Jeep XJ tips and tricks to keep your Cherokee on the road or trail
My son bought this Jeep from his high school history teacher. He and my dad repainted it and Scott restored the interior using parts from Pull a Part and from another donor Wagoneer he found.
finally decided to pull my engine and give it a refresh. 450,000 miles.
First I set the transmission on a jack and removed the cross member.
Next I removed the drive shafts and the exhaust.
Then I lowered the transmission slightly and removed the transfer case.
My son’s 1991 Jeep cherokee had a problem where when you put it in four wheel drive, it would stay there. Since he has a 231 transfer case, this was not good on dry pavement.
To get it out of 4HI, I had to crawl underneath and pop it out with a pry bar. I could see the problem right away. The bushing at the transfer case was worn out allowing the lever to move around on the rod.
I found that Amazon had the bushing so I ordered a couple. They are kinda expensive for a small piece of plastic but not too bad.
I picked up my new engine form R&L carriers today. I figured it would be easier to pick it up at the freight depot than deal with getting a truck backed up to my shop.
I used the lift to unload from the Pick Up.
On a rebuilt engine or if just changing the oil pump, you can do considerable damage to the engine if you try to start it without oil pressure. It takes quite a few turns to purge the air out of the system on a new pump.
Continue reading “How to prime the oil pump on a Jeep 4.0”
My old XJ has served me well for nearly 500,000 miles. The odometer stopped working at 444444 and I have swapped clusters a couple of times, so I really don’t know what the current mileage is.
Continue reading “Engine replacement Jeep Cherokee XJ”
When I put in my new engine I expected it to start up right away. I had carefully aligned the distributor, checked all the electrical connections and bled the air out of the fuel system.
But when I hit the key it simply spun over and never fired.
I put a light in one of the spark plug wires and it flashed indicating I had spark. That meant that the Crank Position Sensor was working.
Continue reading “Jeep 4.0 no start troubleshooting puzzle”White Jeep explores the Franklin State Forest
I have been looking for an adventure to test out my rebuilt White Jeep. I have passed through Franklin State forest many times and been curious about the dirt roads on either side of Highway 156. So today I decide to go exploring.
I started at the park headquarters on Highway 156. There was a map posted in the kiosk but none available to take with me. So I downloaded the PDF to my phone.
Even after repairing the main vacuum line in my HVAC controls I still had the problem that under prolonged acceleration, the vents would loose vacuum and switch to the Defrost setting. This problem is often caused when someone deletes the vacuum bottle behind the front bumper. However, my bottle is still in place behind the stock bumper.
I studied the vacuum diagram and saw there is a check valve where the source connects to the intake manifold. I tested mine by blowing through it. I could easily blow both ways so the check valve is bad.
Continue reading “Jeep XJ HVAC controls revisited”For years I ran a straight pipe on my Jeep. I liked the sound but after hours on the trail the noise would get to me.
So a couple of years ago, I replaced the entire exhaust system with stock style components. The truck has been nice and quite since then.
However, the stock muffler is not very strong. And, it hangs in a place susceptible to damage. After just a few trips off road, mine was crushed
Continue reading “Jeep XJ muffler replacement”