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Little Red (T.J.'s XJ)

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CrawlingForward
Tonellin
Scarytallman
Jake
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THOOPY3
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Post  Mark 9/8/2014, 9:49 pm

tj,,My TJ has an antifreeze smell coming out of the vents when the heat is on until it warms up and then it totally goes away.
The core definitely has a minute leak and it's kinda plugged up too but i don't want to mess with it right now as that's looking for trouble.
Plus, i don't drive it in the winter anyways.
Mark
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Post  THOOPY3 9/10/2014, 11:11 am

Yeah, the YJ has had a questionable core pretty much since we've owned it and we're in the same boat of just leaving it alone because it's asking for trouble messing with it.

No mist the last two days, so I'm still perplexed as to what it is. This may just be a coincidence, but I did switch the temperature setting on the HVAC control to heat and have left it there and since that point no sign of it. The occasions that I have seen it it's either been very humid or rained the night before, so maybe I'll luck out and it's just a case of moisture in the air/on the block vaporizing and coming through the vents. I guess the only part that really bothers me is that it does it with the heat and A/C off, otherwise I probably wouldn't give a second thought about it. Luckily there's no burning smell or anything to it; my first thought was an electrical short somewhere (which would be real trouble) because of the color and it appearing even after the Cherokee is off but that seems highly unlikely at this point.
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Post  THOOPY3 9/18/2014, 10:28 pm

Well, this thread has been quiet for about a week but big things are happening. Today I bought a 4.0 out of a 1997 Cherokee with 161,000 miles on it. Paid $300 for it with a three month warranty. It was already pulled but a video was available of it running, and it sounded healthy. It's definitely a bit of a risk, but once it's in the Cherokee will have a solid drive train and won't be just a (very slow and loud) mall crawler. I got an excellent quote on the swap from the guy who replaced the exhaust manifold (hindsight being 20/20 I would not have had that job done) so that's where it's going for this job as well.

I'm hoping that because I take good care of my vehicles (knock on wood) I'll get a good 100,000 miles more out of this one, and the 4.0 being the beast it is I expect that to happen. Not exactly sure when the new motor is being dropped in, and I go on a week-long business trip starting Saturday morning which slightly complicates things, but it should be taking place in the next few weeks. I'm excited to bring another neglected Jeep fully back to life like we did with the YJ.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/6/2014, 11:27 pm

So, got the Cherokee back from the motor swap last Friday and I am happy to say she purrs like a kitten. From what I'm told everything went pretty smooth. I was a little surprised to hear that some of the connectors for the various sensors were different going from a 1997 to a 1998, but it all worked out in the end. I am having a bit of an issue with the oil pressure sending unit. Occasionally on start-up there's no pressure reading and the "Check Gauges" light is illuminated, but as soon as you start moving the pressure reads correctly. Most likely just a bad unit that needs replacing. It runs cooler, idles smoother, my gas mileage is already tremendously improved, and obviously it's much, much quieter. I guess I really didn't realize just how bad the other motor was until I heard and drove this one.

Little Red (T.J.'s XJ) - Page 5 Img_1510

This weekend we took to tackling another set of issues in the form of a leaky left rear axle seal and replacing the rear brakes. I replaced both seals because it doesn't make sense to do one and not the other (especially on a 16 year old neglected vehicle). Here's a photo of the offending seal:

Little Red (T.J.'s XJ) - Page 5 Img_1511

Little Red (T.J.'s XJ) - Page 5 Img_1513

As you can see, it was toasted. Since I had to open the diff up to change the seals, I decided it was a good time to put a beefier diff cover on there, so I purchased this Solid cover off of Jake and threw it on there. As you can see its paint job matches that of the rear axle perfectly.

Little Red (T.J.'s XJ) - Page 5 Img_1512

Last project of the day was the brakes, and of course it did not go according to plan. We started with the right rear and right off the bat we ran into problems. I had picked up a new spring kit but not a new hardware kit, and it turned out that some of the parts in the right rear assembly were bent and mangled. No idea why some things were the way they were but I can't say I'm surprised judging by how everything else on this thing has been. We fixed what we could and assembled it together as was thinking things would be fine, which turned out to be a mistake. I will note the left rear went together no problem.

