Took a few days to get everything tightened down to where it wouldn't leak... seems to be fixed now though. The XJ is back on the road

 

Today I took to fixing my passenger side window. You could roll it down from the driver seat window switch but not from the passenger side.

 

I took apart the switch and sanded down the contacts for the window lock button. Put some new dielectric grease on and buttoned it all up and now the windows work perfectly.

 

Excellent skills. You jump into everything.

 

Thank you!! I've found sometimes that's the best way to tackle a problem.

 

I've been having more electrical issues recently... for the past few weeks my dash has been acting up, most notably the battery gauge. It'll read 14 volts... then drop to 12... then all the way down to nothing and the "Check Gauges" light will come on.

 

The problem eventually presented itself the other night though. While I was out I stopped into a store and when I got back into my XJ I started it like normal... the battery gauge dropped to 0 so I shut it off, thinking if I restarted it maybe it would come back to normal. Well when I turned the key it cranked but wouldn't start. I popped the hood and some guy saw and ran over with a jump pack to help. We jumped it... and it was running really rough... gave it some throttle for a minute and then started to drive home before any more issues came. I only made it about 500 feet though before the jeep just shut off. I lost power steering and power braking going down a small hill.

 

Luckily for me there was an Advance at the bottom of the hill so I swung it into a parking spot and managed to get her stopped. The guy at advance suspected the alternator was bad and since they didn't have any on hand I left the XJ in their parking lot overnight.

 

Got out there early the next morning and the Jeep fired right up and seemed to be running good? The battery was charging so I drove it home just fine... I got home and disconnected and cleaned all my grounds... hooked them back up and threw a newer battery in and for a few test drives it seemed to be fixed. Eventually the battery stopped charging again though so now I assumed alternator as well. I found an ACDelco one on amazon at a decent price and went ahead and ordered that.

 

Getting the old one out was fairly easy as far as rust belt vehicles go. I took tension off the belt... then removed the battery and battery tray. Unplugged all the connections and got the bolts out and finished it off with a rubber hammer and pry bar.

 

Nice weather makes it so I can work outside which I prefer to the garage.

 

Old alternator looks like it's been through a fire and back ha

 

That'll buff right out.

 

If I'm being completely honest my first thought was to try and rebuild it haha

 

hah, yeah I thought about doing the same, mine was fine charge wise, but had bad bearing(s). after two seconds I decided it was a good core and just bought a reman and installed that.