Mikey1989

By the way, did my first road trip this week. 300 miles there and back, 21 mpg down and 20mpg back. Wow, very pleasing! So, about 14mpg city and 50% better for hwy miles. So my city mpg underperforms the new vehicle sticker assertions, but the hwy milage is right about there?

Water, water water, the source of so many issues in home and car! My truck came with an old afer market CD player/radio receiver. It woudl not power up reliably, which I chalked up to being old. No bluetooth either so I bought a (cheap) new one and it also had intermittent failures. I did not like it anyway, and so I returned it for a better one. I had made a wiring mistake on the first replacement that I fixed on this 2nd one, and it seemed to work, problem solved. Then earlier this week it started turning off again. It woudl go off, then come back on a little while later. And then it just stayed off. I pulled the radio fuse to make sure it was good. It was, but coudl not get it back in right away and was out of time. Later I put it back in and the radio came back on right away. Hmmmm.... So, now I am thinking there must be corrosion on the fuse panel. Geez, and one of the first things I fixed was a leaky windshield dripping down into that driver side area - the parking brake is corroded (and also needs attention as the rachet has trouble staying set). Looks like I'm going to have to give that fuse panel a thouough inspection and hopefully just needs cleaning. Now sure how to clean a fuse panel that does not just create more problems.

I love this forum, it gives me such confidence I can DIY so much of what I used pay somebody to do. Now I'm entering retirement maintaining cash flow is getting more and more worrisome.

Another great idea - I'll do this. Thank you.

I'm on it, great idea. Plus I can let it drain out for a good while, no hurry to unscrew the thing. It's gonna be a chore to clean up 36 years of oil and road crap off the thing.

There is also a ton of oil residue on the oil pan, lower engine block, transmission housing, cross pieces, ugh. The position of the oil filter makes me wonder if all this mess is due to the filter changes. Thinking I'm going to get under there and clean it all up. I like the fiber gasket idea, had thought about that, so nice to hear @Eagle_SX4 experience. Also appreciate the advice to suspect the valve gasket, another reason to clean all that up and see what happens. Hopefully it is just a matter of doing my own oil changes from now on to avoid further spills. That, and geez, oil change inflation is killer these days.

Had my truck up on a lift over the weekend. One of the things I was inspecting was the source of a very slow oil leak. More like a slow drip, but enough so I can't park it anywhere nice without leaving a mark. While there was a little tiny bit of oily stuff on the transfer case, it looks like it might be dripping from the oil pan drain plug. I have heard of so-called "crush washers". Copper or aluminum, one time use? Or what about a rubber material? What do you think?

At risk of beating this to death, took a look while the truck was up on a lift and can't see that the gas filler neck uses that gap, rather it is actually slightly forward of the gap. But, yeah, no big deal really as there are plenty of other actually useful things to worry about or work on. Not like I have to find make work!

Given as it seems by design, I still can't figure out what possible utlity that gap could have.

Years ago when my Rx7 was relatively new I was running into problems where it would not start and I had to take it in for service. When I picked it up after maybe the 3rd time that had happened the service tech said I needed to run the RPMs up higher before shifting. I was shifting around where I shift my Comanche now (pretty much like 89 MJ and eaglescout526 advise). The tech's point was I needed to routinely shift at much higher RPMs to mitigate carbon build-up. So I changed the way I drove the Rx7 such that I routinely shifted at higher RPMs like 4-6K. (Actually what the tech said was more like "Quit driving like a weenie, you have an Rx7!") So, I won't run my Comanche up to rotary RPMs, but I will stop being an idiot ;-)

I learn so much on this forum. Very cool. I did not know the term "valve float". OK, so I'll just keep on smooth shifting, ignore the idiot light, and call it good!

