New XJ, Have a few issues!
 

Hi ausjeepoffroad members!

I have just joined this forum, after purchasing my first jeep today, a 1995 Cherokee XJ sport with 140,000km on the clock! Super stoked to have gotten this car, but am having some issues with the wiring especially... and a few questions to ask if possible :)

So! I've got a few problems.

1: The dash backlighting doesnt come on with the switch (the rotating dimmer switch.) The dome lights work and so do headlights, but when I try to turn up the dash backlighting it doesnt work. It does, however, work when I lock and unlock the car (ie not touch the light switch and the exterior lights come on). What would I be looking for? a ground? fuse? the switch?

2: The radio doesnt work. Has the stock unit and just wont do anything. The aeiral is hiding away in the quarter panel.

3: Had a breakdown on the way home from getting it (150km drive). It came to a complete stop a roundabout and would keep cranking and not turn on. I left it for about 5 minutes and cleaned the distributor power wire (directly under the leaking power steering fluid hose which leaked on it) and it worked. Would I be correct in saying the fluid was the issue? Not a CPS or something?

4: My left hand engine mount is snafu. How hard a job is this to do?

5:The car feels a tad sluggish over 3k. A tune up is in order, but do these cars pull well at around 80? The engine is super quiet and idles well.

6: The doorcard (drivers side) has been replaced with a limited doorcard(mines a sport) am I correct in saying the limited has different window switches as mine dont work (just checked, the connectors arent plugged in and wont fit).

Cheers everyone, hope to have some responses!

Hamish

welcome to XJ ownership, you will be needing a test light, multimeter with continuity tester, and some wire.

for No1

2) aerials are often dead, but radio should come on, check fuses & wiring

3)could be wiring, crank or cam sensor (or something else)

4) LH engine mount is not too hard, but I needed many tools, as other things restrict access

5) the engine should pull hard to over 4500rpm, new spark plugs and fuel & air filter?

6) run 12V to the motor to see if its working, then unsnap the connectors and run wires direct as possible, in my case it was the wires, the drivers door wires tend to fail due to all that bending


Jeep XJ have poor quality wiring!

congratulations on getting yourself a low k's XJ. At 140,000 she is just run in. My 95 has 350,000 and still sounds like new.
All the XJ's suffer from a worn left side engine mount due to heat from the headers. Plenty of YouTube vid's on changing them out. Can't remember if its the left or right mount, but one is for RHD XJ's only, so just remember that when sourcing a new one. As for the electrical stuff, there are some good leckies on here, so hopefully they will chime in. My XJ had a leaking power steering hose 10 years ago. Tightened it up, and i have never had a problem since.

Mine used to conk out after a drive as well years ago. Ended up being a cps, but people also have problems like yours with the tps. These are all good parts to keep spares of, as well as a coil, leads, cap and rotor button.

Radio could be a simple fuse.

You will work through these minor problems, and then have a great car,

Cheers,

Alex

2: most likely a fuse.
3: sounds just like a cps, just be aware that there are two, the Crank Position Sensor (in the bell housing) and the Cam Position Sensor (in the dissy).
4: just time consuming.
5: my 95 was a little lethargic when it was OBD1 (2 fuel lines to the injector rail), it's noticably better now that it's been upgraded to OBD2 (1 fuel line to the injector rail).
6: Door trims may be different from a sport to a limited but the switches are the same...

Good luck with it...

Once you sort out these age related issues you will have a great 4x4
_____ooooo
/__l_l_,\____\,___
l_---l_l__l---[ ]llllll[ ]
_.(o)_)__(o)_)--o-)_)
as said above fuses dry bad wires bad sensor little things that frustrate

Put in a new head unit, it's about time it had a new sound system!

Thanks for the help an suggestions all! Am super happy I got a low Kay car... Its lowest Kms of all the cars in my house bar the brand new one!
The wiring in these things seems to be so cobbled together... And just stuff added all over the joint, with hardware changes that are undocumented... Seems a bit of a mess but I should be able to work through it (this is coming from a Renault owner!!!) ;)

The car doesn't need too much... The few bits and pieces I've got below.. as well as brakes (warped rotors) and power steering lines.. they're loose at the metal to hose part so I think they're junk. Has new tyres though!

1)Okay so I have all the items to test the switch, so shouldn't be too difficult to see where it's failing? Should I clean the switch?

2)Radio works. Was a dead fuse, and the aerial works too now! Cheers all.

Also... I tried removing the stereo... but I cannot for the life of me get the steering column shroud off. There are two screws or something so far down with like torx or something on them and I can't get it off. And I am not overly keen on pulling the dash trim off either with it in place, it's 22 yo now and feels like it's gonna break...

3) should I just replace both the crank angle and cam angle sensors at this age? Crank angle seems a bit of a bastard to get to but can is easy..

4) general consensus is the engine mount will take a fair whack of time..
Is this the correct part?
https://www.sparesbox.com.au/kelpro-engine-mount-mt9044

5)I have purchased the following today-
Plugs
Leads
Dizzy cap and rotor
Air filter
Fuel filter
Hopefully they make a difference. Anything else anyone would suggest?

Changing to OBD-2 on one of these would be a big pain in the ass wouldn't it? Like whole loom and all that?

6) Cheers, will run 12v to them. The connectors look completely different. Maybe I was doing it incorrectly... I'll have another crack.


Also. My oil pressure sensor isn't working (it pegs right up to as high as possible lol) apparently the last owner replaced it with a refresh model one. What would I be looking for here?


Also I'll drop a pic of the car as pictures make everyone happy! Thanks for the help! Can't wait to have it on the road!! :)https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e3387afb40.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...93cb951e67.jpg

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