Double Dingo's 1991 Jeep Cherokee

[AuroraGirl]

It's the water pump bearing. The quality control is next to nothing nowadays. The one I replaced recently, I had to have the store get three to compare before I found one that would rotate with minimal effort, and even that one was too stiff for my liking. It lasted just over a year. The chirping only happened when it was cold outside, and once the engine warmed up the chirping went away. Squealy belts don't stop squealing. New water pump, same belt, no more chirp.

What im telling you is what to do to fix the chirping and other noises. if you arent bothered by it, then yay I guess

 

[DoubleDingo]

About a year and a half ago I was having cooling on the Jeep. Of course it was triple digit temperatures when this all happened, so I was stuck running the heater while driving to try and keep it from overheating. You always seem to hit every red light when you're overheating, too. I swapped out the 195 thermostat, which was a Stant, and installed a 180. The 180 didn't keep it from overheating. I replaced the temp sensor in the thermostat housing because jumpering the connection didn't cause the auxiliary fan to kick on.

That didn't fix it either. Thinking it was a bad fan I bought a new one. Had to return it because it was china made crap. The OEM fan doesn't have a stud in the center of the fan, so you can easily remove the fan if need be to work on the front of the engine. I have learned to work on it without removing the fan, but it does make life easier with it out. To install the china fan I'd have to remove the power steering pump. No way!! Returned the fan.

Cleaned the connections and the OEM fan worked.

I meant to replace the thermostat with a 195 last winter, but time got away from me and then it was summertime again.

On Saturday, I replaced the 180 with a 195. I wanted Stant, I special ordered Stant, I got 10 of them so I would have good quality parts as reserve. Each Stant box had a motorad thermostat in it. I figured if all I can get is motorad, then I will just install the piece of crap motorad.

Buttoned everything up, started the Jeep and I had drips coming from the bottom of thermostat housing! WTF!! It was getting late in the day and I had to fill the two green cans.

Sunday, I took it apart to see if I somehow cracked the housing. When I got the housing off I noticed a circular piece of the gasket stuck on it. I found that odd. After scraping the gasket off the housing I didn't find any cracks, which is good news.

Knowing all of the "Stant" thermostats I just bought having motorad in their respective boxes, I searched for the 195 I removed when the overheating problem was going on. I found it, it is a genuine Stant.

Then I compared the one I installed Saturday to the old Stant I found. The Stant is flat. The motorad has a lip. That lip cut the gasket, thus causing the leak. The 180 I removed was also a motorad with that lip, but it must not be as pronounced as the new 195 I installed that cut the gasket.

I showed my wife, I even had her look at how each one sat in the recess on the engine block. The Stant was flush, the motorad sat proud of the mating surface. That explains why it cut the gasket. The 180 I removed also caused the gasket to sever, but it didn't cause a leak.

I didn't get photos of the cut gasket, but I did get photos of the good old thermostat and the crappy new one that cut the gasket.

Good Old Stant....

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Crappy motorad....

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[DoubleDingo]

Finally got around to installing the headlight relay kit from Jeep Cables. Not completely plug and play, had to extend the grounds for each light, but what a difference.

Low Beam

You must be registered for see images attach

High Beam

You must be registered for see images attach

These are the old sealed beams, not the Hellas. And the front end wasn't buttoned up, so they are pointing down.

I didn't install the hellas because I didn't want to go down the rabbit hole of them not working properly, or needing an adapter. I don't think they need an adapter, but I had a bunch of electrical connections to clean and put some ox gard on.

Been fighting electrical demons on this thing. Still not right, but at least got speedometer working again. That actually turned out to be a faulty vss. Seems you can't get one that'll last more than 3 weeks to 3 months anymore. Tired of changing them out or fiddling with electrical only to find out it was another bad vss. I have accurate speedometer for the time being and the transmission is happy again, too.

 

[DoubleDingo]

@SirRobyn0 When you installed your Hellas on your truck, was it plug and play? Or did you need an adapter to fix the high/low beam pins? I know some of the newer bulbs/lights require the wires to either be moved or use an adapter/pigtail. If the Hellas don't need an adapter, then I can swap those in and have even better illumination without any hassles. I think they are 9003 bulbs in the 5x7 Hellas I got.

 

[SirRobyn0]

@SirRobyn0 When you installed your Hellas on your truck, was it plug and play? Or did you need an adapter to fix the high/low beam pins? I know some of the newer bulbs/lights require the wires to either be moved or use an adapter/pigtail. If the Hellas don't need an adapter, then I can swap those in and have even better illumination without any hassles. I think they are 9003 bulbs in the 5x7 Hellas I got.

No adaptors for the truck, simply plug and play. I've had them in for... I think this is the second winter, and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. It's SOOOO much better than the sealed beams. Couple it with a pair of hella 550 fog light like I did on the truck and it's just awesome. Yes mine take the 9003 bulb AKA H4.

If your at all interested my 1996 GC has terrible headlights. I've even installed new factory housings, which didn't help much, and it doesn't help that I'm running the spare on the front bumper, I'm sure it catches some of the light so I've got Hella 440 clear fogs on it.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[DoubleDingo]

No adaptors for the truck, simply plug and play. I've had them in for... I think this is the second winter, and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. It's SOOOO much better than the sealed beams. Couple it with a pair of hella 550 fog light like I did on the truck and it's just awesome. Yes mine take the 9003 bulb AKA H4.

