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Waking the bear-1988 Cherokee

PacificEd

NAXJA Member
NAXJA Member
Location
Middle Tennessee
My poor 1988 Cherokee has been in hibernation for a long time. Now that the weather is getting nice, it’s time to get it out of the shop and let it run a bit. It’s still blocked in but I hope to get it out and running this weekend.

Here are a few images of when it has seen the light of day and been on wheeling trips.

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One of the trips to Harlan. This Jeep has taken us to some spectacular places.
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Here it is loaded up for another trip to Harlan. It was always loaded to the gills with people, gear and raffle prizes.
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Re: Waking the bear

Good to see you back.
 
Waking the bear

It only took almost 5 months to get it out. My, how time gets away from me.

Before trying to excavate it from my shop where it has been parked prior to June 2018, I dropped in a fresh battery to be sure it would even start. Mind you, it probably had ethanol fuel at least that old in it from where it was parked from it's last trip to Harlan, Ky. A few cranks and it came to life. The exhaust was a bit rough smelling as it burned the ancient fuel. Idle was good. All the gauges were reading good. Temp was under 210*, oil pressure was great and the charging system seemed to be fine. I took it to town and got 13 gallons of fresh 87 octane pure gasoline. She ran really well. I was expecting flat-spotted tires but they actually rode pretty decent. There is a bit of vibration still but she will cruise 65 just fine. We did stop at Sonic for a drink and when I went to restart, she just cranked so I jumped out and unplugged and reconnected the CPS several times. She fired right back up. So far, so good.

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I've been driving it pretty much since I was able to get it out of the shop. It's been running good, getting around 15-18 mpg on average. Oil pressure and engine temps are perfect. When I turn on the headlights, after a few minutes, the charging gauge starts to drop some. I don't know if it's serious but I just worry about it. The battery seems fine and has no issues starting the XJ.

I have noticed a leak from the drivers side front inner axle seal which is a bummer since the whole front end will have to come apart to replace it. It also looks like the backing plate on the passenger rear is a bit damp. I'm not sure if it is a rear axle seal or something else. The rear was rebuilt with new brakes, axle bearings and seals roughly 6-7 years ago.

My Ranger is still down while we continue to replace the radiator so it looks like I'll be Jeepin' for a few more days.

I'm really enjoying driving it again and I'm getting more and more comfortable driving it every day. The tires do have some flat spots so the low speed lope is fun but it goes away at highway speeds.
 
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I took a picture of the charging gauge. This is where it reads when the headlights are on. It does have the 5-90 heavy duty battery cable kit on it.

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Everything was going pretty good until yesterday afternoon when I left work. My idle had been acting up and upon startup was idling high and then it would kick down after a blip (or sometimes several blips) of the throttle.

When I left work yesterday and it proceeded to almost die on me. It sounded like it was going to die and was barely idling. When I tried to give it gas, it just popped and sputtered. I pulled over and it smoothed out so I took off again. Well 300 yards later at another traffic light it did the same thing. I managed to get it into a parking lot and Mark and I messed with it. He said he'd follow me just incase it died again. Once idle smoothed out I took off and tried to keep moving since as long as it was moving, everything seemed ok. I had to stop at another light a bit later and it died. It started right back up and I put it in neutral and bumped up the idle. From then on I did that at traffic lights until I hit the main highway home.

For 16 miles it ran fine and never missed, popped or sputtered again. I made a few stops once I got to town and while the high idle seemed to come back several times when I restarted, it never wanted to die.

This morning I cleaned the IAC but it really looked okay. I did think the torx screws were not as tight as they should have been. It took no pressure to loosen them. I sprayed everything with brake cleaner and wiped everything down. Upon startup, idle was fine and it drove fine to work. I guess I'll find the true test when it comes time to go home in rush hour traffic again.
 
I decided that maybe the sputtering and popping could be fuel system related. I found a Wix filter on the shelf and changed it out.

After swapping it out is was leaking. I messed around to find the leak and in the process got it all over my hands and arms. It tuned out the end of the rubber line split. I shortened it an inch and reassembled and all is now well.

I added a can of Seafoam to the gas tank to try and clean the fuel system and injectors. We will see if it helps.


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I took a picture of the charging gauge. This is where it reads when the headlights are on. It does have the 5-90 heavy duty battery cable kit on it.

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Mine does the same thing. I have no idea why. Volts read 14+ with a meter.
 
Thanks guys. It's good to know about the gauge. It just worries me that it reads this way with just the headlights on. If I turn on the heater and wipers it may really drop down.

This is my first XJ that I bought back in 2008 for $600 and it's still chugging right along. It still has a few quirks to figure out but it's getting there.
 
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Mine does the same thing. Just check the battery with a multimeter with all of it on and see what it says. I even upgraded mine to something bigger from a 90-2000 chevy. I think it’s 120 amp but maybe just 105. Super simple swap. I didn’t think the first one worked and it was BRAND NEW.
 
After a week of driving, it looks like my toe is set in a little too much and I'm getting some wear on the outside edges of my front tires. I need to do a rotation and check the toe to see how much it's out. I hate to mess with it too much since I have no death wobble.

I have also found most of the window seals are about shot. They are cracked and brittle and in need of replacement. I may see if I can gather up some part numbers and see what all it will take to get them back in shape. Morris4x4 shows them available. Are there any better places for OE parts like this?

Several years ago I bought some mirrors off of a 1997-2001 body style and I think it's time to get them installed. The factory mirrors are pretty small when compared to the late model units.
 
