Haven't posted in a while, then again, haven't had much to report. Great to see others enjoying their Cherokees, here.

I purchased this one about 3 months ago, and it's a '98 4 dr. w/4WD, most options (leather, etc.), and almost 202K miles on the clock.

Last week, I replaced the valve cover gasket, which went in like a champ. I loosened the bracket for the throttle cable, cruise cable, etc., in order to allow for more room, and that did the trick. The original gasket came off like a champ, and the new one (FelPro) was identical to the OEM one, so this was an easy repair.

This weekend's project involved replacing the battery and terminals, the valve at the rear of the valve cover (PVC? doesn't have the check ball but I'm gonna assume it's the PVC), the tube for that valve, both valve cover grommets, and the dealer ordered the front breather thingy for me and the tube which goes to that. All of the above were brittle and a couple of them broke while I was replacing the valve cover gasket. The dealer prices were not bad for all that stuff.

Part II was a tune up, sans wire replacement (wires were fine when I checked them with a multimeter). NAPA cap and rotor, and Autolite Platinums. Well, lo and behold, all the old parts were hashed, particularly the plugs and the cap. It's no wonder it's been down on power, lately

After yesterday's work, the Jeep runs PERFECT. Next up is a tranny flush, in fact I'm looking for suggestions. Mine has the Aisin-Warner trans. I tried looking for a step-by-step tutorial on it (yes, I want to drain the converter), but couldn't find it.

So, I'm a happy camper with this Jeep. After the trans. flush I'm gonna change out the shocks, and a few bushings up front.

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Good to hear your Jeep runs like a top now. And it's actually a "PCV" valve, not a "PVC" valve. But I don't think Jeeps use PCVs...as far as I know it's a CCV valve with the breather hose in the back. Aisin Warner makes the auto and manual trans for the Cherokees, but if you have the AX15 (5 speed manual) transmission, then everybody on here will recommend Redline MT or Redline MTL, it's expensive, but apparently works great. The new Mopar spec for the AX15 is actually 10w-30 MOTOR OIL! I need to change my trans fluid too, but am weary of this 10w-30. http://4x4xplor.com/trannyservice.html Here's a link for the AX15 trans fluid change and Transfer Case, because you might as well change that too. Good luck with you Jeep.

 

Nevermind. Didn't realize its a manual!

 

Yeah, was writing fast and wrote PVC instead of PCV, heh.

Mine's got an auto. trans. I'd forgotten the 5 speed was also Aisin-Warner design, I'd assumed it was a New Process/New Venture deal.

 

Forgot to add that the new Michelin's on my Jeep are great! I've had good luck through the years with Michelin's, Cooper's, and BF Goodrich.

 

I would highly reccomend Coopers, Any time.

 

Did the tranny fluid and filter change, the other day. Also replaced the transfer fluid and rear diff gear oil. Both the transfer and rear diff had never been serviced (Jeep now has 202K miles on it). Front diff looks like it's been serviced.

I've known the neutral safety switch (NSS) was going bad and, sure enough, today it gave up the ghost (Christmas Eve). Happens to be a nice day here in the South, so I went ahead with the fix and used this page as a reference:

http://www.jeepin.com/features/nss/index.asp

The harness connection on mine that I disconnected is gray in color vs. the black one in the one pic. At any, rate, this was an EASY fix. Hardest part was snipping/breaking the factory zip ties to get the harness to come down with the switch. I did the same thing the writer did, in that I used a length of wire which I tied around the harness connector end of the harness, up in the engine compartment, so I could just pull the harness back through the tranny tunnel once things were fixed.

I now have reverse lights, too I used lithium grease after cleaning and degreasing the housing and internals. Dielectric grease would work here, too. Basically it's just a "wiper" set up, as I'll call it, whereby two electrical contacts on a "wiper" sweep across the main electrical board. I used white paper towel out on the driveway, underneath the pass. side rocker, took the switch apart being careful to not lose the small parts (two electrical contacts in the wiper, and the springs inside it which keep tension on the contacts once it's assembled).

Cleaned the brass with light sand paper, sprayed brake cleaner on all parts, wiped it all down, sprayed my lithium grease on everything, and put it all back together. Even if the gasket comes apart you can re-use it by putting the pieces back into the groove on the aluminum half of the housing.

Took under two hours, taking my time.
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Not really a tech question so I moved to cherokee chat. Glad the jeep is running.

 

Thanks. Wasn't 100% sure myself which forum this belonged in.

 

Sweet!

 

Just a quickie, here. Put new shocks on yesterday, and they're perfect on the Jeep. Mine's stock, so I put Monroe Sensa-Trac's on it. The rear shocks on my '98 were original, and it has 200K+ on the clock.

Oil change, front grease job, and now I'm ready for a trip up to Ohio

 

Trip to NW Ohio went flawlessly. Put 1600 miles on the Cherokee, and it drove great! Just gotta figure out my cruise control issue, now.

 

Where are you from? Also, where in NW Ohio did you go. I'm from the area. In fact occasionally I like to take my Cherokee up to Toledo by the factory it was made at so she can get all nostolgic lol.

 

 

I did not get a chance to drive by the plant. My buddy and his gf live outside Bryan. I live in Columbia, SC (for now).

The Jeep handled the trip with no issues, save for two leaky tranny lines and the inop. cruise control.