JZLAJeep

My 16 year old repaired the headliner the past couple days. Here's what he did with photos. He'd previously done the same thing to our '94 Cherokee. We had previously purchased gray fleece from a fabric store to recover the headliner. Got the headliner out and used a plastic brush and vacuum to get the old foam off. Sprayed Permatex headliner adhesive on the headliner and what would be the back of the headliner fabric. It's stingy glue. He sprayed the headliner one direction and the fabric the other. Two of us held the fabric above the headliner while my son adhered it to the middle and worked out to the edges. Trimmed off the excess, leaving a couple of inches overlap. Folded the overlap over the back and installed in the cab. The last photo shows half the headliner installed because I couldn't get the camera far enough away in the cab.

My sons did the work, but here's the report. Took the week off to work on the Comanche with my sons. They figured this out yesterday. Replaced the CPS with no change. Just installing the cheap, poorly constructed CPS was an ordeal... Purchased and was prepared to install a new ignition cylinder since the key worked intermittently. Took the steering column apart and adjusted the previously installed ignition switch and that solved that issue. Found that jumping a relay solved the issue of getting the fuel pump to run when the key was in the on position. Ended up permanently jumping the relay. So the fuel pump now runs whenever the key is in the on position. Bottom line, back to having a running Comanche!

In other news, the 4x4 shop finished the driveshaft. Needed to remove about 1" due to the AX-15 and transfer case being slightly longer. Came back looking good. I would have been happy with getting the rusted driveshaft back, but they replaced the U-joints, cleaned it up, and painted it. It will be the nicest thing on the Comanche. Course I had to pay for those extras...

Guess we've lucked out. Have two XJs with factory AX-15 and was lucky enough to find a 3rd manual XJ in a junkyard to swap into the MJ. Apparently we skipped many of the issues mentioned above by taking the AX-15 from a XJ. With that said, we are still working out the kinks on the MJ.

When we acquired our Comanche, the driver side fender was removed and in the bed along with the driver fender liner (and a bunch of other junk). The fender liner was folded and torn and not worth putting back on. I ordered a replacement from Amazon for $27 or something like that. Not sure if it was the 96 and after plastic or not. I did need to use the felt from the old fender liner. Glad I didn't throw away the old one before I had the new one installed.

Going back to the original title of this thread, could this be associated with the crankshaft position sensor? We used the crankshaft position sensor and flywheel from the Peugeot transmission in the AX-15 as we understand we needed to do, but it's got me wondering if that is part of what is causing the issue. Seems cheap enough to replace it just to rule that out, but what else are we missing?

Still running into issues. After removing the relay the Jeep would run, but would still shut off after a few minutes. Based on the tips, bypassed the fuel pump ballast resister with a piece of wire between the clips and it seemed to work if the connection was just right, but would still shut off. Tried again today clipping off the clips and no better performance. So it seems there is still something else that keeps it from starting reliably and stay running. Encouraged by the progress. Discouraged by not solving the issue yet.

I just pulled out this relay because it was clicking almost constantly. It was way to the left in the drivers footwell. Now the jeep primes the fuel pump, starts, and stays running. Hallelughah! I have no idea what this relay does, other than keep my jeep from running. The numbers on the relay are 8343 and 25523703.

Thanks! There is power at that pin.

We just tried these tests. It did not have power at D1_5 or D1_6, but did have power at D2_4 during both key on and crank. What does this mean?

That is probably our issue for why it won't prime up. But even when we bypassed all that and gave the pump straight constant 12v, it still wouldn't stay running. So doesn't that mean its a spark issue? What we did is unplugged the fuel pump from the comanche and just stuck wires in the connector. One straight from the battery, and one straight from the transmission housing for ground. It was very audibly running before the engine started and after it died. We did double check that it was building pressure at the rail.

Working on the Comanche more tonight. We've confirmed that the fuel pump gets 9 volts while cranking(is that about right?) but no power when key is turned to on. Definitely does not prime the pump when first turned on. We thought that was the problem, so we tried hotwiring the fuel pump with constant 12v. This made no change, so it must not be a fuel problem, or at least that's not the only problem. Is there anything that could cause the jeep to lose spark after about a second of rolling the key back to the on position? We've also noticed a clicking noise from the drivers side dash that wasn't there before. Could that be a relay related to our problem? Are there any relevant relays in that fuse panel in the drivers footwell?

Getting back on this. Replacing the starter relay (same as ignition relay?). I'll check wires for fusible links.