You'll like the larger mirrors - I know I do.

Are both sets power? If so, the connectors on the new mirrors won't fit through the doors where the old ones' wiring currently goes. However, splicing on the right connectors isn't hard. The 84-96 have a 3-wire plug with both axes (Up/Down and In/Out) sharing a common ground, the 97+ use separate grounds for each "axis", so 4 wires (six if the mirrors are heated) Once you've worked out what wires do what, splicing things together isn't hard.

As for a connector source, if you don't want to cut them off the old mirrors, scour the junkyards for XJs and grab the dome light harnesses - same connectors as the 84-96 power mirrors.
 
You'll like the larger mirrors - I know I do.

Are both sets power? If so, the connectors on the new mirrors won't fit through the doors where the old ones' wiring currently goes. However, splicing on the right connectors isn't hard. The 84-96 have a 3-wire plug with both axes (Up/Down and In/Out) sharing a common ground, the 97+ use separate grounds for each "axis", so 4 wires (six if the mirrors are heated) Once you've worked out what wires do what, splicing things together isn't hard.

As for a connector source, if you don't want to cut them off the old mirrors, scour the junkyards for XJs and grab the dome light harnesses - same connectors as the 84-96 power mirrors.

Both sets are power. I've been debating on how to handle that since the plugs and wiring on the late model mirrors seem to be rather large. I may take the time to find the connectors to make them fit right. Thanks for the advice and tips.
 
Mark, aka High2by, sent me a few old pics of one of our trips to Black Mountain in Harlan, KY.
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Both sets are power. I've been debating on how to handle that since the plugs and wiring on the late model mirrors seem to be rather large. I may take the time to find the connectors to make them fit right. Thanks for the advice and tips.

Sure thing. I was going to add a bit more info, but I'm at work and the stupid firewall/internet security package keeps scrambling what I type when I hit preview so it's gonna have to wait until I can do it from home.

I had some handwritten notes from when I did my mirror upgrade, I'll see if I can find them.
 
I've been driving the XJ for 4 weeks now and being very diligent but it got me yesterday. My RA was acting up, I was getting sore and stiff and I didn't quite make it. It got my first belt loop in 5 years. Those who know, know the struggle.
 
Last night, on my way home I heard a roaring coming from the Jeep that wasn’t there earlier. My suspicion was correct…….a bad rear u-joint.

Like everything for me, it became a more difficult task than it should have been. I had some new joints in my stash so I installed a new one and the 8.8 flange. Everything went back together well and seems good. Yay!

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Completed rear driveshaft.
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Well, I wasn't able to track down my notes - I might have tossed them after finishing the job, since they weren't all that complex. Now that it's the weekend and I'm not behind that company firewall, I can elaborate a little on the wiring conversion:

The older-style mirrors use the same 3-pin plug as the dome lights (it's also used for some sensor in 2004-2005 Ford Super Duty trucks, but exactly what escapes me. Scavenging the connectors from XJ dome light harnesses or broken mirrors is probably easiest). They use a "2-axis" system - one motor for up/down, one for in/out. Direction is handled by which polarity the 12V and Ground are connected to the motor through the control switch; the two "ground" lines from the motors share one pin on the connector (usually the black wire).

On the newer model mirrors, Jeep went to a larger, six-pin connector that has two rows of three pins. Some later mirrors are heated - when looking into the connector with the locking "nub" on the top, the two wires for the heating element should be the right-most pin in each row. The mechanism inside the mirror is basically the same (an up/down motor and an in/out motor), the other four pins are for the motors (same two-axis system as the old mirrors, but the two "grounds" from the motors get separate pins now.

I'm not sure if all 97-01 power mirrors use the same colors on the wires, and I didn't have a schematic, so I simply applied 12V and ground to the pins in pairs until I figured out what pin combinations caused the mirror to move in each direction and wrote it all down.

Then, I pulled the door apart and removed the old mirror. I twisted the wires onto the "new" connector and experimented until the mirror movement matched the direction I pressed on the switch, then I replaced the temp twistings with heat-shrink crimp splices and started reassembly.

Once I had it together I found that (as noted in several writeups on the topic) that there may be interference between the newer mirrors and the window trim; rather than try to trim the trim, I elected to just torque things down and fill the gap with a bead of black permatex RTV to seal the mirror to the door. Seems to be working fine, and isn't noticeable unless you go in close specifically for it.

Finally, I sprayed some white lithium grease into the pivot points (you can spray in from the bottom through a little cover you can pull, and from the top by folding the mirror half-way in) and worked the mirrors back and forth a few times to loosen them up, as mine were a bit stiff from sitting a while.

Best of luck in your swap - all in all, it's probably an hour or two of work for both sides, if you're fairly efficient with getting the door panels on and off.
 
I'm back to driving the Jeep again.

The Ranger has started acting up and I believe is on it's way to blowing a head gasket. The 2004 VW Passat we picked up for for my daughter to drive was then chosen for me to use since the Ranger is acting up. Well, that dumb thing made it a week and a half and I can't deal with the misfires and other crazy stuff that has come up. My commute is stressful enough without having to deal with a car that won't idle but drives perfect at speed.

I think I'm going to try to figure out why my charging gauge reads low and make sure the battery charge is staying where it should. I do have the good heavy duty battery cables on it so that eliminates that as a draw source. The headlights and running the heater/blower seem to be where the biggest pull is from.
 
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