Jaydi

Hello all, today I was out with a buddy wheeling and all that stuff. On the drive home my XJ started acting weird. My check engine light came on and the transmission didn't want to shift from 1st very easily (auto). Upon arriving home I let it idle and it was rough, it would drop down every minute or two and every few minutes the engine would start shuddering the whole Jeep. I feel like it's something bad. I have a video I can upload of the engine light codes because I'm too stupid to figure it out. All help very appreciated at this point. Thanks.

Jaydi

Okay so update, drove it to the car wash because I don't want it covered in an inch of mud when I take it to the school shop. Driving home my tach and speedo died and my radio turned off as well as my cig lighter. Going to clean electrics and other things that shouldn't be dirty.

93XJeeper

clean your grounds. There's one on fender, side of block, and the firewall

dcollins3208

Sounds like the CPS is going/went bad, or possibly an issue with the wiring associated with it

Jaydi

Would that just be associated with the gauges? or idling and shifting problem as well? I know it would make sense for the idle problem (side noted after I was cleaning everything I jumped started it and let it run for 3mins then it died on its own) but I'm not sure about the shifting/trans problem.

dcollins3208

I'm not sure, just with the info you provided I feel like it's an electrical issue somewhere. It almost sounds like your jeep went into limp mode. Pull the code and post it up and someone can take it from there

Have you checked your trans fluid yet?

Jaydi

Yeah there was an extreme amount of mud so I could imaging that to be a problem. I read something about limp mode, and it does only want to stay in first. Maybe second. It's just that I know my transmission has problems with the whine it makes when in gear but it still pulls strong even after all of this started happening. I also know my fluid is lower than I'd like it to be which will be dealt with. And my Jeep is a 95 so I cant use my obd2 reader. I have to use the ignition trick thing but I don't know how to interpret it.

dcollins3208

What numbers popped up? Should be a few 2 digit numbers

Jaydi

I don't really know how to read it do you by chance know because I took a video.

dcollins3208

Yup shoot it to me

Jaydi

https://youtu.be/TfsEAGQr2DY

Thanks a bunch

dcollins3208

Here are your codes:
12: Battery disconnected, Battery or power to the ECM disconnected in the last 50 key cycles.

41: Alternator field switch, Switch not operating correctly and check charging system.

The last one is 55 but that just means end of codes.

12 is no big deal, I'm assuming your battery has been disconnected recently. As for the 41 code, there's at least one issue with your electrical system. What is your battery voltage doing with the jeep running?

Jaydi

Yeah I was cleaning the terminals and stuff because that has been a problem before. I don't have time to go out and jump it again because it's dead and I have to sleep but I will get back to you on that. Do you know of any way to isolate the issue with the electrics? Also thanks very much for the help. Much appreciated.

KD3NE

With all those different symptoms .... one very related issue would be all the system GROUND CONNECTIONS !!!!

This may sound stupid, and I felt stupid when I found it on my XJ buuuuut .......
even the tech at a service center failed to find it with all his fancy computerized crap.

Check the battery cables at both ends, look at and pull on the cables going into the connectors at the battery and at the other ends.

I was dealing with electrical gremlins and I went and replaced every ground I could find and added a few for added confidence.

Stil was having issues so I tool it to the shop ..... they ran all their tests and said " Low Alternator Output " ..... OK, put in a new alternator and still a problem!

Reinstalled the old alternator and began poking around.

What I found was the ground/negative cable was loose INSIDE the terminal at the battery.

Replaced that bad terminal with a new type and have not had a problem since.



I believe that removing and cleaning the grounds should be routine maintenance done at least once a year and even more frequently on Jeeps that get abused in the dirt!





.

Jaydi

I'm going to do that during my auto class today and I will go from there. I looked at the one on the fender by the battery and cleaned it because it was filthy. Where are the others located exactly? Thanks.