Did the draw remain after the key lock cylinder illumination turned off? I have the same surround on my 95 XJ and it turns off after a few minutes as I recall. I don't think I've ever had a problem, but perhaps after almost 30 years your had developed some problem. There were likely many Dodge models from the mid-90s that had the same surround illumination. My sons claim the Dodge Viper of that vintage has it. So I like to say that a Viper and my XJ are practically the same...

I'll be happy to share some photos of the process. The fleece worked great on the XJ and looks really good. I think it looks as good as the foam backed liner and will hopefully last longer. We had to go to a fabric store to buy a couple yards of fleece that was wide enough and that was more expensive than I would have liked ($35 or something), but much cheaper than foam backed fabric. Less concern about the width for a Comanche because the width of the fabric only needs to be the distance from the windshield to the back window rather than door to door like on the XJ. Our "new" family car is a Ford Expedition and it previously had a DVD player/TV screen in the ceiling that a previous owner had removed. So there is just a hole in the headliner. I'm thinking about giving it a similar treatment. Find a stiff piece of cardboard, cut it a little bigger than the hole, glue some tan fleece to it and glue or velcro the patch over the hole. I think that will work out OK.

Taking a break from troubleshooting and after a quick search, didn't see a direct post on headliners. If I missed one, I'll gladly accept a cross-link. A couple months ago my 16 year-old refurbished the headliner in our '94 Cherokee with the ol' fleece blanket and can of 3M spray glue trick. It turned out really well (picture below - prior to reinstallation) and we want to do the same to the '89 Comanche. The headliner in the Cherokee wasn't glued in, but the Comanche headliner does appear to be glued to the ceiling. We have been hesitant to use too much force and haven't yet gotten it out. Do we just need to do it? Stick a plastic puddy knife between the headliner and ceiling sheet metal to separate the two perhaps? Once refurbished, does it need to be re-glued to the ceiling?

I like it. I've owned 3 XJs (including my original that I still have, a '95 2-door manual) and finally have a MJ. I've thus far steered clear of anything that is not 4.0, but low miles and good condition. I bought the '95 used before any of my kids were born. As my oldest sons got to be teenagers they said to me, "Dad, the Jeep is really cool. It's two door and manual. Do you know how rare that is?" Ha ha

We replaced the ignition switch earlier in the week. Unlikely that two are bad. More likely that both are good. We'll try the other suggestions.

I cleaned up the terminals on the ballast resistor with no change. The fuel pump is getting power and seems to prime up well. I really don't think it's a fuel issue because of the way it dies. It doesn't sputter out like it's losing fuel, it really just sounds like you turned off the key. Is there any reason it would have spark when it's started but not immediately after?

Hope so. Getting a frustrated with it at the moment.

My sons and I (mostly my 18 and 16 year-old sons lately) have been working on our field find since May. We even had it driving for a little while. Most recently we've swapped the Peugeot for an AX 15 transmission. After installing the AX 15 twice (my son learned you have to use the flywheel and crankshaft position sensor from the Peugeot? which we didn't do on the first try) we've got it mostly back together. Looks like the main drive shaft is too long now and is not installed, need to hook up 4wd linkage, a section of exhaust pipe needs to be reconnected, and a few other odds and ends, but it's in! (again) We think we have it back to the point where the Comanche should at least start and run and we are having trouble. The engine starts, but stops after letting go of the key. The engine will sometimes keep running if we hold the key in the start position, but will stop as soon as we let go. We thought it might be the ignition switch and swapped that last night in the Idaho cold, but same result. Engine starts and stops as soon as we let go of the key. What are we missing? Is it ignition related? Is there something we missed with the AX 15 swap? Is it related to something that we haven't reconnected yet? Any ideas will be appreciated. I skimmed through the write-ups and nothing immediately jumped out at me.

I wouldn't have been able to resist for $250 either. I bought a '94 for $1,500 because it was too cheap to pass up.

Awesome! Thank you!

Yeah, I saw that on Amazon recently too and I'm kicking myself for not buying then. But I was committed to getting mechanical issues fixed before cosmetic though, and it's biting me now. Which is why I ask about the Dakota bumpers. There are some decent looking Dakota's in the junk yard if that rear bumper will work.

Need a rear bumper. I am familiar with the Fey bumper and brackets. Several websites call it a Dakota/Comanche bumper. Will a Dakota bumper (87-96) bolt on to a Comanche? Looks like a Fey bumper with brackets costs around $300+ if I buy them cheap, but I can pull a decent Dakota bumper from a junk yard for much less. The bumper only needs to be in condition as good as the rest of the Comanche after all. If a Dakota bumper fits, will it attach to the Comanche with the Fey brackets?