If your at all interested my 1996 GC has terrible headlights. I've even installed new factory housings, which didn't help much, and it doesn't help that I'm running the spare on the front bumper, I'm sure it catches some of the light so I've got Hella 440 clear fogs on it.

You must be registered for see images attach

Good to know. I pulled out one of the boxes last night and it appeared to be plug and play, and you confirmed it. I found a set of running light/fog light years ago. I really liked having both in the same housing. The switch is a three position switch so you could choose between the two. I had a set on Mean Green, too. Those got destroyed when I rolled the truck in 2005. The ones on my jeep got mangled when I helped Pop move his Pontiac into the garage a few years ago. We put a tire on the front bumper, I put it in 4 Lo, and everything was going smoothly until we got the car up into the garage, or almost in the garage. They said it was up there, but the front tires hadn't quite made it to the flat surface. I left off the throttle and started backing up when the car rolled forward into my front, thus breaking the driver's side light and denting my bumper. The lights actually still worked, but the glass was broken and the housing was being held together with aluminum duct tape. I removed them when I installed the relay kit. I plan to get some Hella fogs, the yellow ones, and I am considering getting some driving lights to mount somewhere else. Then I can still use that switch, but have it trigger relay(s) for the lights.

Last night was the first time I got to try the sealed beams in the dark on the new relay kit. I am going to hold off installing the hellas until one of the sealed beams goes out. I told my wife I just can't get rid of the sealed beams when they are still working just fine. They are old, probably replaced them in the mid 2000s, but they still work just fine and now are much brighter. Seeing your grand cherokee with the lights mounted low, I may do that with the driving lights. The bumper has holes from the factory for fogs. And the relay kit has a wire to trigger the fogs if I decide to utilize it. I probably won't, I like having the option using the switch wired separately from the headlights. I remember being able to light up the road pretty good with brights and driving lights out in the middle of nowhere and no oncoming traffic.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Yea, so my story on the fog lights is that my GC was a factory fog light vehicle, but somewhere along the lines the fog lights were removed. So wiring was really easy for me, I just wired them into the factory wiring.

If I'm 100% honest I was fine with sealed beams on the truck until one of them burned out. I could not find any replacements that were worth a darn. Poor beam pattern and poor light production being the biggest issues. According to Ellie Niner, and IIFC he said there are limited manufactures and they are pretty much all off shore and shotty. So I'm betting you'll be good with those old sealed beams until one of them goes.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I think they were GE or Sylvania, I can't remember, but they are old.

 

[DoubleDingo]

On Saturday I changed the spark plugs to Champion 9034 because of the hotter coil. I gapped the plugs to 0.060 as the coil instructions said I could gap them to 0.065. It's a tired engine but it runs much smoother now. Also drained and filled the transfer case ATF. It was actually red, not burned, so that was good. And then changed the rear differential gear oil. Some mundane projects taken care of, but much peace of mind gained from doing them.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Some mundane projects taken care of, but much peace of mind gained from doing them.

I understand that one for sure!

 

[DoubleDingo]

Last week we took a trip out of the city. At first the Jeep was running just okay. Better with the new spark plugs and gapped more for the hotter spark of the screamin demon coil and high end wires. It pulled hills better. It was nice to finally have a working speedometer, too. Have been battling that issue for a few years now. Hoping this VSS doesn't crap out in short order like every other one I have installed. Not holding my breath on that one.

The transmission wasn't acting quite right, it wouldn't downshift when it was supposed to, or it would downshift to the wrong gear causing high revs, which is bad for any engine but worse for a high mileage one. After a couple days of highway driving I noticed things had improved.

Did a little 4-wheeling, nothing major, and maybe not needed, but it helped get through some sticky spots without tearing up the road, and it exercised the transfer case and front axle.

I have noticed the steering getting more and more sloppy. I looked into getting a new Lares unit, and for 350 bones it's a good deal not having to wonder if a rebuilt unit will be good or not. I can replace tie-rods while I am at it if they are worn out.

I have a feeling my heater core is going out. I know the blower motor is, it now squeals for a couple minutes until it runs long enough to loosen up. That's an easy fix. The heater core is big job.

I have a growing list of to-do's on the jeep now, so my weekends are going to be busy.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I have a growing list of to-do's on the jeep now, so my weekends are going to be busy.

I hear ya!

 

[DoubleDingo]

Didn't get a year out of the Delphi fuel pump assembly. Jeep left me stranded yesterday, luckily it was parked in the work parking lot. I assume it's the fuel pump, but it may be the ignition switch, as the fuel pump relay is powered in the PDC by the ignition switch. I'll be tracking down the wiring to see if the relay is getting power. Jumpering the relay and turning the key on doesn't cause the pump to run or prime. After about an hour of trying to figure out the wiring diagrams in the shop manual, I saw how they laid them out, and was able to see how things were wired, but I haven't had the chance to check it. It got towed home at lunch. Fun times

 

[squaredeal91]

Growing up my dad bought a 90 Cherokee and have lots of memories in that thing. These jeeps are great! 91 is a good year. First of the normaler cooling system, no stupid plastic bottle. You can easily retrofit earlier ones by swapping a couple things over. Overall the last of the good stuff. The hoods are heavy Chevy! Lol

 

[squaredeal91]

Once on ours fuel pump quit on me a couple times on me. I hit the bottom of the tank with a 2x4 and got home.