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.

Yeah. I had a look at it with my FSM open right there. Step one tells me to remove the washer fluid reservoir. And I searched for a way to do that online and in the manual, and failed utterly.

I bet, if I just tried, I could figure it out. Apply the same thinking I use when I tear down a laptop. Look for the obvious anchor points. Then the less obvious. Then the sneaky ones. Don't just yank because that breaks important things.

Well, as I said there are three attachment points that you can't miss. The fun can be in getting to the lower screw but you aren't going to mess anything up (unlike the laptop) so just get at it.

If I ever decide to take my laptop (actually my wife's old unit that I use as a stationary CPU) apart, I will let you tell me how easy it is and to just get on with it. Then we will likely have a real mess. lol

Post any problems.

I hope to be able to get to the blower motor tomorrow. Today is out because I'm not going into another fix-it situation on no sleep, on a high UV day, when I have nothing to treat the migraine I could end up with.

As for computers, the great secret is not knowing what you're doing. You just have to know exactly what to ask google.

It works for a lot of things. Google brought me here way back in January, when all this started for me.

...and it will never end. Oh no. I'm stuck now. Because I'm only tackling the things I know I can do in my driveway safely right now. There are a few more things, but my driveway is a slight hill and that makes everything unsafe.

3 8mm bolts and wiggle it out. I took two out at the JY. I do not believe I had to deal with a ww fluid bottle.

Got to the blower motor today, which means I just decided to figure out how the washer fluid bottle came out on my own. Three bolts and two wires, and I was able to just pick it up and move it to the side.

And I definitely had to remove it, because the blower motor wasn't even visible until I moved the thing.

That's done, at least.

ha neverminddddd

Stupid, erratic weather.

I was just out there, under the Jeep, getting a feel for all the wacky contortions I might have to go through for the rear shocks when...sudden downpour.

I started plotting toward other things while I was under there, though. Looking at the differential, since it's, y'know, right there, seeing what condition the cover is in. Might be leaking from the plug, so I cleaned everything off to see what's gong on there.

Shame about my driveway being a 3 degree slope, because that thing looks like a real pain to get at without jacking things up a little. It might be doable, but it might also be seriously unpleasant.

I've got fluid, and I plan to make an attempt at topping off once it stops raining, before we go anywhere.

Simple way to run new shock mount bolts. You only need wire.
 

I posted pics of how to do this awhile back. It's so simple you wonder why folks cut theirs floors open to do this.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/bro...4/#post1607784

Yup. I've got various 'thread it through' options available to me now, and a way to punch them out by hand if the worst happens.

Just need a clear few hours to tackle it all in, because my shocks are finally here.

Seriously thinking about telling my therapist that they need to start a group therapy group that's all about fixing cars, because this is doing me a ton of good, depression-wise.

Ran into a slight problem yesterday, when I finally felt up to installing the shocks. I opened them up to get familiar with them before going out, and discovered that the bag of extras for one of the front shocks was missing a...the rubber bit. Bushing? Not up on the lingo yet.

So I called the manufacturer [Monroe. Yes, I went pretty cheap. Don't judge. I also just had to replace my fridge, and my cat recently spent the night at the emergency vet, but at least I'm not also paying a mechanic] and they're sending me a replacement bag-o-parts.

That'll give me a bit more time to keep soaking those bolts. Maybe I'll get really lucky and they'll just come out all nice-like.

Oh, any opinions on anti-seize on those threads when installing the new ones? Yea or nay?

I would honestly prepare for the bolts to break - I soaked mine down for a f-ing week straight with PB blaster, still broke one.

Replaced it with grade 10 hardware though, all is well. I honestly dont think I would keep the stock bolts if they are rusty, they may break the next time you need to pull the shocks out, etc.

I live in Broomfield but I work ~80hrs a week. LMK if you get real stuck though, and I can lend a hand if needed :D

As for the diff cover. I would find some level ground. You cant even properly the diffs unless you are leveled out a little bit anyways...

Yeah. Working on the level ground thing. Not a lot of friends. Comes from being not too social.

I've got the hardware mentioned in the writeup ahead of time, because it doesn't hurt to be prepared. But the PB soaking is getting to be a sort of pre-repair ritual for me. Some people have to wear a special shirt on game day, I have to spray things with PB.

And now I'm wondering if those companies that buy your trackable purchasing information have a flag for purchasing lots of PB Blaster that automatically slots you into 'Jeep owner'.

Yes. That's where my mind usually is. Data mining and technology. Before January, I don't think I even knew what a differential was. And I was terrified of the automatic transmission, and accidentally destroying it by looking at it wrong. Now? "I seem to be losing transmission fluid still. I wonder why. Oh, my pan gasket is seeping. Well, that makes sense. Probably original. Welp, I'll just pull out my phone and search cherokeeforum while my PDF reader runs its search on the FSM. And dig up my first thread so I have the steps for when I refill."

As for the differential, I cleaned it up as best I could, pried off the cap, checked the level [again, to the best of my ability], added a bit, and put the cap back on. And walked around smelling differential fluid for about three days--and that was after I scrubbed with the bottle of that orangey stuff with pumice that I keep in my Necessary Stuff For Car box.

Thought I should report in. Finally got to the shocks.

Just finished, in fact.

No broken bolts.

those shocks aren't black, are they? with next to nothing printed on them...? I bought some discontinued/warehouse closeout (or something of the sort) shocks from rockauto, I believe they are monroes.


worst. riding. shocks. ever. I would take the old bowl of soup over what I have now. it almost literally feels like I replaced the old shocks with rebar.

The ones I took off were black. The ones I put on are blue.

I'm not expecting anything amazing from them, honestly. I know they're cheap, but they will serve until I'm in a better financial position.

And, now that I know I can do it? I can do it again.

come to think of it, the fronts are dark blue.

Coffeechick,

Like most folks, it looks like you've been drummed into the ranks ragarding PB Blaster. To me it's useless.

A product called Kroil, made by Kano Industries, is the best penetrating oil you can use. The drawback is it's a mail order product only.

I did a little test using PB Puke and Liquid Wrench Penetrating Oil.

Th Liquid Wrench spray can says it dissolves rust. Let's see....

I took two small containers, one with PB added and one with Liquid Wrench added to them. Put two identical rusty bolts in the containers and let them sit for two full days.

The container with the Liquid Wrench actually shows rust deposits on the bottom of the container and the oil itself turned rust colored. The continer with PB had no change at all.

What does this prove? Not much, other than it looks like Liquid Wrench does what it says it will, and that PB Puke remains low on my penetrating oil list.

I'm in the process of douching down several bolts in my Heep using Liquid Wrench to see how it works (I ran out of Kroil).

Besides, LW smells better than PB. My wife likes it when I come to the diner table smelling like LW.

Lowes sells LW.

I actually ended up getting a can of Liquid Wrench a few days ago, and it's what I was using the last couple of sprays.

It does smell better, and it seems to work better.

See....

PB was my go to for several years but I'm a kroil convert!

I've read a lot about Kroil. And various home remedies.

Right now I have to use what I can get, though.