gogmorgo

Sio a similar thing happened the last couple weeks with my MJ on very cold days, like nearly -40, if the block heater didn't get plugged in or something between the plug and the hydroelectric plants malfunctions. It'll crank really slowly, and eventually pick up speed and start coughing as it's trying to start, and then quit coughing until I step on the pedal. My theory is that the truck is dumping too much fuel in due to the cold and eventually floods out. It's only been a problem on severely cold days. I'm thinking the coolant temp sensor may be starting to fail, because -40 is about at the bottom of its range which is where failures start to become apparent (the edges of the range) and my understanding is the computer dumps in extra fuel if the CTS is reading cold as a bit of a "choke" feature. Something about open vs closed loops that I don't remember about. But coolant temp sensors are usually pretty cheap. If I remember next time I'm in there I'll pull the CTS out of the old engine that didn't ever have issues with cold starts, see if anything changes. My O2 sensor's only a little more than a year old, much less old than the one I didn't even bother trying to pull out of the old exhaust, but the O2 sensor's about the only other thing I can think of right now, although I don't think its relevant to cold starts, something something open vs closed loop that I don't remember about.

When you say it didn't come with a radio, does that mean it had one but was removed before you got it, or was it a factory radio delete truck? If it's a radio delete it won't have speakers in the doors or B-pillars, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was missing the wires to go with as well, but you may get lucky. If you're only missing the radio head unit, most aftermarket radios will come with instructions for how to wire it. If you've got a voltmeter, you should be able to identify which wires do what in the truck's harness pretty easily. You'll have wires for: Constant 12V Switched (via ignition) 12V Lights (will have 12V when dash lights are all the way bright and will reduce as you dim the dash lights) Ground (will have continuity to ground - this is probably a female blade connector that goes straight to the chassis of the head unit on most) Left front speaker + Left front speaker - Right front speaker + Right front speaker - Left rear speaker + Left rear speaker - Right rear speaker + Left rear speaker - By trial and error you should be able to which wire pairs go to which speaker by touching them to the ends of a AA battery. Frequently the negative wires will be the same colour as the positive wire for the same speaker, but with a stripe. It doesn't matter which way the speakers are wired, +/-, so long as they're all done the same way, which may be difficult to tell via AA battery. But to be on the safe side getting the factory wire colours will be the best bet. If you're having to install everything, well, the sky's the limit as to how you want to wire it, although you should be able to find factory wires if you don't already have them, pretty sure they're part of the main dash and interior harness. At least you've got somewhere to put speakers... this isn't the case for my Niva which simply didn't have a radio as a factory option and has nowhere appropriate to put speakers, so getting it set up has been a slow process.

You can probably do all those wires as standalone, but given the fact you're planning on putting a commonly-swapped engine that came with OBD2 into a vehicle where everything will be set up for OBD2, it may be much easier than you think to get the '97+ gauges to play nice with whatever engine management system you're planning on using,At least that would be my goal if I was planning said swap.

If it's overfueling, i.e. flooding, opening the throttle will lean the mixture back out enough to start. How do the injectors look? Could be they're leaking, or stuck open, or some sensor or other part is malfunctioning, leading it to run way rich. Could also be intermittent ignition system issues not letting it fire until you've cranked it long enough it floods and won't fire until you clear out the flood by opening the throttle. When was the last time it got plugs, wires, cap, rotor, etc?

Yeah, could have been a bit of moisture stuck the switch open, although that could indicate a vacuum leak.

Should be a flat bit at the top that you twist away from you, yeah. It'll also activate the wipers and then do a couple extra sweeps when you let go. The steering column is a GM Saginaw column, which means nothing to you yet, but it and just about everything attached to it is common to a TON of GM vehicles, so there's a lot of resources online to learn about it, what does what, common problems and solutions, and tearing it down to fix them. I'm not saying don't ask questions, because they'll be there with the answers for the next person who searches, but quite a few of the questions you've asked could be more effectively answered by spending ten minutes with Google instead of a couple days of back-and forth. And a tip, if you're wanting results only from this site (and not getting them through the local search feature) you can try adding the term site:comancheclub.com to restrict a Google search to results only from this site. Another tip is that pretty well everything from the doors forward (and a few things behind them) is the same on an MJ as it is on an XJ, so you might sometimes get more results looking at Cherokee info. I usually search for XJ rather than Cherokee because you'll get a bunch of Grand Cherokee and KL stuff you don't want.

As long as all the functions work and it's just the stalk falling apart you should be fine. If the stalk's falling apart you need another one anyway.

Don't know about the diesels, but with the gas engines the gears mostly went with the engine/trans setup, unless a less common option was ticked that gave you weird ones like the 86's "fuel economy" package's 3.31's. I would imagine the diesels would be similar in that they had a standard ratio but I imagine very few of them weren't custom orders, so who knows.