So after everything was back together we took it for a two-ish mile spin and everything seemed fine. I then headed home and this is where the problems started. It's about six miles highway from my parents' house to my apartment, and in that time the right rear brakes managed to drag so badly that by the time I parked it (unknown to me until I got out of the thing) smoke was pouring out of the wheel well and the drum was hot enough to cook an egg on. Not good. Ended up having to tear the right rear apart again and replace all the hardware earlier tonight, and that helped a bit. The right rear drum is still getting pretty warm, but not nearly as bad as last night. It may need a wheel cylinder, but for now I'm just going to keep an eye on things and see how it goes.

So that's where things stand for now. I've got no other major projects in the pipeline for the thing for now (fingers crossed of course). I did order a Rugged Ridge tow hook kit from 4WD.com with a coupon I had, which will replace the hooks that are presently only bolted to the bumper and no part of the frame...yeah. Again, par for the course. It definitely needs a power steering box (or some serious adjustment), new front brakes (pads and rotors), shocks all the way around, and sooner rather than later I need to figure out the issue with the defrost. With the exception of the defrost, everything can probably wait until next year, which gives me time to save up some cash for some new tires for the YJ, as the 32s that came with the Cherokee have officially not panned out (one no longer holds any air and one has a pretty decent leak). I do have a full set of 235/75s that came off of the YJ when I bought the 31s, and the plan is to mount those for the winter and save up for either another set of 32s or (preferably in my mind) 33/10.5s.
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Post  dongalonga 10/7/2014, 1:53 pm

The saga continues. Glad to seethe motor sway went well. Drum brakes are the devil.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/7/2014, 3:28 pm

Yeah it's been great driving the thing around, makes the whole investment entirely worth it with the fresher motor. After the brakes I'm in it for about $3300 now (including cost to buy and shop labor) which really isn't too bad if you ask me. Take out the shop labor and we're talking roughly $2100. Considering my initial budget was $2000 in search of a stock Jeep that needed work and that was going to have gobs of money sunk in it for modifications that this one already has, I'm well within where I wanted to be. That being said, barring unforeseen circumstances I am on a spending hiatus when it comes to Jeeps through at least the end of the year and most likely through tax return season next year. I'm actually afraid to add up how much I've spent this year on the two of them.

With the brakes, my father and I have done so many drum brake jobs over the years at this point it's second nature (admittedly mostly for him), but something is definitely still not quite right despite his/our best efforts. In fact when I think about it it only took us like 45 minutes to get jack and stands up from the basement, wheel off, old hardware out, new hardware in, and wheel back on, which is pretty good time if you ask me. What sucks is if it does need a wheel cylinder everything obviously has to come back off, and I'm not just gonna do one side (like we discovered the previous owner did with the rear brakes) so it's double the work, not to mention bleeding the brakes and all that. But that's the price you pay for doing things right the first time and having piece of mind.
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Post  dongalonga 10/7/2014, 11:14 pm

It's always worth the extra time and effort.
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Post  Jake 10/8/2014, 7:26 am

Ahh that's a bummer, eventually though you'll make it through all the po's bullshit and have a really solid rig, so that's something to look forward to at least.

Best to do it right the first time of course.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/14/2014, 11:56 am

Well the brakes have figured themselves out, no more smoking or burning at all. For now I'll just keep an eye on things and look for premature wear. I think the next time will be a disc brake conversion, as I've read up on swapping KJ discs to the 8.25, which with the exception of the e-brake setup looks very straightforward. Hopefully I won't need to do this for quite some time though. The fronts are definitely cooked though; when hitting the brakes at highway speeds she shudders like crazy. Not really noticeable around town, which these days is where I do most of my driving. I'll probably go with the Black Magic setup like I did on the YJ when the time comes.

