Shawnyd24

Hello All,

First off, I'm new to the forums so bare with me.

Anyway, I just got a 1990 Jeep Laredo Cherokee automatic, 4x4 with a straight 6. I went off roading for the first time and had the engine nearly over heat on a few miles uphill. Once the engine cooled down I proceeded back down the mountain. The temp. of the engine was not an issue on the way down. On the way I noticed a burning plastic smell and the break began to slowly stop working. I ended up getting back to my house with about 10% break power. The weirdest part is when I got home. I turned the Jeep off and when I went to turn it back on I had nothing. No lights, no beeping sound, no power at all, my battery was fully charged last week. So my questions are..

1. What do you think I need to replace for my break issue?

2. Any idea's about the power not turning on?

mud-dog27

1. sounds like you were riding your brakes, gear down and put it in 4low next time and pump the brakes when you going down hill as the auto isnt geared quite low enough for downhill driving, chances are you may have cooked your brakes and need to replace em if they are warped.

2. you say the battery was fine last week, but have you checked it since? may have rattled a connection loose, start by checking your grounds and making sure connections are tight.

Shawnyd24

You are right about #1. I think I was too concerned about the engine over heating I wanted to get down as fast as possible (being 25 miles out on a dirt road). Beginner mistake, call it a lesson learned.

For number 2, all the connections are still tight. I'm going to take the battery out tomorrow and get it checked. Someone mentioned it could have been a fuse, but all of them looked pretty good... Thanks for the info!

Disoriented Hillbilly

Your brakes i believe are the bendix nine abs garbage that chrysler adopted from audi when they bought them? If that is the case u need to replace that junk asap. Especially if u r doin much hill wheelin. Get a booster, prop valve, and master cylinder from a jy and swap it. Its easy to do. And then its safe!

mud-dog27

if the poor bastard has ABS then yes if hes lucky the original owner said no to the ABS....and its not as easy as it sounds to swap....ya need booster,master,prop,lines,pedals......half the job is just getting that god damn rats nest system out of there, i did it on my buddies and it was a son of a *****, mind you like i say most of it was the removal that was a pain

Shawnyd24

I checked the battery and it is still charged. So, I hope that is a good sign?

For the brakes, they are ABS, everyone I talk to tells me its a crappy designed system, I have no experience with any brakes. However, I have a friend coming to check them out this week when he can. The brake fluid is still full, so there shouldn't be any leaks. Keep you guys posted thanks for the info.

mud-dog27

how old is the fluid? could be old and filled with moisture, and yes that ancient short live bendix ABS system is crap and if the compressor goes bad good luck, i had a buddy with that system and only replacemnt compressor he could find was a used unit cant remember cost but it was far from cheap and hard to find and it failed within a month at which point we replaced the whole system with a non-ABS setup

elp19527

My 1990 Jeep Cherokee Larado has an abs brake system and we want to change it to another type of braking system. My son-in-law is a mechanic and is willing to do the job. It is also is a 4X4. I also have a pick a part jeep but it is a 1988 front wheel drive. It has the brake system we want to put in the '90. But we are wondering about the brake fluid lines. Is there diagram we can follow?