rods.

Any idea if that will work correctly for a '65 J200? I'm missing mine as well-


Also- Glad your truck is okay! That's a scary moment!