Took care of a couple other items of business this weekend. Had a bit of an "oh shit" moment Sunday while driving to my parents' place when out of nowhere the thing just died on me while I was taking a turn. I had no idea anything was wrong until I had no power steering, and at first I thought the pump had let go (because it whines like a girlfriend who claims you spend all your time working on your Jeep) but when I went to give it gas she was dead. It took a few cranks and a lot of pedal pumping to get it going but eventually it started back up (all pretty much in the middle of an intersection mind you) and I got it pulled in the driveway with no signs of anything wrong.

Checked fuel pump relay, ASD relay, other fuses, and everything checked out. Just for shits I took it to AutoZone to have them run a diagnostic, and lo and behold two codes were present this time around: P0455 (major evap leak that I couldn't give two damns about right now) and P0108 (MAP sensor cooked). The MAP sensor would explain what happened, and also explains a flukey moment I had last week when the thing started, ran for about two seconds, then just cut out suddnely. I didn't think much of it because on the next crank she started right up and there was no engine light on at that point.

You never want something to fail, but this was one of those convenient failures. I'm traveling with it this weekend and plan on doing a little bit of wheeling so better it happen at home and not two plus hours away on a trail, and one of my projects for the day was to remove and clean the throttle body, which I did at the same time. Piece of cake to do and well worth it as it was pretty gunked up in there. Little bit of elbow grease and bunch of carb cleaner and it's shining up nicely.

The major project of the day was installing the Rugged Ridge tow hook brackets that I ordered. Unfortunately I don't have photos of anything as my camera was unexpectedly dead, but I will do my best to describe this bitch of a process in words.

We had suspected that at some point this vehicle must have been in some sort of front end collision because the clip has two barely unnoticeable cracks in it just above the grill and the bumper sits just a smidge lower on the right than it does on the left. Nothing major and like I said you can hardly notice this stuff unless you're looking for them. To install the tow hooks properly, you need to remove the bumper completely from the vehicle and tweak the factory mounting brackets that attach to it.

Getting the bumper off was a breeze, as I soaked all the bolts for a few days leading up to it and there really wasn't much rust up there to begin with. That should have been the hardest part of the process, but like most things Jeep-related that I do there was an unforeseen hiccup. The brackets that attach the bumper to the unibody and the bolts that hold the brackets onto the bumper were MANGLED BEYOND RECOGNITION. I'm talking bolts and corresponding metal that were all once straight are now threading in at 45 degree angles. Not good.

In order for the bumper to be re-installed correctly over the tow hook brackets, the bumper brackets need to be spread wider on each side by roughly a quarter of an inch (the thickness of the hook brackets). But because everything was so FUBAR, this turned into a major project. What should have taken all of five minutes became at least an hour of struggling to hammer and bend and push metal, which in the end accomplished almost nothing.

To complicate things further, the hooks that the PO had installed (through only the bumper as a reminder) were totally seized and required me to bust out the cutting wheel to remove. Note to everyone: DO NOT BE DUMB ENOUGH TO USE SCREW-HEAD BOLTS, ESPECIALLY IN A LOCATION ON A VEHICLE EXPOSED TO THE ELEMENTS, OR YOU ARE A FULL-ON HACK. Had to get that out of my system. Eventually, things lined up as they should have and I was able to get everything buttoned up as it needed to be. I also removed the busted-ass fog lights that were also Jerry-rigged onto the bumper as well, and yanked the wiring. Having done these things, I think I've now removed all signs of the previous owner with the exception of the front speaker wiring and one roof rack that I can't manage to bust loose. Praise the lord.

In conclusion: after much swearing and bloody knuckles, I now have properly installed front recovery points. I plan on eventually installing a hitch in the back to use as a rear point/guard against some idiot plowing into the back of me and immediately smashing the very exposed gas tank, leading to a certain catastrophic ending. Provided all goes well this weekend, the Cherokee and I should be making an appearance at the next club run. I'll try to post some photos of the installed hooks and the brackets in the next few days.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/16/2014, 2:23 pm

Well I just did my first fill-up since the motor swap and I can report that I've gained around 4 mpg. Pulled about 230 miles on 16 gallons, whereas before I was around 100 miles per 10 gallons. I also learned that the gas dummy light comes on with 4 gallons left in the tank and not the 2-2.5 that it reportedly should; and here I was thinking that I'd finally own a vehicle where I didn't have to rely on the trip odometer.

