WranglerMangler

1991 MJ 4.0 with Dummy gauges. Recently swapped in a 6 gauge cluster from a ‘96 XJ. Now I have a “GEN” light. Know it’s alternator related. Gauge shows good voltage. What is my truck missing that this cluster is looking for? Or how can I make the cluster think it’s getting this signal so the light goes out? Or just unplug a bulb? Thought and comments appreciated!

Why the ‘87? Just out of curiosity.

I had this exact same thing happen to me too. Frustrating. And even the picture I posted requires 2 kits to complete the repair. But bonus distributor O ring included. Kits are under $5ea. Just throw all the extra O rings in the spare O ring bin for future use.

I’m Washington state. Where are we going? Check out the master Junkyard list too. Basically covers everything to grab while you can.

Tonight I got the newly remand head removed from the donor XJ. Was actually happy to see the condition underneath the valve cover. Removed the head, intake and exhaust manifold as an assembly. Also got the Transmission and Transfer case removed too. Turns out we have a NP242, not a 231 like I thought. These sure a lot heavier than I remember! Found this disaster tonight too once I got the head removed. Still finding brand new parts too. Tonight it was the new Crank position sensor and new flex plate.

Two of these from Napa does the trick for my 91 and 88. Plus there’s one in there that works really good for the distributor too

Oh Man, I went back and Bought the entire XJ. There were just too many good parts left over. I will start by saying I do know it’s a shame to part out such a nice, clean, well optioned XJ. I wasn’t the one who made the decision. I just happened to be the first person to get there to part it out. The block is cracked by the freeze plugs and I believe that’s what lead to to POs decision to part it out. I showed up and stripped out the interior then the guy posted the rest for just too cheap. I was already going to go back for the D44 and for double what he wanted for the 44 I could take the whole Jeep. This one XJ will be sacrificed to help me make at least 4 MJs much better off. Worth it in my opinion. 1987, 161,xxxmi, Limited, 4x4, AW4 floor shift, NP242, D30 non vacuum disconnect/D44, Cruise, A/C, wing windows, factory fog lights, Power mirrors, antenna, windows, locks and leather seats New Coil and starter relay. Also notice the relay panel cover twisty clipper thing. Found the other one hidden underneath the coil mount bracket. Hard to find those in my neck of the woods for some reason. Newly remanufactured head definitely snagging this. Newer starter. Always comes in handy. Got this beauty removed tonight. Also has a newer closed loop radiator as well. And a NIB heater core. Will hopefully get the Transmission and transfer case removed tomorrow night after work.

CommuteChe has been parked since last Thursday. Front brakes got too bad to continue driving it. Got home tonight and all my parts had showed up. Got right to work and got everything replaced. Just went with the budget brakes. Nothing special. However, they do seem to be pretty quality stuff. The brake pads actually came with replacement rubber slider bolt covers too. I actually had difficulty tracking down the front 2wd rotors. Definitely not as common as the 4wd stuff.

Oh damn! Those are nice. Good. Glad to see. Would hate to see any very preventable damage happen. I didn’t put sliders on my first MJ and almost immediately regretted it.

Yeah definitely. Thanks. Lots of work in to the old girl. I’m sure you know all about that! Looking forward to a Comanche adventure!!!

Nice. So when are we going wheelin? Minche is ready for Naches or Evans or anywhere that’s not Elbe. Don’t forget rock sliders on the list too!!

Drove Minche to work today. Decided to forklift flex her out.

Last time I drove Minche, my wipers stopped working, got home tonight and decided to figure out why. Didn’t take much to diagnose. My little plastic pop socket had worn out on the connection to the wiper motor. Luckily in the land of 6 MJs, I was able to source another wiper motor assembly. This one is actually pretty fresh! Even made in France lol. Better than China crap. Went through, greased the pivot points, re installed and completed Cruiser54s ground update. These wipers haven’t worked like this… ever!

Sweet. Good to know. I was wondering about the differences. Thank you.

Got home tonight and decided the MJ needed a little loving. I’ve wanted a sentinel light module for a while now. I grabbed one off the XJ I recently got parts from. Got it plugged in and luckily it’s functioning! Great mod for cheap. Suggest grabbing one if you see it. Silver box in photo is the factory location. I also grabbed the courtesy lights from the donor XJ and soon found out that Renix and HO Courtesy lights are different? Apparently the plug changed in 1990 from what I gather. I ordered the small, under steering wheel, wood grain trim piece that was missing from my newly installed wood grain dash bezel. It showed up today as well. Was pretty happy about the piece until I tried to install it. Its way too small. Not sure how to fix that. We’ll see if the wood grain is staying or not. More interior plans coming up. I noticed on Minche, another one of my MJs, that it has a little distributor wire clip that clips to the motor mount bracket, went back over to CommuteChe and it doesn’t have the little wire clippy thing. So I’ve been keeping and eye out and found one recently. can't have one on one MJ and not the other right? Especially when, now you know it’s missing and one belongs there. So I had to get one. My OCD wouldn’t stand for this. I’ve been keeping this aside for almost a decade now waiting on a worthy candidate, (AKA threw in a tote ten years ago and just found it again) and believe CommuteChe has surpassed the threshold of “Factory clean” I guess you could call it, and finally installed it. Nothing special, weird stuff like this entertains me. I haven’t looked up the part # and probably should before I claim it’s a factory Comanche battery insulator bubble wrap thing but I found this in one of My ‘91 MJs a really long time ago. And believe it could possibly be a factory MJ part? She has also been running great recently too after it’s little spat of problems

