1996 Grand Cherokee transmission rebuild & on to other stuff

[DoubleDingo]

On my Jeep there is a factory relay in the relay box under the hood, however I have wondered if an aftermarket system, which would have larger gauge wiring, and it would be new wiring if that would help at all. We'll see where I'm at after this work.

I thought mine had factory relays. Not sure what year they started that, but I am glad to have them now.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I thought mine had factory relays. Not sure what year they started that, but I am glad to have them now.

I think, but do not know for sure that when they went from the traditional push / pull headlight switch to the rotary switch. I think with the rotary came factory relays, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[SirRobyn0]

No pictures unfortunately I didn't think to but. I did the swap today at lunch, it was an easy change over except for one thing. I have been told, but never took the time to compaire 9004 and 9007 side by side that the engagement tabs, the little tabs the bulb slides into in the housing is the same. They are not. One of the lower tabs is off set slightly so I had to cut that tab off the housing. I think two tabs will hold it where it needs to be just fine anyway. As @Grit dog would say it's only half a beer job. Quick and easy. The added brightness even in a full lit shop is obvious when the lights are shinning on a wall (I turned them on after only changing one). After replacing both of them, I re-aimed both the headlights and the fog lights. Will report again after I get to drive it in the dark, but I do think that this will make a difference.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Charging system has been operating consistently, and has been keeping the battery up just fine. I've been trying to drive the Jeep to the shop a couple days a week when I can. We did nearly 400 miles in the Jeep last weekend driving to and from and around on the coast without issue.

Now I'm looking down the barrel of number of things. A trip I'm dreading with my mom to spread my grand fathers ashes. I want to do it and I want to be there but it won't be any fun. I do have my own hotel room rented so at least I will have some time to myself in the room. The farm is picking up. And I haven't done the evaporator in the Jeep yet.

So tomorrow I'm going to pump a can of Red Devil A/C sealant into it. I'm not crazy about putting stop leak into it, but hoping to get by with it for the summer at least. I'll let ya, know how it turns out.

The PO installed an aftermarket radio with 10 disk changer under the back seat. The changer quit a few years ago, the drivers side speaker has bad wires in the door jam, and finally radio just quit. So I ordered this:

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It's a JVC KD-SR86BT I can't tell you how long it's been since I bought a new car radio. Probably the Kenwood I bought in 2002 lol. Anyhow I think this will work for me. I don't really care about being able to play CDs anymore, all my music is on my phone. I wanted an AUX port, because the radio in the truck has one, and the old one in the Jeep had one so I used that for playing music off my phone. Obviously this one has bluetooth so I'll give that a shot for music. I wanted blue to at least be a similar color to the Jeeps instrument lights. So it should be arriving at the shop tomorrow. I need to run new speaker wires and then the radio will get installed.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Well I had one of the guys at the shop call out a couple days this week so I didn't get to install the radio or charge the A/C with the stop leak until yesterday. I think I'm going to be really happy with this radio. I figure out the bluetooth thing. I don't want to use the radio for phone calls, but being able to play music off my phone on the radio without a cord should be nice. The PO did not do a good job routing the speaker wires so there were a couple of rub throughs, so I ended up replacing all the speaker wires. So in the end the only thing I re-used from the old system was the speakers.

I put the red devil A/C stop leak in it and charged it up. We'll see if it holds, if it does great, if not I gotta figure out when the dash is coming apart.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Update on the A/C. The system was flat in 2 days. The stop leak did nothing. So I bought a new evaporator and heater core a few weeks ago. I figured if I was going to go though the work to pull the dash to replace the evaporator may as well do the heater core as well. @DoubleDingo I thought you might be interested in my progress so far.

So today was the day to do the tear down. Took about 1 1/2 hours to get the heater box out of the Jeep. Quite a bit quicker than I expected. Honestly if I'd of known that I probably would have replaced it a year or 2 ago when I first started suspecting the evaporator of leaking. My method for the dash was the unbolt and swing method, so I pulled the support bolts for the steering column and dropped it onto the seat, pulled the top plate off the dash by the windshield and unhooked the light sensors. Then unbolt all the bolts that hold the dash to the firewall leaving most of the wiring hooked up. That way a guy can swing the passenger side of the dash up on the seat to make room to work on the heater box without having to fully pull the dash. There is some risk involved with stuff like possibly scratching the center by the shifter and such, but done carefully it's alright.

From there unhook all the wiring to the HVAC box. My Jeep has climate control so there is lots of wiring. Unhook the A/C lines, and the heater hoses, then remove all the bolts that hold the box to the firewall. The worst one and it took me a while to find it, was on the passenger side firewall. A bolt running from the outside into the heater box located UNDER the computer bracket. Totally couldn't see it.

From there pull the HVAC unit out of the vehicle and disassemble all the screw that hold the box together and boy was I in for a surprise. No wonder the evaporator failed! I feel lucky the thing didn't make me sick! And how was it I still had good air flow!

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Disgusting!