I'm hoping with the new 'performance' air filter (AKA not the bottom of the line STP but not the top of the line K&N) I put it in and the new MAP sensor that I can pull even better numbers, as most of those miles were put on it with a dirty filter and (an unknowingly) faulty sensor. It doesn't help that I mostly drive around town and tend to start it and let it run for a few minutes (usually 2-3) also. I will be doing distance highway driving this weekend (with a little wheeling thrown in), so I'm hoping by the end of it I'll have a nice understanding of exactly what kind of fuel mileage she'll pull in most situations. I'm also considering doing the IAT relocation mod that I've read a fair amount about; it would look something like this: http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/budget-airbox-mod-iat-relocation-2599/
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Post  Jake 10/16/2014, 3:06 pm

Personally I tend to be wary of those small mods that claim to MPG gains or horsepower gains. Generally there's a reason that things are the way they are. Moving the IAT to a location where it reads a colder temp than it should (I doubt the engine cares what the temp in the airbox is, it cares what the temp of the air going into the cylinders is) doesn't seem super smart to me, but what do I know lol. Cleaning it of course can't hurt.

Glad to hear your fuel efficiency has gone up! I too have a major evap leak and I don't know if its hurting me or not.. I think I might just try to bypass the sensor
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Post  THOOPY3 10/16/2014, 3:58 pm

Yeah I may or may not do the IAT thing, most likely I won't because you're right about the colder air factor, especially in the winter around here. In a different thread from the one I posted, that original poster claims that he actually runs two IATs (original location in winter and air box location in summer) acknowledging that there really isn't much benefit to it.

Tonight (provided it's not still pouring rain) I'm going to reset the ECU so it can relearn my driving style and the new modifications to the vehicle, something that I completely forgot about doing after all the work done to it. God knows how long it was running all the stuff I replaced. I know the MAP sensor was original so it's likely many other items have been on there awhile also. The reset should help things as well since I tend to drive the thing like I have an egg shell under my foot, and my guess is this was not the case with the PO.
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Post  dongalonga 10/16/2014, 5:34 pm

Gaining mpg is always a welcomed change.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/20/2014, 3:03 pm

Well I just filled up after this weekend's trip, and did about 265 odometer-corrected miles on 16.7 gallons, which comes to almost exactly 16 mpg. I'd say it was about a 60/40 highway to back road ratio (maybe even 55/45) with about an hour and a half total of light wheeling thrown in there (a couple heavy gas moments but that's it). Top speed was 65 mph (actual) on the highway and there were some hilly spots on it and the back roads that required higher rpm oomph. I had my full size spare and my box of tools/recovery gear/fluids/other items in the back as well.

It's obviously an improvement from the previous tank, but still not quite where I want it for a daily driver. Now I'm obviously reasonable in that it's an older lifted Jeep with bigger tires, but I'd like to see that 16 number around town and even better performance on the highway. Overall though she performed pretty much flawlessly with no issues at all on the road, and you can't really ask for more out of a $500 vehicle (with obvious fixes here and there but you all know what I mean). The brakes and the steering box did present themselves as a bit of a hindrance on the windy roads where we were, but obviously I'm able to compensate for this by adapting my driving style to take them into consideration and take things easy where necessary. And it goes without saying that it was a much more comfortable and laid back ride than those I've made with the YJ, though shocks all around would make it that much better. And there was still plenty of room for two rear passengers, the spare/gear, and some overnight bags and other items in the back, which is a welcomed change from the ridiculous game of Tetris that loading the YJ was/is while trying to accomplish the same thing.

All that being said -- and it really pains me to say this -- it didn't perform off-road nearly as well as I was hoping. I'm not sure exactly why this was the case: whether it was my inexperience with an automatic off-road, the fact that the trail was covered by wet leaves, not airing down enough, the bigger motor having more torque, or a combination of all of those things. A few rock obstacles that I've walked right up with the YJ (with these same tires) actually gave me some difficulty this time around, something I really was not expecting with the added flex, clearance, and motor/tranny combo.

