When I purchased my Jeep XJ Cherokee, it was with the full knowledge that the AC in it wasn’t working that well. I’m mean, it blew semi-cool air even on the hottest of days but never enough to take the edge off the intense heat a black vehicle can generate if you know what I mean. But then, with me being in one of the cooler parts of SoCal, I figured, what the heck, who needs AC? Yeah right!! Maybe in a normal year that would be true but no joke, it’s been hotter this summer than I’ve ever felt in the last three years that I’ve lived here. Need I say, it was time to get the ol’ XJ’s AC blowing cold again.

So here was my dilemma… upgrade to an R134a system or, find someone who still works on R-12 units here in California - LOL!!! Yes, as it would seem, the later is a complete impossibility and even if you could find someone who did work on R-12 systems, the R-12 freon costs about an arm and a leg and maybe even a couple of extra toes per pound and the one under the hood of an XJ takes about 3 lbs - Yikes!! Well, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I decided that the R134a route was the way to go… or was it?

After doing some research online and a little shopping around for an upgrade kit, it became clear to me that the only way to make this thing work and work well was to buy a complete kit (with valves, hoses, R134a, oil, etc.), a new receiver/dryer/or whatever it’s called and then have the compressor vacuumed out of the existing R-12 freon by a certified professional before I could install anything. When all was said and done, the cost of upgrading my AC right was just about as expensive as having new R-12 put in. Sure this would all just be a one time fee and the next time I needed a recharge, all I would need to do is add some inexpensive R134a and oil to the system. But, what if the EPA decided to change the laws in the near future and make it virtually impossible to use this stuff? Not as if it hasn’t happened before in the past.

Well, fortunately for me, while I was calling around to get a quote to have my R-12 vacuumed out, I came across a local shop that suggested I consider having my existing AC system recharged with a product called Freeze 12 instead. Apparently, it was completely compatible with my existing AC compressor, no upgrade kits or additional parts would be needed and the best part is that it was cheap at about $17 a pound. In all, I was told that I’d be looking at about $100 to test my AC for leaks, other problems and labor plus the cost of how ever many cans of Freeze 12 my system needed… maybe $140 out the door.

So, I jumped in my XJ, drove down to the shop, had the head mechanic there give my AC system a thorough once over and then left it there while I went to lunch and he did his magic. About an hour later, I returned to hear what the good or bad news would be and much to my surprise, it was in fact good news. As it would seem, they could find no visible leaks and my AC was just a bit low. Needing just a single can of Freeze 12 to top it off, my bill had come up to only $122!! As far as how well this stuff works goes, well, let me just say that I’ve been driving my XJ more and more even though the weather has been in the 90’s lately.

I don’t know what the long term effect of this stuff will be but you can be sure that you’ll hear about it here if I ever come across any problems what so ever.

Eddie

FYI: If you live in the South O.C. neck of the SoCal woods and need a good AC shop to help you out, I would highly recommend CAPE Auto Repair. They are located on 27762 Forbes Rd. - Suite 1R, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 - (949) 582-3131. Ask for James Buck.

Among the many things not working when I bought my Cherokee, I’d have to say that fixing the backup lights was one of the hardest ones to figure out and yet, ultimately the easiest one to fix. The funny thing about it is, there’s actually tons of good information online regarding how to address this issue. That is, if you have an AW4 Automatic. And yes, you guessed it, I just happen to have an AX-15 5-Speed Manual.

Now, if you’ve stumbled across this post, have a backup light problem and you have an AW4, let me save yourself some time and tell you to just do a search for “Jeep Cherokee (or XJ) and “NSS” or “Neutral Safety Switch”. Trust me, you will find what you’re looking for there. If you have a 5-Speed like me, you will not have an NSS and should therefore continue reading below.

Okay, so why was figuring out how to fix my backup lights such a problem for me? Well, after going through the obvious like checking the fuses and bulbs (which both came up clean), I started looking for any loose connections in the wiring harness and was convinced that the problem would be there. After all, the previous owner did tell me that he did just have a trailer hitch and wiring harness for it installed. But, much to my surprise, everything checked out there too. With that, I had concluded that the problem must be with the Backup Light Switch. What else could it be, right?