As my truck was delivered in Feb 1989, I believe the transmission is the Peugeot BA10/5. But that is an educated guess only. Definitely is the 4L inline 6 with 5-spd manual. The up arrow instrument panel light comes on well before I would normally shift. I assume it is telling me to upshift when it light up? If I am on flat or downhill I'll shift as low as 1500 RPM but on the uphill I like to wait to 2000+ RPMs depending on the hill steepness. Bottom line I run the RPMs up higher, sometimes much higher, than the up arrow light indicator. I just sold my '77 Chevy Luv 4-speed manual I drove since 1998. And also just sold my '93 Rx7 5-speed i bought new. So, I am driving my new Comanche more like my old Luv, and definitely not how I drove my Rx7 that loved high RPMs ;-) I appreciate any advice from other Comanche drivers with more experience thank my own. I've had this truck since Sept but was not driving it much until recently having finished a bunch of necessary work on it.

Thanks - what I expected and appreciate knowing for sure.

Still working/learning on my new Comanche... I noticed there is a large gap in the rear wheel wells. At first I thought maybe this truck got rear ended, but the gap is identical on both sides and looks it might be by design. Both gaps were pretty much full up with years of mud/dirt/rocks. So I cleaned that out, but it will build up again. Wondering the purpose of this if it is indeed a design feature, does anybody know?

I've filled up three times now with my new '89 and am getting about 14 MPG city driving. I've tested the 4x4 but not done any driving with it. So this is all 2H driving. I am looking forward to a road trip to see what the highway MPG looks like. Is 14 MPG city 2H driving par for this truck? Mileage is 130K.

In one of those twilight zone events last night the heater panel was lit! That did not happen by accident so likley to not stay so. Must have been something I poked earlier in the day when I was working on the radio. Still have the instrument panel trim off so I'm going to take a look and see if I can figure out what happened to make it start working. The glove box light is missing presumably the same bulb.

If I am reading this correctly, pg 61 of the '88 electrical manual shows an illumination circuit for the heater controls. Sure would be nice if my '89 had a light on the heater controls. But I'll be darned if I can see where a bulb would even go. Maybe this was only in trims that had the A/C - mine has no A/C.

Looks like the illumination wire is not used if it is the dk blue/lt blue wire still attached to the original radio connector plug. The only other wire still attached to the plug must be the ORN/BLK one shown on pg 59 of that '88 electrical diagram manual.

I took another look and confirmed the radio ignition voltage VIO/ORN is wired to the ACCY OR RUN Also verified the VIO/ORN is wired to the cigarette lighter (sanity check, should not matter). And this matches the 1988 wiring guide pg 56. But the radio battery memory voltage is definitely a pink wire. The original radio connector plug (with most of the wire harness cut off) is still there (though not in use) and there is a pink wire in the plug but no red/tan wire. When I looked at the back of the lcd clock I do see a RED/TAN wire. So the clock wiring matches the 1988 wiring guide but not the radio wiring. However, this memory voltage oddity must be a red herring as the issue ought to be with the main power input and not the memory backup. Bottom line: something must be messed up in the VIO/ORN wiring elsewhere that is causing an intermittent power failure? For now I'll keep a watch to confirm the issue is indeed associated with the headlight switch operation and never happens otherwise. PS that 1988 wiring guide is a gold mine!

My truck had an ancient cd player with no bluetooth that still "sort of" worked - it kept rebooting or just turning off for a while and then back on seconds or minutes later. Seemingly random timing but often enough to convince me to replace it. Well, now the new stereo is doing a very similar thing, but only when I turn the head lights on/off. I wired the stereo into the original radio wire bundle. So this is either the power wire (pink) or maybe the ground (black) is failing? Seems more likely a ground problem, right? But how could this be related to the headlight switch?

@eaglescout526 I'll get some more pics next time I'm at the yard if there is a ZJ - most of their vehicles are pretty picked over though

how did the testing go? I need a new module. Mine is in good shape (took it apart to look) but intermittent does not work and hi/lo is the same speed. Found one at local pull apart but it did not work either. eBay has some for $70ish but how do I know they will work?

I see alot of wiper relay modules on eBay for $65+ but am lacking confidence they will work and reluctant to pay that much to find out. Went by our local pull apart yard today, two comanches and four cherokees close to my 89 comanche year and only one still had a relay module. It did not work though. Sigh...

is "JHAA VAR INTERMITTENT WINDSHIELD WIPERS" the under dash relay module?