Ballast Resistor?

I was leaving a resturant this evening and had the Jeep would start and immediately stall. I had a similar problem about 6 months ago and after a trip to the "stealership" and $150 and 3 days later they told me the ballast resistor (a $9 part) had gone bad.

I had read posts about by-passing this "ballast resistor" and was not sure if this was a permanent fix (I have a 92 XJ limited, 4.0L). To get home tonight, I used a 15 amp fuse (it was the only thing I could fine in the tool box ... it's 19 deg in Michigan tonight) to replace the resistor and my Jeep seemed to run fine. How long can I safely drive this way? Do I need to keep a supply of ballast resistors in the glove box like I used to do with my old Dodge Dart?

I cut off a wire end at the ballast resistor and put on a male/female double spade connector. Makes it easy to jump. I've run with the ballast resisitor jumper for months, but eventually replaced it. All it really does is cut back the voltage to your pump a little.
You may be able to find an adaptor that adds a male connector between the the male and female at the resisitor.
The one in your Dart was for the ignition, either the coil or the ignition module.

No ballast on an 87. Mine had 235K miles and pump was only a little noisy when my daughter sold it and its history past that is unknown.

No ballast in a 95. Mine has 261K miles on original pump, quiet as a mouse.

Ballast on a 93. My stepson's pump went at about 175K.

I suspect you could just leave it off.

Thank you 8Mud and Matt Currie. I ran a search and found a lot of "electrical" information but I am not electrician.

This is the second the ballast resistor has gone out on me. The first time was about a month after I had to replace the fuel pump (at 220,000 miles), now my XJ has 248,000 miles. After the first time, the forums told me how to bypass it but I wasn't certain I could continue to drive without burnig out some wiring.

Thanks again for the help!

I've trashed a couple by splashing them with water (or mud), they get pretty darned hot.
The fuel pump harness has been known to have troubles, corrosion and/or rub throughs. Maybe your resistor problems are an indicator of some kind of line leak and/or excessive amp draw?

According to my FSM, the addition of the ballast resistor was to solve a fuel pump noise issue. Some customers complained about fuel pump noise, leading to a field fix. Other than reducing pump RPM and noise, it serves no other purpose. Leave it bypassed, if you want. I removed my ballast resistor a couple of years ago, when I installed a SBC V8; no problems noted.