u/Tool-whore

I had to transport the 4.6 almost 300 miles yesterday. When I took the donor engine to the machine shop, I grabbed an old tire and laid the engine over it with a couple of straps and didn’t really worry about damaging anything. But, after the rebuild I wanted to protect my investment.

I crawled under the XJ and measured roughly 26” x 11“ dimension of the oil pan. I made a box with scrap 2x6” boards long enough to go across the trailer, centered it over the axle, and anchored everything with 4” deck screws.

When the engine was lowered onto the trailer we placed a couple of 4x4 boards (actually they measure 3 1/2”) under the rear bell housing brackets and ran two straps across the top. Rode fine all the way home, never even had to tighten the straps when I stopped for gas.

Thought I’d share this in case anyone was interested….
(Accidentally posted the wrong intro picture without the engine in the trailer and now I can’t change it 🤡)

Rear hatch won’t open - quick simple fix

I’ve been cussin’ at my rear hatch for several years but it didn’t help… the latch wouldn’t open unless I first pressed inward, then pulled the handle. I have adjusted the threaded bar multiple times nothing helps. Today I removed the rear handle assembly to get a closer look and finally noticed the adjustment link rod is a left-hand thread (wtf!). You can see in the first picture the threads are backwards.

So the way to make it pull the lock mechanism open is to turn the adjustable link clockwise as it sits inside the rear hatch.

Remove the inner trim panel by taking loose eight Phillips head screws across the top and beside the windows, take out the two long screws that hold the grab handle (they are Inverse Brazilian Whiplash screw but a 30 Torx will also work), then use a trim panel prybar to pop the plastic retainers and remove the panel completely. Now you have access to the door lock handle and the latch mechanism in the bottom of the hatch assembly. Open the threaded link rod retaining clip at the bottom of the rod and pop it loose (the green clip in the second picture). The upper clip grips the threads at the top of the rod really tightly so I had to use a long set of needle nose pliers to reach into the door panel and basically rotate the rod a quarter turn at a time repositioning the pliers each step. Two turns of the rod is all it took for my rear hatch to open consistently. I put everything back together, and I swear it works every time.

Finally noticed the rod is threaded backwards oh hell yeah.

‘98 Cherokee Classic w power locks. I’ve been cussin’ at my rear hatch for several years but it didn’t help… the latch wouldn’t open unless I first pressed inward, then pulled the handle. I have adjusted the threaded bar multiple times nothing helps. Today I removed the rear handle assembly to get a closer look and finally noticed the adjustment link rod is a left-hand thread (wtf!). You can see in the first picture the threads are backwards.

So the way to make it pull the lock mechanism open is to turn the adjustable link clockwise as it sits inside the rear hatch.

Remove the inner trim panel by taking loose eight Phillips head screws across the top and beside the windows, take out the two long screws that hold the grab handle (they are Inverse Brazilian Whiplash screw but a 30 Torx will also work), then use a trim panel prybar to pop the plastic retainers and remove the panel completely. Now you have access to the door lock handle and the latch mechanism in the bottom of the hatch assembly. Open the threaded link rod retaining clip at the bottom of the rod and pop it loose (the green clip in the second picture). The upper clip grips the threads at the top of the rod really tightly so I had to use a long set of needle nose pliers to reach into the door panel and basically rotate the rod a quarter turn at a time repositioning the pliers each step. Two turns of the rod is all it took for my rear hatch to open consistently. I put everything back together, and I swear it works every time.

Finally noticed the rod is threaded backwards oh hell yeah.

I’ve had a problem for about a year with the oil pressure dropping to zero. Replaced the sending unit twice ($60 each!!) but each time turned out to be a temporary fix.

The oil pressure sending unit has an integrated two blade male connector with the female side being on the wire harness. I think the root cause of the failure is the female receptacle in the wire harness connector spreading open due to thirty years of metal fatigue. So my solution was to remove the sending unit from the engine block and carefully twist the two male blades by about 1/64th turn so they would contact the female receptacle better. You can barely see in the second picture above the small amount of twist in each blade. Carefully… I didn’t wanna break anything and have to spend another $60.

It’s only been one day, but my oil pressure seems to be working every time. I crank the engine and functioning continuously throughout the drive. I’m running 20W 50 because I have the piston slap issue. Peak highway oil pressure runs slightly above 50 psi, medium spade driving around the neighborhood shows 45 to 50 and hot engine at idle drops to around 10 psi.

I took the second picture inside the engine bay using a small mirror because I forgot to take a picture while I had the sending unit on my workbench.

Considering how hot it is outside, I thought this might be helpful to those trying to troubleshoot their AC. South Carolina.

I thought this might help someone trying to troubleshoot their neutral/start switch. DeXJ also has a good video on his YT channel.

From Factory Service Manual. Hope someone finds this useful….

I took pics of the AW4 diagnosis table. Hope this helps…

Here’s some info from’98 Jeep Cherokee XJ FSM (factory service manual). The FSM calls it the 8W-12 Junction Block. Also includes the cigar lighter, horn, and rear window defogger relays. Hope this helps…

I took pictures of the connector pin assignments for the three connectors going into the power control module. This is from the 1998 Jeep Cherokee XJ factory service manual. (FSM)

I took pictures of the information in the factory service manual for those troubleshooting CPS issues. Hope this helps….

Here is some fuel injection general info from the factory service manual.

For those trying to diagnose nonfunctioning AC/heater issues, I have taken pictures of the factory service manual diagnosis and testing procedures. Hope this helps…

I’m adding an auxiliary transmission oil cooler to my XJ so I thought this diagram from the FSM would be helpful.

I’m using a Hayden 678 oil cooler kit….cost less than $60 on eBay.

Here’s a picture from the 1998 XJ FSM of the OEM factory color codes and their aftermarket equivalents…