Me too, 'til I discovered the one on my parts XJ I was going to fit was just the same.

At least I now know its purpose

 

Good to know. If mine ever needs replacing I’ll get a non dented one. I can’t imagine ever being in a situation with one front wheel stuffed all the way up, on a stock suspension. Lifted and larger tires, yes.

 

I replaced the thermostat about two weeks ago. It was running cold and lo and behold, a couple bolts and burping later... Solved! Unfortunately I didn't know about the weep hole situation, but I'm not looking to take it apart again. Really happy with my first real fix to the car

 

Went to the Denver U-Pull U-Pay to grab a clockspring to complete the Cruise Control upgrade for my '97. The dang threaded hole for the puller bolt stripped out and I was SOL. I tried to use the "hooks" but they just slipped off. This site only had two 97+ XJ's and one '98 Wrangler (no cruise though). I might drive to Colorodo Springs tomorrow morning as they have a ton of 97+ XJ's at the U Pull it lot there. On the way home look what I traded my old and worn-out F-150 for...


2017 Limited. Has enough creature comforts to keep the wife happy but doesnt have the unreliable Quadra-Lift air suspension. I also test drove a '14 Ecodiesel and was blown away by the torque but terrified of the $15k engine exploding at any moment- no thanks.

 

Finally got around to fixing my motor oil leak. This was a motor oil leak coming from the bellhousing. I re-sealed the transmission and still had a leak so I turned my attention to the motor. No other oil leaks at least, my oil filter elbow has been good since I replaced its O-rings and my valve cover does not have any UV dye anywhere around it, so thats holding up too.

I had already replaced the oil pan gasket and the RMS when I got the Jeep not that long ago but it was leaking real bad. Not my valve cover, either, just a really poorly done oil pan gasket and a questionable RMS. I'll admit to my poor mechanic's skills in the picture below, but in my defense I have learned a whole deal since then and ive saved even more from doing work myself instead of at a shop.


(Dont hate on me, I have come a long ways since this)



I would have finished today but I accidentally damaged the new RMS when I was trying to install it (Im nowhere near a mechanic yet) but I did use brass tools so I did not mar my crankshaft any. The first time I had to replace the RMS it was hard as a rock so I took a 1/4" brass punch and cut it short for rigidity and then filed the sides down until it matched the profile of the RMS and its a truly wonderful tool for getting the top half of the RMS out. Anyway, I only had the one new seal so I had to stop work since the shops were closed, I will buy another seal tomorrow and get the job finished up, hopefully for quite a while. I made sure to clean the pan of any RTV after that goopy mess, and I took my time cleaning the block too, so fingers crossed!

PS, it was a huge pain dropping the oil pan. I was able to do it with the pump and pickup tube in place, but I had to jack up the axle a little while I was dropping the pan. The frame rails were up on jackstands. It was drop the pan a bit, raise the axle a tiny bit, drop the pan some more, raise the axle more, etc. until I was finally able to squeeze it out without warping it. Stupid transmission dust cover was so in the way.

 

But what is this part? Mine is rusted apart, but I don't know which way this "tee" should be installed. 1990 XJ

Mystery heater valve

 

Headed to Aurora U-Pull-U-Pay lot to perform more organ donation procedures. This baby was delivered yesterday:


Curious if this was a Cherokee forum member's old ride...

 

Found two problems to fix at once:

Seized lug nut which is now a bigger problem than it was when it was just seized



And a wallowed out tie rod/heim joint




Might be time to switch to TREs

 

When I started searching for a worthy replacement for my trusty XJ, I was considering the WK2. I was going to avoid the Quadra-Lift and instead install an OME suspension kit. Was also looking at one old enough to not have that fugly looking gearshift that ended up being a really bad idea.

 

New rear wiper arm and wiper blade. I had tried exercising the old arm, and once I got it free I was like “just a little more for good measure, work in the lube some more”. And the spring tab broke off. So this time I put low temp silicone grease on the pivots and worked it in, hopefully this one doesn’t seize up.

 

I don't think links work on here so if you type the following into an Amazon search box, the first one should be the "electronic compressed air duster" tool that I have that is the "TGBOX" brand: B0CNSM1SPJ
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Finished installing the cruise control components into my '97 today. I had to do the airbag transfer too -- make sure you take photos before you unbolt anything from the airbags so you can route everything as it was. My '97 had the older style steering wheel so I had to change out the air bag "cover" (as the junkyard calls it). The explosive charge unit comes out very easy (junk yards won't sell you the explosive charge; you take it out and leave it with them or in the old car). It looks like a metal hockey puck.


I also installed a new downstream O2 sensor as the old one was holding at 1V. I had a hell of a time getting the old one out. I strongly recommend buying the $7 o2 sensor thread chaser tool at Autozone and run that in before installing the new sensor. I installed a Bosch 13138 from RockAuto.

 

I tried out the 2014-2015 with the "joystick" shifter. My 80-year old parents are able to operate their Caddy/BMW's with the "joystick" shifters just fine. Seems like the issue lies with the driver BUT I do agree with the "keep it simple stupid" approach they went back to in 2016 onward.

 

Wasn't able to find it on Amazon but after poking around a bit was able to find what I think you have on Ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/31504983250...CABEgIjYPD_BwE

 

I honestly didn't like the way it looked and liked the older style better. This ended up being about 6 months before the "joystick" ended up in the news. I've had a few rentals with joysticks (Prius, Volvo) and while I didn't care for them, they were OK.

 

A few years back I had a rental Chrysler 300 which just had a dial. When I 1st got behind the wheel, my 1st thought was w-t-f??!!! but found it surprisingly easy to get used to. Of course, it's just another gimmick, like push button shifters - & square (alright, "quartic") steering wheels.