What are you doing to your rig - the continuing saga

[SeeingSpots]

Looks cool Jim...... But WTF is up with that cut line on the drivers front fender??? Did the air chisel get away from ya there Mr. Body Guy?

LOL....C'Mon man - not on my worst day...That was the fender that was on it when I got it. The PS is the one that I got from you. The PO was the worst kind of hack. The kind that doesn't even try to pretend that they don't suck at life.

 

[riverfever]

Damn that looks nice.

 

[Gunter]

so got and installed the plug on the alternator today. alt seems to be more consistent in output voltage.
and i checked my heater blower, it works but not from the dash switch. so i tempd up a switch in case i get any more cold weather to deal with.
and from messing around yet again with the ground wires i have gained the horn's function back. right now it is all hokey looking, but as i get back on my feet i 'll re do it and make it sweet.
blasted ground wires !!

:cheers:

 

[DutchVDub]

Just wrapped up the timing belt job on my S4. The damn waterpump I got with my kit when I did it 40,000 miles ago failed. Total bearing ka-blooey. Luckily I didn't jump the t-belt or have any other damage. Now I can give my father in law back his POS gas guzzling Taurus and go back to enjoying my 220,000 mile beater.

 

[SolarBell]

Dutch, I was impressed how fast you got that front clip back on..

 

[OverlandZJ]

Looks great Jim!

How many coats did you do and how much paint did it take ya? 3/4 gallon?

Happy with the shade?

Still have 1.25 gallon and a few cases of aerosol.. my ZJ's looking at me like "Dont even think about it"...

 

[xj-grin]

you guys ever have an alternator fail in and out while driving -- and you can get it working again by just tapping it with a wrench? Doing some exploring in NM this weekend, and the voltage suddenly dropped from 14 to around 11... drained down from there to sub-9 at which point the jeep stopped running (obviously). In a minor temper tantrum, I tapped the alternator with a socket (saying something to the effect of "darn jeep"). Hopped in and it fired right up at 14V... had the same symptom a couple times on the drive home, and every time, if I tapped on the alternator firmly with a wrench, voltage returned to normal immediately... :dunno:

 

[eflores]

Loose connection/faulty soldering connection?

 

[kastein]

Probably crummy brushes for the field winding - it's on the rotor, two slip rings / brushes to transfer the power from the two little screw terminals on the back of the alternator to it. If they stop working, you get no field from the field coil and the alternator stops putting out any power.

 

[Fred]

x2. I'd assume you checked the external connections. It has to have battery power to work.

 

[xj-grin]

I checked all the external connections, as it had the feel of a loose wire type gremlin. the odd thing is the "whack it and it works" nature of the problem -- Ken, is the readers digest version of your description: "It needs a new alternator"? I don't think I'm going to disect the thing and hope to put it back together right...

 

[Fred]

I'd get a new one. It's like whacking a starter and it works, but only briefly.

 

[SeeingSpots]

Looks great Jim!

How many coats did you do and how much paint did it take ya? 3/4 gallon?

Happy with the shade?

Still have 1.25 gallon and a few cases of aerosol.. my ZJ's looking at me like "Dont even think about it"...

Thanks John...

Did 6 coats increasing the paint/Xylene ratio each time until I was at 6:1. Came out very nice. I love the color. Surprisingly I only used about 1/2 of the gallon so I could probably do an entire repaint again if I had to.

BTW - If any of you guys ever need something painted, please let me know. I have all of the equipment to do it (even the water-based stuff). If you prep the surface and provide me with the paint system, I can shoot it for you over a weekend. Just helping out...

 

[xj-grin]

That was exactly my thought... I'd just never heard that whacking an alternator was an option. Knowledge through anger.

 

[kastein]

That was exactly my thought... I'd just never heard that whacking an alternator was an option. Knowledge through anger.

Eventually, someone usually notices that kicking the system, an act originally performed with an emotional, not analytical, motivation, creates a noise spike. From there on, it's a lot easier.

From one of my favorite engineering textbooks ever :laugh2: - because the guy knows his shit, mixes in a lot of real world anecdotes and experience, and makes it funny at the same time.

Percussive debugging works.

 

[xj-grin]

LOL. I think I'll replace it... now to find a good price on a high-amp model for the WJ...

 

[Fred]

I was thinking noise spikes sound like this forum.

The other point is that something has to be plugged in, before a noise spike can occur.

 

[kastein]

Does it use the same 3-wire setup as XJs and ZJs? B+, field1, field2? You can probably find something and splice connectors if needed... I spent 30 seconds on rockauto and it looks like you have a 136A unit stock?

 

[xj-grin]

you already know more than I, Ken!

 

[xj-grin]

Does it use the same 3-wire setup as XJs and ZJs? B+, field1, field2? You can probably find something and splice connectors if needed... I spent 30 seconds on rockauto and it looks like you have a 136A unit stock?

Looks like 99-00 WJ's have a 117A stocker (mine), while 2001-04 WJ's are the 136A you reference... BUT, a 2005 Durango 4.7L unit is 160A and plug and play. Looks like I get to follow the "if it fails, upgrade it!" rule. :cheers: