I saw those LCAs and thought "hey those look like my old ones". Then I saw you tagged me. Looking good!

 

Yea looking at it closer, I can see where they have broken off. Its a mystery why, but looks like I'll order some more. Thanks for the link.

 

Thanks! I have been following your build as well. Loving the plaid headliner. Cant wait to see it done!

 

So I was gone for over a month with work and haven't been able to work on the XJ. But I was able to order a bunch or parts as good deals or Amazon Warehouse allowed.

Unfortunately when I opened the Jeep after being gone, I found this:



Water in the passenger foot-well. Same thing on the drivers side. Looks like I have the famous leak under the hood cowling. I took off the wipers and cowling and found about an inch of pine needles in the cowling. A few min with the shop vac and air compressor left me with something much cleaner:



Before I start cutting an access hole in the cowling to start sealing things up, I am going to try installing a dam as far back as I can like @AustenF did in post #75 of this thread: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/wat...-34969/index5/

I hope that by doing that and maybe double checking that the cowling drain holes are clear, will get this fixed. The windshield needs replacing as well but from what I have read on here it's doubtful thats where my issue lies.

On a positive note I was able to finish one small upgrade:



From day one this XJ diddn't have a rear wiper arm. It was just gone. So a $12 dollar arm off eBay got me back in business. The front wipers don't work yet but the rear one does! Small steps....

 

I'll be right behind you fixing my cowl leak. Looking forward to what works for you. I'm not too worried about cutting the cowl if it saves my floor pans, but I'd prefer not.

 

Im kinda the same way. If I have to cut, I will. Here will be my order of ideas:

1: Try the "damming" technique. Although the fact that I am getting water on both floorboards leads me to think this wont work.
2: See if my wife's tiny arms are small enough to get some silicone or 5200 on the seal. I also has the idea to attach some tubing to my caulking gun and tape the tubing to the end of a stick. Might take most of the tube of caulk, but I might be able to get far enough back in there to make it work.
3: Pull off the fenders to see if the drain holes are really clear
4: See how much of a PIA it really is to pull the dash enough to get to the cowl from the backside.
5: Break out the grinder.

We shall see how it goes. Ill be sure to let you guys and gals know.

 

No progress on the leak yet. But I did get something useful in the mail;



A Dynomax 17340 Exhaust. I know its not the best quality system in the world. But it was a great price on Amazon and I am not ready to sink big money into this rig yet. It should do.

The only thing preventing me from running this Jeep around town is the lack of any exhaust. It looks like someone took a saw right before the cat and hacked everything off. She sounds like an old boat going down the street and I don't want to be "that guy". So with any luck in the next few days I can get this new exhaust hung and she will be ok for short trips in town.

 

So its been a few months since I was able to really work on the Jeep. Why? Weather, time, work, life...all the usual excuses. My wife gave birth to our first child, so ya know....priorities.

But after putting the Jeep on the trickle charger over night, the fired right up for the first time in probably 4 months. Amazing.

Since the last time I posted I haven't done too much interesting. Continuing to clean her out, replaced what feels like a dozen light bulbs, replaced the missing coolant overflow hose....Small things.

Tonight I got a bug up my *** and got most of the exhaust installed. Still need to attach a few more clamps to hopefully seal up a couple leaks. But all in all I am happy with this $150 kit:


I let her idle for about an hour. Which is the longest she's run since I've bought her. I wanted the coolant to cycle fully, the thermostat to open and to test out the heat. All works great as far as I can tell. I plan on testing the coolant and seeing if it needs to be flushed or replaced soon.

On the negative side my headlight issue is now officially annoying. All the exterior lights work but the one high beam and one low beam.

Here's the lows:


And the Highs:


If I pull the turn signal stalk back, I get both Highs on like normal. Releasing it turns off the passenger side High beam. No idea why this would happen. I was thinking about upgrading the headlight harness eventually, but I want to make sure there are no other issues before I do. I'm going to pull the sealed beams out and bench test them. Just to make sure I dont have headlights with burned out filaments.

I have also figured out the wipers are not working. Either front or rear. The rear wiper will work when I use the rear washer, but not when you simply turn it on. I did buy a replacement Intermittent Wiper Module and I hope that fixes it.

I hope to get some more work done soon. If anyone has any sage advice on the headlights or wipers, I'd love to hear it.

 

My rear wiper did the same thing recently. Having extra switches, you have no idea how many extra switches I have (LOL), just replaced it and all was fine.

 

You replaced the Rear Wiper switch and it worked? Good to know. Thanks.

 

That was it.
Been messing with switches lately.
Think these are the shots from the wiper switch.
See how the part is melted?
Figure that was the problem.

 

Yep, looks like that was your problem. Lucky for me my dash is still apart. I will pull that switch and see what I find. Thanks!

 

Damn I just realized something.
Your Jeep is a '95 and mine is an '00.
Sorry.
So whether that would fix your problem or not is unsure.
Again sorry.

 

No problems at all. I pulled the switch and gave the contacts a clean and added some dielectric grease. Rear wiper works again! Now to fix the fronts.....

 

Well glad that worked out.
Felt really bad for not paying closer attention to what year you have. LOL