Actually made it here this last weekend. Pretty amazed at how many XJs they had and the condition they were in. Lots of good parts available. MJs we’re pretty gone through, still got a few MJ specific parts. Thanks for letting me know!

Beautiful truck. Looking forward to the build. Sorry to hear about your Dad. Glad your continuing on with his project. Good luck with her.

Here’s the haul. I’m more than happy with what I got. Worst rip in the seats. Forgot my steering wheel puller, so I took the entire column. Lol Still has the rear ash tray in the back of the center console. Factory cigarette lighter too. I didn’t bring enough cash and will be going back next weekend for the factory rear D44. Really just need a carpet kit and CommuteChe will be going through a complete interior upgrade and overhaul.

Oh boy did I hit the Jackpot today guys. Cruising around on the FB MP and found this beauty listed for parts. It was the color matching grill that really caught my eye, it matches one of my ‘88 MJs. Then noticed the color matching headlight bezels and mirrors, so I looked into it further. Really liked the look of the power leather seats and Tri tone Door cards. Along with all the black interior trim. Hit the guy up and met up with him today.

Amongst all the problems, I have actually got an upgrade to go in. I ordered this before all these problems kicked off. Since I started driving CommuteChe, I’ve kept an eye out for a full dash in decent shape, with mileage near mine. When I ordered this dash, it had just over 900 more miles then what CommuteChe had on it at the moment. With just commuting, I do 500 miles a week, plus running the kids around, etc, etc. The mileage racks up quickly. Luckily it worked out perfectly with the miles driven and delivery of the gauge. Got home tonight and the gauge cluster had been delivered. Did take just a little bit of effort, but I got the mileage to match on both clusters. 138,954.7 Miles each. Swapped out the “light” oil pressure sensor for the proper “gauge” sensor. Was happy to see for the first time, CommuteChe has perfect oil pressure. Will hopefully have some cool things to post about tomorrow as well.

Thanks! It’s been running good for the last two days without any issues. After this issue I’d suggest checking grounds! Lol.

She is in really good shape by the pictures. Was just looking back over. Great find. Definitely agree with applicable Cruiser54 upgrades. All of my MJs really benefited from it. Plus you get to know your truck a little better. Also look into the “things every MJ owner should know” thread

While all this craziness is going on, I noticed it looks like the radiator cap is leaking. Recently replaced the radiator and hoses. Can’t believe I didn’t replace the cap. The rubber had cracked on the old cap

Truck broke down again while pulling into the work parking lot today. Was acting like it was out of fuel. Got it to where it needed to be for the day and didn’t get back to it until lunch. Started off by checking for fuel pressure in the rail, it had no pressure. Cycled the key a few times and could not hear the fuel pump. Still no pressure. Banged on the tank a few times around the pump with no luck. Decided to try swapping relays and sure enough, it started. I always carry a few extra relays just in case. Thinking about it on my way home and none of this makes any sense. 3 days in a row, 3 completely different problems and “repairs”. Just all the sudden. After driving over 20k miles without a single cough or sputter. Last weekend I was screwing around by the coil and it all started after that. So I started checking around and couldn’t find anything obvious. So I decided to try another Battery. The $40 junkyard “reman” battery has not been lasting as long as I feel it should while cranking. I have a fairly fresh Interstate blemish battery in a different Jeep. While swapping batteries I found the negative Cables were “loose”. Not loose but not tight. Finished the battery swap and it cranks over much better. Re installed the Ballast resistor from Monday, truck still runs, Re installed the Coil from Tuesday, truck still runs. Took the relay from today, put it in the starter relay position and the truck starts over and over again. Pretty sure I was being plagued by a loose ground cable. Or possibly low voltage battery. Or both. Lol. Feel like I possibly leveraged my arm off the negative cable while breaking the coil bracket bolts loose and loosened the negative cable nut without realizing. Who knows. We’ll see if anything happens tomorrow. Been a fun week.

Yesterday nights issue was transmission related. Was acting so funny that I actually pulled over and made sure it had fluid and I wasn’t burning it up. Erratic shifting between overdrive and drive. No difference flipping it into power mode. Even felt strange shifting out of OD. Felt like it was slipping badly or dragging. Pulled over, checked the oil while idling, it was good, shut the truck off determined the transmission was still in there, then was able to get back out into traffic with no further issues on my way back home.