Set Up: 1996 Jeep Cherokee Inline 6 4.0L Auto Trans 157xxx no mods (yet)
number 1: the lights and the gages in the dash as well as the lighting coming from the stock radio kind of dim and go back to full lighting and the RPM needle jumps around a little bit while driving. i have listened to the engine and the idle speed as well as overall RPMs are not changing. i know nothing about electrical systems and i just bought this jeep 2 months ago...what do i check and where is it at?

number 2: very rarely, my engine stalls in idle if the engine is not warmed up all the way. this only happens when i am in drive, not in park or neutral. i am assuming it is a vacuum leak...any suggestions or thoughts? how do i check for a vacuum leak if that might be the problem?

number 3: i am looking at getting a 3 inch lift on the jeep but have no idea what i need to get and how to do it. any tips on what i need and recommendations and links would be great. around 250-300 $ would be preferable. i am not planning on doing any crazy off roading but i would like a little bit more clearance for 4x4 roads to the 14ers out here in colorado!

thanks guys you are the best!

 

I can help with number three:

http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep_xj_3.html


It's a good start. It comes with an Add A Leaf but you can always upgrade to full leaf packs down the road.

 

The lights in the instrument cluster sounds like a charging issue. My work van is an 06 Chevy 1500 and I had an issue with all, and I mean all the lights fading in and out at idle. When I applied even a little throttle the lights would come back to normal brightness. I keep a 400 watt power inverter handy to keep my laptop charged on roadtrips. At highway speeds, the rpms were high enough that the alternator would over charge and trip the breaker on the inverter. I drove it like that for 2 years and 65000 miles before having the alt replaced.