Last time I checked, the tire chains were usually charging around $20/tire for studding, and I want to say that siping was about the same but I wasn't all that interested in it.. But I'll echo what was said above, good luck finding a shop that will put studs in a tire that's seen any pavement at all. It's the first I've heard about damaging the stud gun — what I was told was that the micro-grit between the stud and the rubber will slowly chafe away at the rubber and eventually push the stud though the tire. Also unless you drive almost exclusively on ice (i.e. winter roads), I wouldn't recommend studs anyway, as they will actually reduce traction on any surface they don't bite into, like dry or wet pavement. Not only that, they tear the $#!& out of the roads and are usually illegal for part of the year unless you live somewhere that rarely sees snow, like Florida where they are always illegal. As far as tire pressure goes, you want normal street pressure, keeping the contact patch flat so the tread can grab the road... or at least as well as those mud tires can. Heh. Both my drivers have Grabber AT2's on them, although on my Niva it was because it was literally the only AT tire my preferred tire shop could find in a small enough size to fit. Only times I've ever been stuck was in snow so deep the body was sitting on top with the wheels paddling uselessly at nothing. That or I found myself with only two options, pushing over a bunch of 16" diameter spruce trees, or reversing back up what was essentially a small neaer-veritcal cliff... oops. On ice they're not as good as a proper winter tire, no, but they're good enough I can usually keep pointed where I want to be pointed, which isn't to say I don't ever find myself sideways... Eventually you stop caring about being a little bit sideways and realize there's no point wasting energy fighting the sideways and just embrace the sideways. Staying on the throttle (within reason) and some opposite lock to gently bring it back straight works a hell of a lot better than coming right off the throttle and snapping the other direction.

I'd rather risk frostbite than sweat to death down south. Abd I spend quite a bit of time outside at -25. It's what some of us call a nice winter's day. Unless it's windy it's not even enough for more than a light jacket.

Have fun with those rock-hard mud tires. If you want any kind of traction at all on snow or ice, you NEED proper winter tires. If you're wanting something a little more aggressive, a lot of modern all-terrains are winter-rated (look for the snowpeak symbol for an actual tested rating, M+S only means they look kinda like they might work), and I've been running a set on both my daily drivers for the last few years. AT's won't get you around on snow and ice quite as well as a purpose-designed winter tire will, but they're more than good enough to keep me out of trouble in our winters... at least so long as I'm not driving like an idiot. If you don't want to spring for another set of tires, well, there's not much more you'll be able to do, except slow waaaaay down. If you can't keep the back end under you in 2wd you may be better off in 4x4, but beware of the understeer, and remember that if you're going too fast to maintain traction under steering and braking, 4x4 won't help you out much if at all. As for steering and braking and staying on the road, if you've got your wheels locked up you won't stop, and if they're turned too hard you won't turn. Gentle inputs are the best, and if they don't work it means you've gone too far and you need to back off. Really though as far as actual driving is concerned, we can pitch advise at you from behind our keyboards all we want, but only practise will teach you. You may need to unlearn some bad habits too. Watch a few videos online about controlling understeer, oversteer, and traction losses.

Pulling it towards you switches from low to high beams, like on every single other car out there. I don't know what the non-delay wipers do. If you're picking stalks at a junkyard (they're seriously common, just about every Jeep, AMC, or GM vehicle from the '70's to early '90's will have one that will work), just make sure yours has the correct controls on it. There's a couple different styles of wiper controls and also cruise control buttons on the stalk if the vehicle's equipped.

Does the lift use the factory spring plates with the single-shear shock mounts on them? Always seemed a little bizarre to me, that single-shear. It looks beefy enough, but over the years the fatigue from cycling will slowly wear them down and crack them. One of mine is cracked as well.

It doesn't act like a frozen lock, at least not like one with ice or anything in it. It turns, it just feels like it's had tire poured into it — it's smooth, just very difficult to turn. And like I said it's fine down to around -25 or so. I've decided since posting that I'm more concerned about frostbite. After typing a whole bunch, my finger hurts. With that it didn't help at all that the power outage of a few hours on Saturday morning (not fun at -40, haha) screwed up my timer so my block heater didn't come on for more than a half-hour or so before I tried starting it. Needless to say it took a bit to get it going, so my bare finger spent about a minute on the key... at -39.

Wondering if it's normal in severe cold or if there's something I could do about it without pulling the cylinder out. So when it gets colder out, I notice a little (but not huge) bit of resistance in the lock cylinder, down around -25°C(-13°F) or so. Down around -30°C(-22°F) it's noticeably stiff, but still turns easily enough, and returns from the start position nicely. But the last couple weekends we've had a few mornings below -35°C(-31°F) it's really difficult to turn, and it takes about five seconds to slowly return from the start position. Yesterday morning I mildly frostbit the side of my finger starting the truck at -38.7°C, per my neighbour's digital thermometer, -37.7°F, because I had to take my glove off to get enough grip on it. But this morning at all of -4°C(25°F... crazy temperature swing, yeah) it was buttery smooth, no resistance at all. Same as if the truck's been running earlier in the day and the interior's still warm(ish). Has anyone else experienced this and done anything to solve it? It was a little gummy last winter, and shooting some white lithium grease into it helped, but it hasn't done anything for me this time around. Frostbite is a concern I suppose, but breaking things is more what I'm worried about.

