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My first jeep, and what a mess...

TLowery04

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Cashion Oklahoma
Ok, I need some serious maintenence time with my Jeep, but i work 7am to 745 pm every day. so i only get 1-2 days a week to do stuff and i live in an apartment so i dont exactly have a garage to piddle around in. So, maybe yall can identify some problems, cause i need some serious :helpme:

ok, so the electrical problems still havent been fixed, but they're minor so
I'm not too worried about them,

my power to my radio goes from 14.4 to 0 then back up when i turn on the a/c or the turn signals, but not all the time,

thinking some idiot wired the radio to the signals, i had it re-wired and installed a new stereo just in case, seperate wiring from the original, and still it blinks on and off...

sometimes when i'm dirving off road at night, with the high beams on my engine will die,:scared:

sometimes when i turn right or go uphil at a steep incline, it will feel like the engine quit, but a few pumps on the gas pedal revs it right up and i'm on my way.

my left wheel rubs, but not the right.

and the regualtor went out on the passenger window, then the window shattered.

and to top it off my engine started sounding funny, like a knock wat soming from the rear, or the trans/ xfer case area.

oh... and it overheats on steep inclines, I've been catching alot of flak because my jeep can't climb without blowing its nose all over the place.


my mechanic underestimates the amount of work i want to put into my jeep.

and i can't get a straight estimate on what needs to be done other than, "hey it runs, i can't find anythign wrong with it":bs:


I need some help in identifying these problems, and fixing them if anyone has the time and patience to work with a shade tree mechanic on this one i would appreciate it!!!:worship:

-Trent

I just want a good Jeep that will be able to maintain its daily driver status, and also kick it on the backroads when i get to go camping on my day off.
 
what I have to work with is a 1989 Jeep Cherokee Laredo, I6 4.0l completly stock.
 
Check the voltage at your battery while running. Some of your electrical problems sound like your alternator isn't running right.
 
check your flexplate bolts, make sure they're tight and put some blue (serviceable) loctite on them so that you can remove em (NOT RED!!!) you need a propane torch to remove red, and that would kill your tranny fluid. Also check to see if the flexplate is cracked. (you just pull the dust plate on the front of your bellhousing, and rotate the crankshaft to access the bolts.)

With the electrical stuff, start by replacing the things that might be giving you trouble (they probably need replacing anyway). Swap out your terminals and battery and alternator, if the cables are shot consider replacement options. Then move onto your grounds, clean off every one you can find. Then if you still have issues look into the schematics. Just do the "average joe" stuff and you will have less trouble. I'm still a noob about electrical however.

Go ahead and overhaul your ignition system (plugs, wires, distributor). that will do wonders for the feel of your car, and might get rid of that stalling. It might also be worth doing a compression test to find out if your engine's in good shape.
 
I HAVE A 90 XJ AND I SOLVED SOME OF MY ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS BY REPLACING THE BATTERY CABLES. THEY'RE EASY TO REPLACE. THE NEG BATTERY CABLE RUNS DOWN TO THE ENGINE BLOCK AND THE POSITIVE CONNECTION GOES DOWN TO THE STARTER AND ALSO TO A SOLENOID NEARBY. IF THE BATTERY LOOKS LIKE CRAP, IT PROBABLY IS--YOU CAN GO TO A PARTS STORE AND HAVE THE ALTERNATOR AND BATTERY TESTED. GOOD LUCK.
 
As mentioned, check your grounds. You'd be surprised what a poor contact with a ground can do to an electrical system.

You mentioned a knock, is yours an automatic or manual tranny? Can you describe a bit more as to when you hear this knock (accelerating, idle, both...etc).
 
the dieing sounds like a fuel issue. check the pressure at the rail.

what does the wheel rub? when does it rub? stock wheels? what size tires?
 
alternator?
 
ok, I'm sending it to Flagstaff 4x4 tommorow, they are going to do a 35$ check to see what the noise is and we'll go from there.

so far they will be doing a steth test on the front and rear diffs, transfer case, and transmission, and engine, along with driving it on a lift to see what it does in drive that make the noise.

and from what I've gathered, I need them to:

check my voltage at the battery and alternator. -- is there a specific voltage i should have them look for?

check for a blown headgasket,

check the alignment and radiator,

check the brakes (bit soft)

try to figure out why the horn is always on... (just figured that one out today while i was trying to find a fuse to replace for the auxillary fan and horn -- the wire was disconnected and when i reconnected it the horn was always on.)

and then when it gets back I'll clean the ground replace the battery cables and try to find a higher quality battery, because this one only hase 640 CCA on it and i hear its gonna need alot more given the cold weather thats coming.


is there anythign else i should have them look at while its under the gun?

what is a good radiator replacement? where can i find one online? will they ship?

Oh and the knocking nose is most prevalent at idle, and I idle around 4-5oo rpms. not 4k-5k but four hundred to five hundred. - my exhaust smells like gas too.