So I've got about 3 1/2 hours into it at this point. 1 1/2 hours getting the box out, 1/2 pulling the box apart, and 1/2 putting it back together. The other hour was spent carefully cleaning the entire inside of the box with bleach.

Below: some pic of the Jeep with the dash pulled back.

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That's all the time I have left for today. I have to run the dog to the vet for her annual visit and she'll be ecstatic that she gets to go in the truck even if she has to go to the vet. I have to go to the shop tomorrow to check in, I've taken a couple days of vacation this week but will go in tomorrow so I don't have as much to catch up on next week. Plus I have a very serious meeting with the owners tomorrow but that's another story....

So my plan is to put her all back together on Friday. Then we shall see what happens!

 

[Grit dog]

^Weird coincidence. Just bought a new condenser for the old new snackwagon. After I stupidly fed it a $50 can of super duper recharge leak stopper stuff, imported all the way from the great state of OrEgun (thx Dimslee….).
Didn’t think to just put a little in and see if any obvious leaks, but the dent in the condenser also had a hole in it. I couldn’t hear the hissing over the running engine until I had a bunch of new juice in it…
Question? How long could I expect the AC to work or at all if I did a home recharge kit after replacing the part? Or am I 100% better to take it in and get it recharged properly?

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Only pic I got of the ole girl. Have put several thousand miles on it since February. Time to give er the full maintenance experience here in the near future now that time is something I have again….
Looks like it’ll be a good candidate for next years hockey practice commuter traffic battle wagon.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Replacing the heater core is on my list of to-do's on the jeep. I should do like you did and replace the evaporator while I'm in there. My a/c has already leaked out so replacing stuff will be easier. I do miss having a/c on trips. I don't run a/c in the summertime on my commutes because the commute time is so short. That, and I am a popcicle everyday in the summer because the run the a/c at work at 64 degrees. Thawing out is a must.

 

[SirRobyn0]

@Grit dog Home recharges. I've done many. Sometimes bringing a vehicle into work just isn't convenient. You really should pull a vacuum on the system before it gets recharged. If you don't if you just dump in however much refrigerant it calls for it'll work, and it last just fine, but it's unlikely you'll be very happy with the A/C vent temps. The air in the system will have a bad effect on the cooling temps. Any moisture in there overtime may or may not have a negative effect on the compressor and lines.

With that said HF sells vacuum pumps, I bought might a few years back for about $50. For occasional use it's been fine. Then just try to get as close of a charge as you can. It's often a little harder to get the exact amount out of the little cans vs using a machine that weighs the refrigerant as you go.

But doing it at home is completely doable as long as you pull a vacuum and are reasonably careful during the recharge process.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Replacing the heater core is on my list of to-do's on the jeep. I should do like you did and replace the evaporator while I'm in there. My a/c has already leaked out so replacing stuff will be easier. I do miss having a/c on trips. I don't run a/c in the summertime on my commutes because the commute time is so short. That, and I am a popcicle everyday in the summer because the run the a/c at work at 64 degrees. Thawing out is a must.

My evaporator was about $50. I'd say if you'd even consider getting the A/C working again why not replace it while your in there.

I'm kind of a wimp in the heat. I was born and raised here and anything over 74F is just tp hot!

 

[Grit dog]

Spose I could rig something out of the old recharge hose and my oil extractor without too much trouble. Heading to Idahoo this weekend so I can grab another recharge kit and bootleg it back into Washifornia….
Thx for the advice!
Reminds me, heater core popped in the GMC too recently. Gotta fix that in the next 4 months lol (and the AC has a slight leak).

 

[SirRobyn0]

Spose I could rig something out of the old recharge hose and my oil extractor without too much trouble. Heading to Idahoo this weekend so I can grab another recharge kit and bootleg it back into Washifornia….
Thx for the advice!
Reminds me, heater core popped in the GMC too recently. Gotta fix that in the next 4 months lol (and the AC has a slight leak).

I was just there! Yup that's why I've been missing for the last week. Spent some time in Northern Idaho and Northwestern Montana. Not really doing anything specific other than exploring an area we hadn't been to before, other than to pass though on I-90.

 

[WP29P4A]

@SirRobyn0. Hoping it's ok to ask you a jeep question since you have the exact same year make and model. Does this look normal? Is this an end link with a ball joint on the top of it?

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[SirRobyn0]

@WP29P4A Totally fine ask away!

Is that the sway bar end link I'm looking at? And is there something you are specifically concerned about?

As for my observations on the picture if that is the end link it looks like it is bent. Most end links are straight. I can look at mine tonight and tell you for sure if you want.

 

[WP29P4A]

@WP29P4A Totally fine ask away!

Is that the sway bar end link I'm looking at? And is there something you are specifically concerned about?

As for my observations on the picture if that is the end link it looks like it is bent. Most end links are straight. I can look at mine tonight and tell you for sure if you want.

Yes those are the sway bar end links, both look the same. I have NEVER seen end links that had an angled attachment point, so I started to assume they were bent. I have never owned a Jeep before, it was gifted to me last week and I noticed the odd sway bar links when I was replacing the front brakes.