can anyone toss me a little advice?
i love jeeps and just traded my maxima for a 98 xj classic.
(no check engine light)

<1st issue:>
my heat is luke warm. it takes like 10 minutes of driving to even get to a maximum of barely warm. the fan blows well when heats on and even stronger when set on cold.
i changed the thermostat for the hell of it but didnt solve the problem.
it has manual and not digital ***** on dash.
*something that may or may not be related is my a/c doesnt blow cold air at all.
im at a loss. winter is setting in and i have to drive my pregnant wife and 2 year old who bundle up to sit in the jeep. (i dont mean to give a sob story but just pointing out its rather important to me for that reason, otherwise i really wouldnt care much)

<2nd issue:>
when im in drive and stopped at a light the car idles a little rough, like a bump every few seconds like a cylinder missing or something similar.
it is most noticable by a long shot when i ease up(4 m.p.h with brake on and slowing down) on a stopped car in front of me or at a drive through when i creep up to window .
i did replace plugs with new platinums and new distributor wires. and i did clean the carbon off of the air idle control or was it the air throttle control (the electrical spring part that screws to throttle body). .......
*heres something which may or may not be related but worth a mention, when i am stopped then immediately press on the gas it 89% of the time feels like it slams into 1st gear. i dont know if its related but i drive like an old old man because i dont want to strain the tranny


sorry about the non technical terms and descriptions. i remodel houses and just tinker with maintaining my past cars.

any help would be more than greatly appreciated. thank you for your time, tyler. (pennsylvania)

with the engine running and warm check the two heater hoses in the engine compartment going into the fire wall, they should be warm to hot, both about the same temp, if only one is hot and the other is cold, your heater core is clogged or the temperature valve (which is located on one of those hoses) is not working, it works on a vacuum, sorry I don't have a pic of it. There is one floating on this forum somewhere, try a search

The A/C has no effect on weather the heater works, so if it is not working you still should have heat

can't really help on the idle issue, other than is your check engine light on?

thank you cj! no check engine light. but i did notice when the heats on i feel air coming out from where the hoses(pipes) pass through the firewall and the firewall itself.

1. It is very likely that your heater core is partially clogged. There is no heater control valve on a 98. You could try backflushing the heater core with garden hose pressure. I also have had some luck with containing the heater core and flooding it with a mild cleaning solution like CLR or vinegar for a few hours, then flushing.

2. Did you replace the distributor cap and rotor when you did the plugs and wires? Your tuneup is not complete until those two things are replaced.

3. The "clunk" you hear when starting out is most likely a slip yoke on the driveshaft that needs to be lubricated. A very common problem on 97 and newer XJs. Older ones were lubricated by a bath of ATF fluid in the transfer case but newer ones are not. You can disconnect and lubricate the splines on this and it usually quiets down and takes away your "clunk", at least for a while.........

Here is a link to that procedure.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/g...ite-up-357569/

Thanks for correcting me TJwalker on the heater control valve

thank you TJ. that was comprehensive. i hope you live nearby cause id pay you to take all of that looks like i have my weekend work cut out for me.

thank you both again for your help. i barely have extra time so as i knock these out ill repost to this thread. thanks again!! tyler

right on ill be watching this i have the same heater prolbem

when i bought my 96 it had no heat whatsoever. backflushing the heater core several times with a garden hose worked for me. id try that out first more than likely will make a difference.

i ran the jeep with heat on high for 15mins. the top hose was hot and bottom was luke warm and heat air was barely warm aswell.

so i took the one hose off and flushed the heater core for about 20 minutes. i saw no gunk or signs of blockage.
refilled and ran jeep with heat on and radiator cap off to bleed system.

STILL NO HEAT

i read somewhere that theyre noted the blender door on these tend to go. did anyone hear anything about that? i thought it was just with digital heat that the door breaks.

if someone can lead me down the road to repair this ill burn you some live shows of your favorite band or something.

thank everyone for your help so far and thank you in advance for additional ideas.

p.s. ill tackle the anti seizing grease and the new dist cap/rotor in a week