First off just wanted to say hi! New to the boards and look forward to learning more about my 98 jeep cherokee.

Now on to my problem. I have been getting a "check gauges" light so I replaced the battery as it was older that that was my first guess plus just wanted to do it anyways. After that didn't work I broke out the multimeter and checked if it was charging. I got 12.36 when the car was off and 12.31 when it was running. So my guess it that the alt. if bad. I searched for a bit and didn't come up with anything so thought that I would ask.

Is there a good Alt. replacement DIY? What is a good location for DIYs? I have changed them on my other cars but didn't know if there were any tricks with the jeep Any help would be appreciated. I am a little short on time since I am working on another car that I hit the wall with up at Watkins Glen

THANKS!!!!!

 

Welcome to CF from Tj... There are lots of DIY's threads on here. Just do a search and see what comes up...Tj

 

best way to check alternator is take your battery cables off your jeep when its running.. if it stalls you have a bad alternator. The best DIY ive seen on them is in our forums its in the write up section third or fourth page.

Welcome to CF!

 

Trek! Thanks for all your help!!


Shoot didn't even see that section, thanks!! I will check it out in a bit. I never knew you could pull the cables while running as I was ALWAYS told that was bad (now my other cars have WAY more electronics.)

 

i did a 136amp GC alternator upgrade!

 

You trying to power Harleysville, PA???

 

haha not quite....... just these!

 

HaHa nice!! Need to get a set of those on my track car so people know I am coming!!!!

 

try this 136 amp alt for 1997 grand cherokee with the 4.0. and should be a direct bolt in. napa sells them part number is "RAY 2138613" look it up on there site

 

One thing there not telling you but thats par,its not a direct bolt in there is some grinding work to bolt in the v8 G/C alternater you need to grind on the bracket where I dont know ,cause I have a 124 amp xj alternater on mine no need to switch g/l.

 

If you have a voltmeter or can borrow one just measure the battery voltage with it running. Should be around 14 volts. If it's 12 or less the alternator or the wiring is bad. Check/clean all battery cable connections as this can cause the same symptoms as a bad alternator.