What surprised me most was that it actually seemed to perform better in 4-Hi than 4-Lo. While attempting/checking off-camber flex, I was able to crawl further up dirt and rocks in 4-Hi, whereas in 4-Lo I experience a tremendous amount of wheel spin both front and rear. I tried a variety of gear combinations, i.e. overdrive, 3, and 1-2 in both 4-Hi and 4-Lo, and in 4-Lo they all resulted in basically the same amount of wheel spin. In 4-Hi 3, it walked right up the off-camber stuff, and same thing goes for a rock I climbed straight on (not off-camber). The only conclusion I can draw from that is that there was actually too much torque getting to the tires for them to dig in. Again there was a solid layer of wet leaves everywhere, but this was something I really wasn't expecting. I was running about 14-15 psi in all the tires, up a little from my usual 10-12 when doing heavier wheeling, but I really can't see that 3-4 pounds making that much of a difference in this particular situation.

When I wheel the YJ (which is a manual transmission) I usually climb this one particular obstacle in first gear (usually the torque helps not hurts) and occasionally second, with a good mix of gas and clutch to get the job done. The issue I had was that with the Cherokee's tranny in overdrive or 3 and the case in 4-Lo it had a tendency to very rapidly shift out of first before reaching the obstacle (as it required a little bit of speed to get up), thus in my mind signaling that second wasn't torque-y enough. However with it in 1-2 and 4-Lo tire spin was a huge problem, signaling to me that first gear was in fact too torque-y to get the job done. Eventually I ended up just having to take a different line and made it up and over in one go, but it irks me that this relatively easy climb was an issue for what I consider to be a more capable vehicle. The only time this spot ever gave me trouble in the past was when the YJ was riding on flat, inverted factory leafs and 28 inch tires, and even then I made it over on the more difficult line.

Maybe you guys with automatics can chime in and give me some methods/advice on wheeling with one. It will obviously take some practice and adjustment to learn the new vehicle, but any push in the right direction would be helpful. I know I should be able to accomplish everything while in 4-Lo, and I'd really like to avoid having to shift back and forth between Hi and Lo because there is a bit of a grind in the case when doing so (and I did follow the correct shifting procedure which also is different from the YJ). I most likely won't get another chance to wheel it before hitting the trails with you guys at some point and I'm not looking to be the club anchor (yet again, haha).

Oh and I do have photos of it flexing, which -- despite all the negativity I just spewed out -- I was happy with, but I rather unfortunately switched my camera to raw image mode, so I have to figure out a way to convert those from .CR2 files to .JPEG. Once I do I'll get some posted here.
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Post  Jake 10/20/2014, 5:26 pm

Nice! There's a pretty decent open source photo editing program called raw therapy if you're looking for something free.

I personally hate autos, but that's my only experience wheeling, and minimal at that but for the most part it seemed like a slow craw in 4lo got over most obstacles? My experience is really minimal though and I haven't wheeled it with non-bald tires yet either.
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Post  Mark 10/20/2014, 5:51 pm

Hey there TJ, is the method that you use to shift t case from low to hi or hi to low correct ? as it should never grind.
When shifting from 4low to 4 hi you should move the shift lever to hi in one motion,do not stop at neutral, just push lever forward until you hit 4 hi.
Same way from 4hi to 4 low.
Usually if you put t case in neutral or stop at neutral it will grind when shifting out of it, so shutting engine off and then shift to 4 hi or low works in that situation.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/20/2014, 6:35 pm

Going from 2-Hi to 4-Hi is a breeze, no grind at all. Going from 4-Hi to 4-Lo or vice versa is when a small grind happens. I messed around with shifting it a little before I went wheeling and determined that if the vehicle is not moving at all the grind from Hi to Lo or Lo to Hi is atrociously awful. And by moving I mean under the 5 mph that Jeep recommends. If I'm moving it's just a brief, small grind as I pass from 4-Lo to 4-Hi or the other way around. And as I learned this should all be done with the transmission in neutral (exception is 2-Hi to 4-Hi) or bad things happen.