-Trent
 
400-500 rpm's is a bit on the low side....should be somewhere closer to 750 at idle, and the smelling like gas would indicate that it's running rich. The low idle and rich mixture could be related. Have you pulled the plugs to see what shape they're in?
 
First thing I'd do is check grounds and battery cables and terminals. Even if terminals look good, scrape them to bare lead and daub them with vaseline.

Look at the strap between the valve cover and the firewall for starters, and try just pre-emptively adding a chassis ground to the radio. But check them all. Disconnect and reconnect things. Look for rust and hidden flaws. A lot of your problems sound like either missing or shorted grounds.

Also consider the ignition switch, which is a common fault on these, and easily replaced (the switch is separate from the lock).

I wouldn't throw money at the alternator until you've determined that the wiring is working, and while a better battery might be a good idea, if the one you have now cranks well and shows correct voltage, you won't see any difference in your symptoms.

For engine dying off road at night, consider possibility that the headlights are a red herring, and look for loose or defective wiring that might be either shorting or opening up intermittently when you're running on rough terrain. Check carefully that the wire to the crank position sensor on the bell housing is not hitting any hot exhaust parts. Also look for dangling fuel pump harness. I had problems with that on my 87 that were cured by simply hanging it back up with a cable tie (I never actually found the wiring fault, but once it was up, it behaved so I left it alone).

There's a connector for the front wiring harness, that passes through the bulkhead just ahead of the air cleaner. It's a favorite spot for corrosion, and eventually the pins will be eaten away. It's worthwhile to open that connector up and check it. If the pins are still all right, clean them and lube them.

Renix systems seem to be pretty sensitive to connector resistance, and often odd running habits can be solved by just opening up the hood and unplugging and replugging every connector you can find.

I also would recommend getting a cheap digital multimeter for wiring checks. Then you can take a voltage reading from your battery, check wires for continuity, and adjust your throttle position sensor yourself. These days you can get a really nice one for 20 bucks or so, and useable ones are showing up for under 10. No excuse any more for entering the arena unarmed!

Left wheel rubs: check wheel bearing. Jack up by axle, wiggle wheel. If loose, you need a new bearing (unit, not cheap). If not loose, may be dragging brake caliper, not too expensive, and might be as simple as taking pads out and filing off rust.

Overheating: At that age, look at the radiator. If you see that corrosion has eaten away the fins between tubes, you will never solve your overheating problem until you replace the radiator.

Engine noise: flex plat bolts are a good possibility, but you also need to diagnose the noise better. Is it related to engine speed? High? Low? A common noise here is the exhaust hitting the crossmember at idle, a sign of tired engine/TC mounts. If it's a low, slightly irregular clunk, look there. It's an annoying noise, but repair is elective, not urgent.
 
I go with IGN switch also. If you carry a lot of keys and your switch is worn the swinging keys will turn your switch, Just enuff, on and off.
 
havent pulled them but supposedly replaced before i bought the truck.
 
alright heard back from the shop today, estimate was around 1600$...

yeah. i know.

most of that cost would be rebuilding the transfer case.


heres what they found:

they could not explain the electrical problems,
they did a steth test, and found that the transfer case was the sound of the funny noise and they woule not know how bad it was unless they worked on it.
the front and rear diffs are bueno.
the enigine doesnt have anything wrong with it as far as they could tell other than alot of the vacuum lines needing to be replaced.
the fuel rail is putting out 50 psi. so the fuel pressure regulator is bad, and the check valve in the fuel pump is bad so they want to replace the fuel pump too given it does not retain fuel pressure after it is shut off.


figured I'd hunt around for parts before i spend crazy money on it.

anyone in flg know how to swap a transfer case ^.^


-Trent
 
wow i forgot about this thread...

Ok so heres the long and short of it...

Flagstaff 4x4 told me i needed a transfer case rebuild and it turned out my transmission mount was virtually non existant.

I paid a little over a grand to have everything on the braking system replaced save for the lines and master cylinder.

My RPMS and idle were shitty because the ceramic in my catalytic converter had crumbled and was blowing around and cloging. I fixed that by taking it off and breaking it up with a screwdriver and pouring the contents out
Now it idles at 700

I replaced the Spark plug wires when pep boys went out of business

The electrical problems were all solved when i replaced the ignition switch that had melted down, but aparently i didnt get it in right because the little truck wont start with the key, so i wired in a button and bypassed it.

After going to a mechanic several times after it overheated i think i am finally back to the point of not having it crap out on me, as i have been camping twice so far and it has not overheated in 4x4

replaced the main battery cables and got a new battery,

had the window replaced only to have it fail again. luckily this time its jammed in the up position and not shattered

and thats about it, im going to leave this thread now, and ill link back to it but im not going to update it anymore as from here on out i will have a build thread going


thanks all!!
 
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