89 xj electricronics removal

I am having issues with my electric in a 89 xj offroad. 3.5 lift 33 tractor tires trail beaten no front fenders no front lights removed the mech fan replaced with electrical.
The issue i am having is sometimes it will not start at all i mean turn key and nothing no fuel pump no acc. no nothing wiggle the wires on the colum where the rod from the key hits sometimes that works and others not. So i am deciding to do away with the key and use push button start.
I want to remove all electrical componets as poss.
I am wondering if anyone has already removed all the "extra" wires/conponets. I am wanting to keep the heater and radio i can care less about everything else.
I do not want to go in and rip everything out and start fresh. Call me lazy but it is what it is. It is the inline 6 4.0
With all the crap under the hood i want to get rid of all that i can so when i get home from wheelin it will be a bit easier to clean the mud out of everything.

Good luck lol I have the same XJ and mine had every option available. I'm getting things out slowly, I have tons of loose ends after I got rid of the ABS and all the electric that goes with it. Next is all the AC stuff... Way to much clutter under the hood for me. Looking forward to what people have to say about this subject.

Unless someone has already hacked it into a terrible mess it will probably be easier to fix it right than rig it wrong.

Someone has already rigged the heck out of it..... I am finding splices with duct tape...... alot of wires that goes no place...... just a mess so far i have taken the fan relay out and all the wires to and from the relay..... My fans are hard wired by switch inside the cab... Just have to keep remembering to turn them on.... At this point i am thinking a new wire harness but they are kind of pricie for me right now.... So when i realy mess it up and have no choice im going to get a new harness prop from painless wire. But first i want to see if i can redo it before it comes to that...

Believe it or not, the splices with duct tape are from the factory :shocked:

I have found duct taped splices on an 88, a 91, a 96, and a 98, all in original still-wrapped factory wiring harnesses. All I can really say is that I blame Chrysler :dunno:

I'd hit a junkyard and pull a wiring harness, the best part of doing that is that you learn exactly where every plug goes while removing it. Wires that go no place are probably either missing options that were never installed or some dumbass that cut/disconnected things.

LMAO factory installed duct tape...... Yeah i must admit it feeling more like a redneck everyday i keep this XJ.....lol
I am going to keep tearing into it and see what comes out. I do like the junk yard idea will be a little cheaper then painless .. I will keep posted on how it goes

Another approach you could use is to buy a metric asston of color coded wire, crimp terminals, solder, heat shrink tubing, dry vinyl wiring harness tape (let me know if you want some below market price, I had to buy a case of 16 rolls and it's gonna take me decades to go through it), and electrical tape, pick up an FSM on ebay, and build yourself a complete custom wiring harness that only does the very minimum it needs to.

I'm sorta doing that for one of my projects right now, depending on whether I get bored with it or not, it's either a 4 cylinder XJ motor acting as an air compressor and eventually drill press (1 cylinder is fed pure air and its exhaust port goes through a check valve into the air tank :gee:, and the transmission will be added back on and fed into a custom drivetrain setup to act as a very strong very slow drill press) or maybe a go-kart. I got all the sensors and parts in a pile plus an FSM and am slowly piecing it back together.

I like the air compressor idea lol Right now i have the fuse block out and the harness out almost have it side by side so i can figger all the wires out.. I will get my POS camra out and take some crapy pictures...

when i bought my 89 xj, it had massive electrical problems. there was a fire under the hood and the previous owner ghetto fixed it(or atleast tried). it would start,but would drain a brand new optima in about 45 seconds and the battery would start smoking. i removed every wire on that thing that was not needed, and now it runs great(and has been for years. no ac/heat,radio,doors,hatch,dash lights,tail lights,the list is endless. my only advice is to take your time and dont give up. it took me about a month to finish it. and always keep the grounds. missing ground wires can cause all kinds of weird shyte to happen.

Right now i am at a stump... I think i have the ignition figgered out... Red wire 10 gauge is my const hot yellow 10 gauge goes to starter relay same with small drk green oragne 10 gauge acc. brown 10 gauge something that needs to be wired in the "on" post. Thier are 3 smaller wires that i can not seem to figger out. Traced them to the power dist. and had to stop for the night starting to give me a headache. How do i post pictures is it someplace in the FAQs i will look for it after a shower.

An FSM should answer those questions pretty well - they usually have a full electrical schematic that'll tell you which wire is start, which is powered during run, which is accessory power, which is powered during start and run, etc.

I have a crapy Haynes and it is not so detailed at all. What is a FSM ?

FSM = Factory Service Manual. Basically a Jeep Bible, they include damn near anything you could ever want to know, and much more.

I used to have a Haynes... they are good for confusing yourself and being misled, eh? :roflmao:

lol you can say that again. The only one they had at autozone was the 83+ i keep finding they tend to lean heavy on the 97+ in this book.. More details for them then anything .... I will look on amazone or such for the FSM Thanks for all your help