The problem is the case doesn't shift very smoothly (again exception is 2-Hi to 4-Hi), so making it a swift motion hasn't worked out thus far. I've tried quickly going from Hi to Lo or Lo to Hi; when going from Hi to Lo it seems to get 'snagged' a bit in the process and when going from Lo to Hi I tend to pop it completely out of 4WD or end up in between 4-Hi and 2-Hi. I'm not sure if there's a problem brewing with the case or if it has something to do with the fact that there's a transfer case drop on the vehicle. I read somewhere that a little grind when shifting it isn't abnormal, and that's what I have going on now. I will say that the YJ case doesn't grind at all, and with it if you're moving even the slightest bit going from 4-Hi to 4-Lo it grinds like a mother. It's a totally different process from shifting the case in the Cherokee though.
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Post  Mark 10/20/2014, 7:37 pm

The linkage is probably the issue as it should go in and out like a breeze,
Is there slop in the linkage or a binding feeling?
When you are shifting the t case are you anticipating the pattern that the shifter has to go through because it is notched at the shifter base.{zig zag}
You might want to try pulling the shifter towards your right leg when shifting from 4h to 4L .but it may be that the linkage is the issue no matter the technique.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/21/2014, 11:02 am

I guess you could describe the noise as a binding. Just for shits I played with going in and out of 4-Hi and 4-Lo last night and again it seems like nothing I do can stop the little noise from happening. It goes nice and smooth through N but as soon as you get to 4-Hi or 4-Lo there's the small hesitation and grind/bind that occurs. I'll try messing around with the linkage this weekend if I get some time, as I do plan on doing a few small things before it starts to get too cold. While I've been under the thing I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary but that doesn't mean much.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/21/2014, 11:11 pm

As promised, photos of this weekend's activities. I've got plenty more but for some reason I can't get them to upload. Not sure if it's on my end or the forum.

Little Red (T.J.'s XJ) - Page 5 Img_1514

Little Red (T.J.'s XJ) - Page 5 Img_1516

Little Red (T.J.'s XJ) - Page 5 Img_1515

All in all I was happy with the flex and the overall comfort of the ride off-road. Much easier and more relaxing than the YJ. As I noted before my only real issue was with the wheel spin in 4-Lo, which you can see a bit of in the middle photo above.
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Post  Posimoto 10/22/2014, 8:57 am

Nice pics thanks for sharing
On the t-case, when was the last time you checked fluid level?
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Post  THOOPY3 10/22/2014, 10:43 am

I haven't checked the fluid at all to be honest. The PO said he used to have all the fluids changed once a year and I took him at his word on that, but it wouldn't hurt to drain it and check myself. I think it may probably just be that the linkage needs some adjusting because of the drop that's on the t-case. Like I said it's smooth as butter going from 2-Hi to 4-Hi, and there was no whining or grinding from the case when I was putzing off-road this weekend.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/27/2014, 1:32 pm

So I got a chance to poke around at a few things over the weekend that were giving me trouble.

Project 1: My defrost issue (which is being documented here so I won't get into that too much here for sake of cross-posting). But, while poking around with the dash and checking things on the passenger side, I noticed that the passenger side carpet mat seemed really wet. At first I thought it was just residual dampness from my girlfriend sitting there after the heavy rains last week, but after pulling the mat up I realized the floor was soaking wet. So I tore up the carpet as best as I could and discovered at least half an inch of water sitting on the passenger floor board. Fuck me.

I traced the dampness with my hand and determined that my passenger floor was/is soaked all the way back to the floor in front of the rear seat, meaning most likely there was even more water in there than I encountered on Saturday (a few days of drying in between the rain and then). The only good news in this scenario is that it was 100 percent not coolant that was on the the floor, which it goes without saying is good news.

Only the Jeep gods know where the leak is coming from, and my prayers to them have always gone unanswered so once again I'm on a witch hunt for the cause of my problem. Possible areas of concern are: windshield gasket; blower motor gasket; gasket around fresh air intake underneath hood cowl; antenna gasket; weatherstripping around door; or improperly positioned/messed-up door. There's a million threads on the internet about a million different things that could be causing this so it's going to take a full day of investigation to really pin it down I think.