Well, after doing some calling around, I found that a Backup Light Switch for an AX-15 (Part# - WELLS CR413) only costs about $60 at Autozone (as opposed to a NSS for an AW4 that can set you back about $200) and so I was feeling pretty lucky that this fix wasn’t gonna hurt the wallet too much. Anyway, with a new Backup Light Switch and a 1-1/16″ wrench in hand, I crawled under my Cherokee, removed the existing switch from the passenger side of the transmission and installed the new one. I climbed back out, turned the key to the on position, shifted the transmission to reverse, took a look at my tail lights and saw… nothing!!

What the hell - what did I miss? Was it a fuse I was unaware of? A short in the wiring somewhere? Oh God I thought, I sure hope to hell it isn’t that. There are few things I hate more than having to track down a short. Fortunately for me, my wife saw how frustrated I was and decided to some research of her own and suggested that I check to see if the switch was installed all the way on and/or if it might need to be adjusted. Okay I thought, now there’s something I hadn’t checked yet, is the damn switch even showing any resistance when activated? With my multitester in hand, I climbed back under my Cherokee, unplugged the Backup Light Switch from the wiring harness, had my wife put the transmission into reverse and then checked the switch for resistance and… nothing. Imagine that? Just for good measure, I grabbed a hold of the old switch, activated it by hand, checked for resistance and… there it was - the old switch actually worked. Need I say, it was at about this point that I could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

What I decided to do from here was pull the new Backup Light Switch off, reinstall the old switch, checked for resistance but still got nothing. Then, I decided to tighten it down a bit more - quite a bit more so that it was on really tight now. Checked resistance again and… there it was!! So, I quickly plugged it back into the wiring harness, climbed back out from under my Cherokee, checked to see if my backup lights were on and… YES!! They were finally on and I now had light behind me!!

So what did I learn from all this? Number one, check everything thoroughly and then thoroughly again before you spend any money and when in doubt, ask my wife for help. She is after all, the best troubleshooter of just about anything that I know.

I don’t know what it is about older Cherokees but I swear, I have yet to see one that doesn’t have a headliner that isn’t ragged and drooping from the windshield to the tailgate. Need I say, my Cherokee was no exception to the laws of gravity and giving it a little nip-n-tuck was definitely on my interior cleaning/restoration to do list. Maybe it wasn’t exactly necessary but I figured, how hard could it be?

Surprise! Although it wasn’t exactly difficult to do, fixing the headliner certainly wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be either. I don’t know why but I guess I figured all I would need to do is pull the entire headliner out, lift up the fabric, spray some 3M Super 77, replace the fabric, reinstall the headliner and call it a day. What I didn’t realize was that the headliner was falling not because of the lack of adhesive glue but rather, its foam backing was deteriorating and crumbling away. Need I say, within minutes of attempting my brilliant fix, the entire thing started to fall back down and look even worse than when I had started the project!!

Well, back at the drawing board, I decided to do some research online to see what other people have done and I quickly found out that the only real solution to repairing my Cherokee’s headliner was to do a complete replacement of it. And, to make it last, the proper adhesive and thorough prep work would make all the difference.

So, to begin this project anew, I started off by tracking down and purchasing a 54×90 piece of light gray headliner fabric on eBay. And, while I waited for it to arrive, I pulled the headliner back out of my Cherokee, removed the fabric complete off the backing and then proceeded to brush off the remaining foam still attached to it. Once the fabric showed up, I made a quick trip to a local automotive paint store and picked up 3 cans of 3M Super Trim Adhesive. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only stuff that will work and only work if you use it correctly. Specifically, you really need to spray on a good 3 coats of this stuff in overlapping strokes on both the new headliner fabric and the backing surface. Two of the coats need to be applied in the same direction and then the 3rd coat perpendicular to the previous coats. Allow approximately 5 minutes of drying time and then adhere the fabric applying even pressure across the surface.

After trimming the excess fabric, cutting out the holes for the dome light and sun visor mounts, all that was left to do was reinstall it back in my Cherokee. If done correctly, your new headliner should last for about 10 years… or, so I have been told. Whatever the case may be, mine has been in for about a week now and I can tell you that it still looks great. To see a few more pics of the end results, click on the link below:

>> Jeep Cherokee XJ Headliner Replacement

For those of you who are interested, I will be sure to do a complete and detailed instruction write-up for this project. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me

One of the things I love most about Jeeps is the fact that they have a way of aging so well. I mean really, unlike any other vehicle I know, there’s something about an old beat-up Jeep with faded paint and a few dents here and there that make it look cool. In a way, I think age has a way of giving Jeeps character. However, having said all that, I think there’s nothing cool about sitting in the accumulated filth left behind on the inside of an old Jeep and the only character I see there is that of the previous owner. Yes, as you’ve probably guessed buy now, the inside of the XJ I just bought was simply disgusting. No joke, this thing had the look, smell and stickiness of an old super saver movie theater floor with a Super Sized Coke or two dumped all over the seats, center console and carpeting for good measure - Blah!! And, until I could clean up the previous owners filth, I would have a hard time calling this Jeep mine.

