[cveedub]

Hi All,

Last Tuesday I bought a 2006 Commander Limited; 4.7L V-8; QT-II 4WD; with ~143,000 miles from a local auction for under $1k. Luckily for me the impound yard uploaded pictures of a completely destroyed Nissan Frontier and I was able to see pics of the Commander by combing through every single pic of every single vehicle up for auction. From what I could tell it looked like it was in good condition (they do not let you view the vehicles on site any longer). I was also able to confirm that the vehicle was there because it parked in a tow away zone and had expired tags. So not there because of a wreck or theft.

After taking possession of the vehicle and jumping it, it would die as soon as I gave it gas and the exhaust was smoking white, which kind of made my heart sink, then of course I noticed that the previous owner had left some coolant in the back and I was resigned to a blown head gasket. Once I got it towed I swapped out the battery and refreshed the fluids and it started on the first crank. I was able to drive it around the block a few times and to my utter disbelief, the head gaskets were fine and the engine was running well and sounding good. No check engine light and only a message to service the TPMS.

The interior is in pretty bad shape and every single door handle is broken but I have replacements on the way. After a quick free way drive the vehicle is leaking coolant (that explains the coolant jug in the back), the rear diff is leaking fluid (it looks like the previous owner may have hit something while going in reverse), and the drivebelt tensioner is slightly wobbling. Sunroof is leaking lol. Front windows do not roll up from the power window master control switch. Passenger side shocks are pretty bad. But the heated seats work! Other than that, I think I got very lucky due to the terrible job the auction company did with the images and description. I was also able to confirm that the vehicle passed smog in Feb of last year.

The genesis of all of this is that I lost my wife on Christmas morning and I wanted to find a way to bond and spend more time with our kids, and off road camping with the first thing that came to my mind. I was searching for vehicles and was seriously looking at XJs, Xterra's, and Commander, then I some how stumbled upon the auction a day after registering for the site. Hoping to put in $2k and see what I end up with!

Happy to be here and eager to answer any questions anyone has.

The Build Sheet

The Nissan Images

Finding the Commander in the background

First Look After Winning (couldn't see the damage from the other pics)

Towing it Out of There

Getting it Home

Leaks After a 20 Miles on the Freeway

 

[cveedub]

I did the same a little over a year ago, its a bit of a money pit, much like any jeep there is always another thing I'd like to upgrade. if you are like me, join row52 for notifications when a commander hits a local pick and pull so you can start accumulating replacement parts. that and rockauto are your best friends

Good call, this will come in handy!

 

[cveedub]

Now the fun begins
Welcome to the forum.

To get the list of everything built into your Commander when built at the factory - have your VIN number (case sensitive) and go here Chrysler Build sheet - Equipment Listing Not necessarily for your signature but so you know what you have.

You can download a free Owner's Manual here--->Owner's Manual

Thanks, I included the build sheet in my post. I reviewed it while the auction was still live.

 

[cveedub]

@cveedub ; Welcome to the forum;

My condolences for your loss;

From the looks of it, I think $2K is a pretty tight budget;

I'm not too concerned with the cosmetic stuff as it will really only be used for camping trips, but the additional 2k budget is just to see where I can get it. There are definite unknowns though that I'm still trying to work through.

 

[cveedub]

cooling the engine is the main thing, make sure your hoses and belts are all good. stick with mopar parts, difficult to explain but there is so much crap parts out there that fail and create bigger issues. the 4.7 is a decent motor, not monster but the way these are geared she will do just fine.

here is mine's story Auction Commander

Great read, you have put in a ton of work

 

[cveedub]

Unknowns can be expensive.

Best of luck and keep us posted with your progress.

Boy did you hit the nail on the head. Finally finished my drive cycles and got a P0420 with a CEL. Figured it'd try Cataclean before spending $1400 on a new cat and I guess I got lucky. Used it today and passed emissions inspections a couple hours later after clearing and redoing the drive cycles.

 

[cveedub]

it was a third party "viper" system with a tracking gps that I had no info on, probably installed by a buy here pay here type lot along the way

Did you check the wiring harness for broken wires, wrt the master switch not working? Mine only did the rear passenger windows and that was it. I removed the boot today so far have found two broken wires. One that controls the UNLOCK mechanism (but not the lock) and one that controls the power side mirrors. Still no luck on the front windows though lol

From my pics you can see there was a collision at the fender right near where the harness is located so I assume that is what caused the clean break.