Barnyardmonkey

Hey hey,

First post, and having a problem with my wifes Cherokee i'm hoping for some assistance with.


Have had it for a few months with no problems, but it has been needing an ignition switch as the previous owner broke the key off, and wasn't 100% honest with me it appears.

the heater wasn't working when i got it, since it was in the high 90's a few months back, i didn't think much about it.

Well a few days ago i started trying to get it working.
the main power plug, heat control cable, and vacuum plug was unhooked for starters.

1st: The heater blower was bad, so i replaced with a new one

2nd: The control head was busted up, wouldn't screw into the dash (replaced it)

3rd: Replaced the blower switch, since i've read they have lots or problems (junkyard)


After getting everything going, it was working fine throwing out heat as it should, but the wife said when she had it on high, she noticed the smoke coming from the steering column.

i took the column apart, and the wires on the plug going into the ignition switch were hot, and appears the previous owner had some black tape on 2 of the wires.

I've done alot of googling and such the last few days and found lots of people with the same problem, but not much for a fix.
other then replacing each part (ignition switch and wires included), and waiting for the problem to happen again a year or so later.


Hoping someone can give me some help on maybe a workaround, or what else may be leading to the problem.

seems when it is on low, it doesn't smoke. the wires appear to be heating up once it's on a higher setting.


I also read that a bad ground could do this, and noticed tonight that the ground from the battery to the frame was rotted off. going to fix this anyways tomorrow, but was curious if this could be causing the problem as well.


Any help would be appreciated as winter is setting in, and it's the only transportation she has at the moment.


Thanks.

Radi

The fix is to replace the switch and plug. This wasn't one of Chrysler's best designs, they're marginal parts at best.
Spraying the connector with some Cramolin D5 (called Caig DeoxIt now I guess) helps maintain a good connection, keeping the heat down on the new parts.
http://store.caig.com/s.nl/it.A/id.1602/.f

I'm interested to see if there are any good long-term solutions too.

Barnyardmonkey

Thanks for info Radi.

Figured that would be the route to go.
do you know where the other end of the ignition switch harness unplugs
from? haven't had a chance since last post to see where it runs to.

Looking to switch it out tomorrow from the junkyard, since
the autoparts store wants $114 for the switch and cylinder.
only $10 at the jy.


Thanks.