Need help w/ CEL code & are all XJ brake rotors the same??

Bought a '97 XJ last weekend and the CEL came on today - I just love when that happens.

Anyway, it was P0705 - trans range sensor - circuit malfunction

Is that the NSS?

Also, are the brake rotors on XJ's the same? Specifically referencing a '91 and '97.

91' and 97' rotors should swap OK.

That does sound like the NSS. Is it shifting at strange intervals? Still got OD? Last time I saw this, it was when my buddy's NSS on his XJ went bad and it would randomly slip out of OD (also threw the same code).

Are your reverse lights working?

There is a differeance in non-ABS and ABS rotors.

After I posted, I remembered that reverse lights often don't work w/ NSS problems, so I decided to go check. Sure enough, no white lights. The vehicle shifts fine though - firm, crisp shifts and doesn't pop outta any gears. The CEL is now off too. I'm definetely going to disassemble the NSS and clean it up htough and hopefully that solves the issue. Is there a chance that it isn't from it being old and dirty and it's a wiring problem though?!?

As for the rotors, I was going to canabalize my '91 that I was working on for parts for my '97, but I'm now considering turning the '91 into a strictly trail rig and using the '97 as a DD as was originally intended. I was going to sell the '91, but it's worth more to me as a trail rig than the $600 or so that I'd get for it.

There are 2 contacts inside the NSS. There's a possibility one might still be making contact, while the other may not. Although it's best to clean it anyway, it's pretty easy.

gone postal said:

After I posted, I remembered that reverse lights often don't work w/ NSS problems, so I decided to go check. Sure enough, no white lights. The vehicle shifts fine though - firm, crisp shifts and doesn't pop outta any gears. The CEL is now off too. I'm definetely going to disassemble the NSS and clean it up htough and hopefully that solves the issue. Is there a chance that it isn't from it being old and dirty and it's a wiring problem though?!?

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There's a chance, but more often than not, it just needs a good cleaning.

However, a few months ago my buddy's 97xj did this (reverse lights had stopped working long before any codes were thrown), we tore the switch apart, cleaned it good, put it back together and it still was throwing the same code you did. He ended up having to replace the sensor (and it wasn't cheap). His was shifting through gears fine, but wouldn't hold OD.

I would start with a good cleaning and go from there. Search on here, there are some links to great write ups on how to do it.

Yeah, I've done the cleaning before (I have a '91 too) and it fixed the problem on that, but that wasn't OBDII, so there wasn't a code - it just wouldn't start unless you wiggled the shifter around.

I know NSSs are expensive, but Advance Auto Parts has reman. ones for $55 - new is $230-ish. Has anyone tried a reman. one and had success??? I'm hoping I don't have to, but if that's what it comes down to, I'm going that way.

Hell, I'd go to the junkyard and pull a few, clean them all up and see which ones worked and which ones didn't.

I got one delivered from a junk yard for less than $25, never had a prob. again.
As for the rotors, theyr'e pretty cheap. I think I would just go with new ones and eliminate any potential probs.