alsxj

Well its been quite sometime since I've posted anything on here. I've done some seaching on here and naxja and as well as google and haven't found anything qutie like my issue I'm having. Definitly not your typical no start issue. So bare with me its a bit of story, grab a beer or beverage and let me give ya the low down to my saturation.

I have a 1990 Cherokee renix 4.0, aw4, 315,000 miles. I've had her for about 10 years and have done every ground refreshing fix/refreshes that cruiser54 on here has suggested a few years back. As of last week I was out running errands. I came to my parked jeep, jumped in it, went to start it...and nothing. Didnt even crank and none of my accressories I left on (radio, heater) came on. So first thought was dead battery till I noticed my key warning buzzer was buzzing just as loud as ever. Turned on the headlights and they came on. So I left the key in the on position and started wiring wires, starter relay, battery cables damn near everything in the engine bay. Nothing. So I was sitting there thinking when all of sudden I hard my blower motor kick on and my radio start blaring. Jumping in the jeep real quick tried to start it and started right up. So thought that was weird but jumped in and decided to try and finish my errands. Well the jeep ran great till I would turn it off and would do the same damn thing. No start, no crank, no accessories but headlights worked and just at any random moment would come back to life and start right up. So my first thought was ignition switch or starter relay. Got her home in the garage. I had an brand new ignition switch. (I work at a parts store and tend to collect parts) I'm not one to throw parts at something but figured it aint hard, I have it, 315000 miles if its the original switch, might as well. I replaced it and seemed to fix it. Jeep ran great....till 2 days later it happened again (of course when I had curtain lady friend with me that was all excited to ride in my big jeep ha!) Fought with it a day hoping it would randomly come back to life to get her home at least but nothing. So got her towed home. Replaced the starter relay. Nothing. So I busted the multimeter out, busted out the wiring diagrams, dropped the ignition switch, tested for voltage coming into and nothing. So fusible link? Found the fusible link to the switch, did a continuity test and nothing. Awesome. Most be that. Must be a reason for it blowing though I thought but all the fusible links at the starter relay are showing there age, one I bumped actually fell apart. So fixed that, replaced the ignition switch one with a maxi fuse holder and maxi fuse and she started right up. Awesome. So test drove it the next morning, did some errands, all felt fine. Pulled in the driveway and for some reason I thought, you know, maybe I should turn my heater on to see if it would pop that fuse. Turned it the heater on and instantly, jeep died and no power to anything but the headlights. Checked the maxi fuse and was still good, tested perfect. Crap! So unplugged the blower motor to see if she would start and nothing. Again left key on for a bit and waited. Again randomly power came back in the cab. Started right up I pulled it in the garage. Went to plug in my blower motor in while it was running to see if it would kill it, as I was reaching for it I bumped the harness by the diagnostic connectors and it shut off. Thought I was on to something, thought maybe its there at the harness somewhere. Nope. I've checked every harness on the side of the engine, wiggled every wire, plugged in the blower motor, and it just randomly comes to life and loses power. At one point I had the coil module unplugged, and plugged it back in then I gained power again. So since I had power again, blower motor was on, I decided to check the harness along the driverside fender. Started wiggling the harness and getting halfway down towards the bulkhead to the fuse block I hear the blower motor slow down and turn off and I see smoke slowly coming out of the bulkhead. So I turned the key off real quick even though I had no power in there again and unplugged battery. So I decided to take about the bulkhead and see if thats the source and I find that the I guess what is the factory dielectric grease has turned to tar black nastiness and the terminals all coated in it. So I'm currently taking the whole thing apart and cleaning it since I have the pinout diagram for it, I'm really hoping this is it, its enough to drive a man to crazy. I'm in process of cleaning it, I'll post some pictures. Now that my long winded story is over and thanks for reading the whole thing, anyone have some insight or have had the same thing happen to there renix or newer cherokee? Like I said hoping me cleaning this fixes it, I mean it needs to be cleaned regardless but and help or insight to something I maybe overlooked would be much appreciated. Thanks guys

Cheers.

alsxj

alsxj

Well cleaned up one half of the bulkhead, went to do the other half and guess what I find, corroded melted off wire, looks go be a battery feed judging by my wiring diagrams. Also found some other corrded wires. Soo going to clean them all up. Fix the broken wire of I can track down some of those connectors. Keep ya posted on how she all turns out.

cruiser54

good find....

BillyBoy

Lotta work. Gj.

may pop

Come on now. You only have 315000 on the old girl. Get that bulk head connecter fixed and get you moneys worth out of her.

alsxj

Ohh I plan getting my moneys worth. Haha got her 10 years ago with only 190000 miles on her haha shes gone to across country twice, 3 different size lifts and 6 years of Chicago winters and shes still kicking, just minor issues and some cancer (damn salt) and dont plan on giving up on her anytime soon. Well It was the bulkhead connector. Cleaned each terminal and fixed a few wires as well as few other corrorded connectors. Also replaced the relay center a while back because it was all melted a corrorded, so finally got around to making a bracket for that and the coil since I moved it to make room for the coolant reservoir for the open cooling swap. Got her going just in time for our freak snowday on the oregon coast we had today. Heres some pics. Thanks guys.