Pro-tips for my next two repairs.
 

Before the CEL happened, I'd been planning on a couple of other repairs. And now? Well, no time like the present, I suppose. I've done as much reading and searching as I can, and now I'm just curious about any tips and tricks.

1. Replacing the Blower Motor.

I probably should've done this back when I was doing everything else, but I didn't. Now, though? Well, it's still warm enough, and it'll be nice to have it running without the occasional noise that I assume is a warning of it going bad [because it sounds rather like the warning my bedroom fans and computer fans give me when they're getting ready to die].

It seems pretty straightforward in the FSM, except for one thing--and this may be my searching skills failing me, but how do you remove the washer fluid reservoir, exactly?

When I'm done with this, I'm going to continue looking for the cause of my 'only blows out of the defroster' issue. I spent a little time poking about yesterday, after fixing the O2 sensor. I checked to make sure that the pill-shaped thing behind the front bumper was there and at least felt intact [if not, you'd have seen a post from me that said 'hey, how do you take off the front bumper?'] and traced the line around the battery, and checked the heater control valve's line. I couldn't find anything blatant, so, when I'm not completely sleep-deprived, I'm going to go over it all again.

2. Shocks, because one is leaking, and I don't know how old they are anyway.

I have read many, many threads here about replacing shocks, and it seems pretty straightforward. Any pro-tips would be appreciated, though. Things I should have on-hand before starting, how to deal with the apparently inevitable breaking of the rear bolts. Exactly what I'll need to replace the bolts after the apparently inevitable breaking.

Anything I might've overlooked in all my reading, too.

95 XJ, 4.0, not 4wd, no lift, nothing fancy.

Blower motor I never had to do, so don;t know.
The shock are indeed pretty straightforward. Fronts should be no hassle.
Regarding the rear: the bolts do not per se snap, depends on the rust. Soak them a few times in PB Blaster or similar product in the days before attacking them.
There are several write-ups on the net, including pics, for in case the bolts do snap. Will see if I can find some and link to it. But Google is your friend as much as it will be mine.

I drilled into the center of my rear shock bolts, put a punch into them and smacked it with a mini sledge to break the welds off. Fished new hardware in via a piece of copper wire looped around the bolt threads.

Roler:

Did a bit more searching and found another post here that I missed. It recommends using a tool that I assume requires an air compressor, though. And I know nothing about those, except 'that one we have for the paint brush is probably not enough.'

I also suspect that I don’t have the right equipment for drilling into anything made of metal.

I suspect I've been very lucky so far.

I think there might be a shopping trip in my future.

Just need a drill and some metal drill bits is all.
If your jeep was in co it's whole life you probably won't need it If you have a careful rusty bolt removing hand. Once you get impatient and start reefing on it like a banshee that's when you start breaking bolts or rounding their heads.

I have two drills [corded and cordless], so I'll just get the appropriate bits. Just in case.

And probably one of those magnet things mentioned in the writeup. Because that sounds useful for a thousand other little things.

I've been looking for a good reason to go to a hardware store again.

I'm starting to think that the washer fluid reservoir removal must be so obvious and easy that nobody has ever bothered explaining it anywhere. Or I'm searching wrong.

I'd only drill if you break the bolts.

Right. But it's better to be prepared than not.

Here is the tutorial I followed. You can fish the wire through one of the holes in the chassis.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/br...-guide-150384/

I did this recently and live over in wheat ridge if you need any tips or a helping hand. Cheers

There is always a good reason to go to a hardware store.
The thought alone counts as reason too.

Good luck and let is know how you go.

If you're talking about the impact hammer/air chisel, you can accomplish the same thing with a steel punch and a hammer. The impact hammer just makes it easier because it punches several times per second.

Perfect tutorial, that's as easy as it gets. It's exactly what I did as well, however someone had already done it once so I didn't have to punch the nuts out, I just wanted to fish new bolts in since I was doing the work anyway.

I've got that added to my list of resources to have open when I start on that.

Anyone got anything on the blower motor?

I dont know if this is the same on your 95 but for my 94, if remember correctlyit is on the inside and there are like 3 small 9mm screws. Look under the dashboard on the passenger side, remove the small cover, disconnect it the blower motor and then remove the 3 small screws and it pops right off. I never removed the washer reservoir.

The blower is removed from under hood with 3 bolts into the firewall.

Things that are in the way varies by model year. On the '93 only the washer bottle needs to be removed and that has two bolts at the top into the upper firewall and one nut at the bottom that I remember offhand. I did this some years ago and it was not technically difficult. Just work at it until everything is out of the way and you can get it out.

Someone else may chime in and tell you precisely how to get at this on a '95 but you can work it out. I know that in some years after '93 A/C components are in the way and it becomes a tad more complicated. Have you looked at the setup to get a feel for what you have to do? I assume your FSM will tell you of any major components that are in the way.

Get back if this doesn't seem to make sense.