I'm leaning towards the last area -- messed up door position -- as the culprit. I noticed that the door itself has some home improvement store bought foam on it that none of the other doors have that's clearly not a factory thing. I believe the Jeep was damaged at some point in the right front (there's a decent dent on the lower right front fender near the door, and the PO mentioned something about an accident) so maybe, just maybe, it's an issue with things just not lining up correctly as a result and his temp fix was the foam stripping. I did notice that it was dampest right under the door, and that the floor and carpet up near the firewall were not wet, again making me think it could be around the door.

Complicating the pinpointing process is the fact that there is no level ground virtually anywhere in the city of Woburn, so whenever I park at night I'm facing either uphill or downhill (mostly uphill in my situation), which I'm sure aided the water in reaching the back seat. At some point soon I'm gonna grab an assistant and take a garden hose (before things freeze over) and blast the thing and try and find the exact culprit. Regardless I think I'm going to silicone a number of the above areas that I mentioned just for peace of mind regardless of whether or not I can pin down exactly where the leak is. I honestly thought I left my wet floor problems parked at my parents' place, but you'd think I would have learned by now that things aren't that simple.

Project 2: Transfer case lever. As I wrote about previously, the transfer case was giving me a bit of a headache when shifting from 4-Hi into 4-Lo and vice versa. An internet search led me to the shift linkage, which is where I started to address my issue. I put the case into 4-Lo and noticed that there was a bit of play in the lever and the rod, i.e. is was not fully back when the case lever was pulled all the way back into 4-Lo. So I loosened the nut, had my helper pull the lever back all the way, and I moved the linkage back slightly further to eliminate any excess play (full disclosure: it took some minor blows with a hammer to accomplish this).

I tightened everything back up, and on my initial test ride it did seem to shift smoother than before, but I still get a small grinding/clunking noise when passing through N. What I really need to do is see one of you guys shift your TJ or XJ into 4WD on an upcoming run to see if it engages or even sounds like mine does, because it's possible the noises I'm getting are normal noises of the forks in the transfer case engaging. Also, as I feared, while I was under the thing I noticed that some of the corresponding linkages to the shift lever are 'bent' downward as a result of the transfer case drop that was installed by the PO. Because the case is lowered an inch the linkages (that are attached to the unibody or actual body, can't remember which) are not straight like they were from the factory, and this could be causing some binding as Mark mentioned in one of his posts. It's definitely already causing some wear of the plastic washers/spacers that are attached to it.

The saving grace here is that 98 percent of the time the Cherokee will be in 2-Hi, even in the winter, and because it is smooth going from 2-Hi to 4-Hi I'm not all that worried about it. Most of the time on the trail I'm not switching between Hi and Lo anyway, so again not an area of huge concern. This would be more of an issue if this vehicle was going to be a dedicated wheeler, but it will not be one of those and won't be seeing any double black diamond trails probably ever while I own it.
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Post  dongalonga 10/28/2014, 2:41 pm

Get another person and find that leak. One person sprays the suspected area with a hose and the other watches for water. Obviously remove the carpet and dry everything first.
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Post  THOOPY3 10/28/2014, 3:28 pm

Yeah that's the plan for Saturday morning (provided the hose doesn't freeze during the night). I've got a few areas of probable cause, and I may do some door adjusting for the heck of it. The door is messed up in one way or another because the retaining strap pin is long gone.

I'm beginning to wonder too if the mist I was seeing coming through the defrost vents isn't somehow linked to all of this in one way or another, i.e. both my defrost and leak issues. I'm pretty confident that the mist was the vaporization of the refrigerant system dye 'burning' off the block and coming through the window defrost vents. The only way it could do that would be if the blower were pulling it in, but it only ever happened with the HVAC system off, so I wonder if there's a gap between the blower motor and the firewall letting it in. If not this may point to a larger problem with the HVAC system than originally thought, i.e. the blower is always on when the Jeep is running, or the blend door never correctly closes or is broken. A gap or bad seal around the blower motor would explain the water getting in as well.

Stuff like this is always such a crap shoot.
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