88 Cherokee 4.0 4WD auto.

The same gorilla that broke off my turn signal lever also broke the interlock mechanism on the floor gear selector.

My local yard is pretty short of this generation and the couple that are there are extremely picked over. Can anyone tell me some ideas what other vehicles might cross to the same shifter?

Thanks.

 

91 to 95 pretty sure.

I have a 90, but not sure if it has a shifter. It's still dark outside and I just got up.

 

Are you talking about the button you push to move the shifter or the interlock that prevents shifting out of park without pressing the break? The 1988 didn't have have the brake interlock, but it was added later as part of a recall. That part can be removed (or in my case, never installed when I did the manual->auto swap)

 

I'm talking about the button you push to be able to move the selector.

The newer year one doesn't quite interchange, but it's close enough that I made it work. The metal is all the same shape and size. The cable to the trans is the same. The brake pedal interlock cable has a slightly different connector on the newer one. I was able to very slightly file down the sort of nail head part on the lock to get my older cable to fit over.

 

Cool, glad to hear it's fixed. The other cable is the interlock that prevents shifting out of park without pressing the brake.

 

The pre purchase test drive everything ran fine. After sitting for a couple days and swapping that PRNDL selector it acts like the trans is stuck in D. Pulling away from a stop it can barely move. If I select the lower gears manually it is fine. The fluid level is fine. I don't know why it would be affected here, but it seems like the throttle kickdown linkage needs to be adjusted. Does that PRNDL cable not work the way I expected?

 

Anyway, the first drive since closing the deal has shown up a couple problems, but nothing too serious. Making good progress.

 

Make sure the Trans control Unit fuse isn't corroded or blown.

 

I thought that fuse was part of the aftermarket hackery going on all over mine so I didn't even look at it. I'm torn. I hope it's blown and that fixes it, OTOH that would be the second blown fuse without even driving it so I hope this isn't a demon car that blows fuses when Mars is in ascension or whenever.

 

Possibly bad TCU, but not likely.

 

Doh! Bad owner. While I'm screwing with all this stuff I have a lot of trim pulled out. That thing on the inside of the lower dash trim that looks like a TCU and has a huge connector on it that is lying in the cargo area probably has something to do with the lack of shifting. I suppose I'll have to pull that off the trim panel and put it on the wiring harness again.

I guess it's good to know that if it blows I can limp around by manually selecting gears.

 

Good plan!! LOL

 

All the cars I've ever worked on the critical electronics were mounted to structure not clipped to the back face of trim panels. The moral is don't assume.

 

Weird how perfect it shifts with the TCU connected.

 

If you have been to my website, you'll see that the Jeep engineers did things differently.
That's why refreshing and improving the grounds is so important.