So, in order to effectively clense this Jeep of its past, I decided that everything had to come out for a thorough scrubbing. Fortunately, the seats, center console and carpeting all came out without too much fuss but unfortunately, not without their share of surprises too. Much to my chagrin, the biggest surprise came when I pulled out the crusty excuse for carpeting. As I would find out, this thing was doing a great job of hiding the advanced stages of skin cancer on the passenger side floor pan. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear I was looking at the floor pan of a 1974 CJ that’s been sitting outside without a top for the last 10 years and not a 1994 XJ. So what happened right? Well, based on the bits of broken glass I found on the floor and other subtle tell-tail signs, my best guess is that this XJ had at one time been broken into through the passenger door vent glass and was then left open to the elements for a good period of time there after. Add a little rain into the mix and voila, you have a floor pan fill with water and a piece of carpeting that has transformed itself into a sponge of death. Need I say, this disease would have to be eliminated before I could get back to my cleaning.

As luck would have it, working with rust, broken bolts and the stupid mistakes of previous owners was nothing new to me. Being the proud owner of a 1981 CJ7 that had seen three owners before me, I was trained well in the art of using four letter words and the means to deal with almost anything. With some time, a little elbow grease, a wire-wheel, rust treatment, filler, a coat or two of rust preventing paint and time, this XJ’s floor pan was as good as new again.

With the floor pan mended up, I was finally able to turn my attention back to scrubbing the crap out of this Jeep and giving the inside of it new life. There still are a few things I need to address (like replacing the headliner and fixing the dash) to make it look great but as of today, I think I can officially say that this thing is finally mine.

To see all the before and after shots, click on the link below:
>>Floor Pan Repair & Carpet Cleaning

When I bought this XJ, it was with the knowledge that it was in need of a little help before I would feel comfortable relying on it as a daily driver. For one, the tires on it were bald as racing slicks and so replacing them was certainly way up there on my to-do list. Now, I suppose I could have just gone out and bought a set of new 225/75R16’s, but the thought of spending $450 or more on such tiny little tires, especially when I know I will be lifting this Jeep in the near future, just didn’t make any sense to me.

Well, with some scouring of the bulletin boards, local Recycler and some luck, I was able to find and buy a set of brand new 30×9.50’s Laramie A/P’s. Although these tires might not be anything worth writing home about and yes, they might be a bit tall for a stock XJ but what sold me was the fact that they came mounted on decent set 15×8 Gambler Wheels. As far as the price goes… just $350!

Although I have always loved Jeep Cherokee’s (more commonly known as XJ’s in the Jeepin community), I can honestly say that I’ve always been more of a 2-door/SWB (short wheel base) kind of Jeeper and never really thought I would someday become the proud owner of one. But then a few days ago, I just happened to come across a 1994, black 2-door with a 4.0L engine and a Chrysler 8.25 rear end, but was otherwise totally stock.

Cosmetically, this XJ was in fair condition at best both inside and out, but after giving the engine and undercarriage a thorough once-over, I decided that it might be worth giving it a test drive. And, much to my surprise, I found this thing to be in great mechanical working order even though the odometer showed a little over 183,000 miles on it. As I would later find out, the original owner blew the factory engine at about 96,000 miles and a brand new one was installed back in 1997. Since that time, this XJ found itself in the hands of two other owners, the last of which (the guy I bought it from) was very mechanically inclined and made the effort to keep it in good working order. Tempting, tempting, tempting!!

Well, the first time I gave this XJ a look, it was just for fun. With a reasonable asking price of $1450, I was definitely interested but not entirely sold. However, after talking to this guy a bit and getting to know each other a bit more, he decided to lower the price to $1250 and…. I guess you can say the rest is history.

Where this XJ goes from here, who can say for sure but I think it would be safe to say that a bunch of new write-ups are soon to come