Just a heads up, the cab vents are a useful feature that allows pressure to equalize safely and quickly between the inside and outside of the truck. You may have trouble with proper ventilation and door closing if you plug them up.

Too bad this thing can't stick with one person who actually loves it. I mean, it's a bit of an abomination, but it's well done with a useful purpose in mind, and it's cool and very unique, if a little odd. And the MJ underneath it is sooo clean.

That's about a foot difference in wheelbase, which isn't all that far off the length of a transfer case. It's not the first time I've seen people say a 2wd XJ shaft is close to a 4x4 SWB shaft.

Won't be a good donor if I get to it first, lol. I can't do anything with it right now, even though I want it. She's all yours. It would be a pretty good donor, yeah. I don't think there's any wiring issues with the manual trans that you'd need to address, plus it would come with the stronger front axle, a sealed-output transfer case, and other good stuff from the later year XJ's. Although if you're also looking to manual-swap at the same time, I think there are some differences in the early and later setups that might require some modifications. But if all you're after is trans, tcase, driveshafts, and axles, you're probably good. FYI you will still need a different length rear driveshaft, and the XJ's rear axle, while probably stronger than your MJ's won't bolt in without relocating the spring perches.

No worries guys, I'm happy to help. I can't say I remember every detail because it's been 16 months since I was going through this, but everything I learned was trying to make my full-time light come on after swapping in the 242 in place of the 231. Turns out everything was working except that my cluster didn't have the circuits for the full-time light. Maybe eventually I'll swap in the proper cluster I've got sitting in the basement, but that time is not this time. As far as running in 4hi, you'll likely be gone on any surface other than dry pavement. Most of my mom's family lives in the Lower Mainland or on the Island, and you guys got a $#!& ton of snow, at least for the Lower Mainland. I grew up on the Island myself, and I'm not convinced there's such a thing as dry pavement out there this time of year. Rainy (or sometimes snowy) season for sure. Although to be honest, even out here where I won't be able to see the street I live on until March or April because of the snow, before I swapped in the 242 Tcase, I prefered driving in 2wd because I couldn't stand the understeer in 4hi... But to each their own. Since swapping in the 242 I'm in full-time 4x4 most of the time in the winter unless I'm on the highway, even when pushing through snow well over a foot deep, until I start struggling at least. It's definitely an upgrade worth doing if you ever end up driving on slick roads. I even use it on gravel in the summer — I can take corners 5-10% faster in full-time than in 2wd or 4hi. Twice the traction but almost invisible, especially with CV axle shafts.

There are holes behind those bumper nudge cap things, that a previous owner used to mount lights on my MJ. It looks a bit goofy though with lights sticking forwards out of the bumper like that, but I ran for a few years that way.

It's been getting up to around that during the day for the last week, but the windchill stays down in the 30's and 40's. It's deceptively nice-looking out too because it's so clear and sunny.

I'm going to suggest you're wasting fuel letting it warm up for that long. But to each their own.

Not sure what you mean by On Demand, but I think you're referring to the full-time 4x4 of the optional 242 transfer case, which isn't an automatically engaging 4x4 like the cheap GM (and probably others) setup, it's an actual full-time 4x4 with a differential in the middle. I'm pretty confident it wasn't an option on any year MJ but I could be wrong. At any rate, no, the CAD (central axle disconnect) is a vacuum-engaged unit that connects and disconnects the two pieces of the front passenger axle shaft, which prevents the driveshaft from turning in 2wd, saving you an infinitesimal amount of fuel but mostly meaning kf you don't use 4x4 very often, it won't work the next time you try. Compare the front passenger side axle tubes on either Jeep. The XJ will be straight and simple, the MJ will have a bulge with some vacuum lines and maybe wires going to it. If your 4x4 works, great. If not, that's likely your problem. You can look into permanently locking the CAD, which is super easy and won't cause any problems down the road that you wouldn't have anyway, and you likely won't notice much if any hit on your mpg. As to the light, it's switched by a vacuum switch, which is driven by the same lines as the CAD, (which come off the Tcase, near the speedometer assembly in the tail housing). I want to say the switch will be near the passenger side inner fender, but I'm not positive about that... On my '91 it was on the CAD on the axle itself which I understand is atypical. If your 4x4 light is on, but otherwise the 4x4 is engaging and disengaging normally, there's a chance the light's switch is stuck. But the light itself receives constant power with the switch connecting it to ground, so if the wires are shorting to ground before the switch, the light will stay on as well. Should be easy enough to tell which one the problem is, if you locate and unplug the switch and the light goes out, well the problem is either with the switch it the switch's ground. If the light stays on, you've got a short somewhere. Good luck! Also I have to laugh at Calgary being cold. It was -37°C here this morning, not counting the windchill. Not to one-up you or anything...

I did the same thing when I brought home my first manual Jeep this year. Three years of being in the automatic MJ every day and then shutting off the XJ and "what the Hell is this??) Although I did t get so far as to disassemble the column to try to fix it...