LIKE A GLOVE

Reference the last post, for those of you who are curious to the more specific location of the temperature gauge sensor....You can see the valve cover (has the stripes running down the top on the left side of the picture....The hose you see attached to the plastic valve is the PCV hose and valve (which is just behind the oil filler cap)...You can see the sensor and the red wire running to it just at the base of the valve cover....The other striped metal piece under the PCV hose at the bottom right, is the back of the fuel rail....Check that fitting first if your temp gauge stops working....SAVE YOU LOTS OF MONEY $$$

A Wonderful Surprise

In the course of messing around with an 18 year old vehicle you more often than not run into other issues that are usually bad ones, this case is an exception to that rule...

When I first purchased the Jeep, I noticed that the temperature gauge was not working on the dash cluster...When I brought the Jeep to Goodyear, they assumed it was that the cooling system was clogged and needed to be flushed...After realizing the cooling system was fine, they then told me that it was a wiring issue and would cost all kinds of money to find the problem...

I can;t imagine how much $$$$ I would have paid to figure out this little issue...The picture you see to the right is a yellowish colored fitting that sticks out just to the right of the valve cover at the rear...I didn't much pay attention to it during the course of my project, but then I noticed a little rubber cap connected to the wiring that was hanging out like a lost child looking for his home...I fitted the rubber cap over the exposed fitting and it fit like a glove....I started to wonder.....WHAT COULD THAT BE FOR????!!!!

I referred to the $30 Haynes Repair Manual and looked over all kinds of photos and things that I thought it could be and then I thought----It is obviously partly electrical, but connected to the main engine block....What the HELL?!!! Then I rememberd the Temp. gauge on the dash didn't work....Holy Crap! Did I just fix that....I looked it up in the manual and sure enough, that is what it was!...

I couldn't wait to crank it up and find out if it worked, but I was still searching for those damn botls...After finding them, putting the valve cover back on, I cranked that beast up...I waited in exhausting anticipation for the gauge to move....Here was the result:

IT WORKED!!!!!!!

The engine ran all the way up to operating temperature...This phot was taken before it reached normal temp...The bottom line; however, was that it worked!!! YEAH ME!!!!

Easter Gaskets! Finale

So here is the finale...

Multiple Beers, frustrations, and a search for valve cover bolts that was equal to an episode of "24" culminated in a successful replacement of a valve cover gasket...

If you notice the nice new shiny bolts that are on the valve cover gasket, those are the new ones!

Speaking for a moment on the issue of locating valve cover bolt replacements: Don't bother doing a search online for these...No one thought to offer this part...If you call the dealership, they will tell you that it will take a week and they will be in on Tuesday...I went to the dealership to order them and the guy in the parts department gave me the same bolt for free...I went to put them on the valve cover and needed washers because the bolt was not capped....SOOOOOOOOOO!!! I called in a chopper and flew over to Advanced Auto parts to get some bolts...In the search for an appropriate washer, guess what I found?! The actual same friggin bolt as the original one, except it was a stronger version...

Note to those with the same or similar Jeep as mine...If the valve cover bolts have slashes on the top, that means its the USA version of measurement not the metric system...The bolts for my valve cover are 1/4-20 and are capped...Meaning the washer is basically already part of the head piece...You can buy four of these for about $2.50 at the auto parts store...Bring an orginal bolt for comparison and measurement and you should be fine...

When you call around for a simple part like that and ask the person who is supposed to know what the hell you are talking about, they act like it is some major component and cannot be found without ordering....The truth is, it is just a USA standard 1/4-20 one inch grade 5 bolt that you can pick up at the local auto parts shop!

Easter Gaskets! (cont. again)

The instructions in the manual say to clean off the mating surface of the valve cover before applying the new gasket...I started with a paint scraper and screw driver, but after not getting anywhere quickly, I switched to the polishing tool on my almighty DREMEL...

It worked amazingly! The dremel along with some grease lighting and foam engine degreaser worked wonders to assist in cleaning out the interior of the valve cover...Here are some more photos of the progress as the cleaning progressed:

Easter Gaskets! (cont.)

I started the day by waking up and having a big hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy...Following that I contacted my buds Jay and Kevin to facilitate their assistance...I figured three brains are better than one, unfortunately as far as mechanics go, we added up to maybe a 1/4 of a brain; although now looking back, it may have been the alcohol...Just like Jamie Foxx says; "Blame it on the a a a a a alcohol!"

After breakfast, the boys came over and we went to the auto parts store and decided to change the oil first....The day started out great; got a fantastic deal on five quarts of fully synthetic motor oil and a K&N oil filter...All of it came to $25; I could not have been happier...I grabbed an oil pan and a filter wrench and drove back home.

I decided to take the Jeep to heat the engine up a bit before the oil change in order to get the oil to flow out better...Besides sparking myself up on the starter while trying to remove the oil filter, everything went off without a hitch....My first oil change, 101,900 miles on 04/10/09...

Back to Easter Gaskets!

After the oil change, my beautiful wife Cathi came home and we all decided we should go celebrate with lunch on the water...It was an awesome sunny day out and thought it would be awesome to have lunch and a few drinks...

After lunch we returned home to work on the Jeep...The hood was open and we prepared to begin...Prepare as in have a few more beers! I took hold of the shiny ratchet...Twist, twist, twist, SNAP!!! My dumb@%% snapped off the bolt inside of the housing...There was nothing else to do but continue...After snapping the second bolt, I realized that I was tightening the bolts, not loosening them...Always remember...Righty tighty; lefty loosey...The thing I can't figure out, is

that I got that sequence correct on the beer bottles, but somehow switched it when I got under the hood!

In my anger and frustration, the broken bolts ended up somewhere across the street in the open lots thanks to my buddy Jay, who threw them as far as he could...I did manage; however, to remove the remaining threads from the housing (WHEW!)

Here is a picture of the valve cover after it was removed...I was able to save all but four of the bolts...

Project One...Mufflers

Okay...So before you send me a bunch of comments about how I did stuff wrong, just realize that I have no idea what I am doing and am only making general guesses about how to do stuff...

This picture is the muffler after I took it off of the Jeep...I assume it is the original muffler from 1991, with a little wear and tear...I consulted some friends and even had the Jeep dropped at a local shop to get a laundry list and quote of how much it would cost to fix things like what you see here...The grand total was somewhere around $1100...I will get into more detail as we go...I really want to see what my savings turn out to be when I learn to do all these things myself...

Instead of going to a muffler shop, I went to an auto-parts store and got me a Haynes repair manual and some parts...I came home with some exhaust clamps, a new muffler and some exhaust extension pieces because the new muffler is 2 inches shorter than the old muffler...

I get up under the Jeep and with bucket loads of elbow grease, I work off the almost 20 year old clamps of the old muffler...One bolt actually snapped right off instead of coming off the threads!

I started thinking to myself that other than the hard work to break loose the old clamps, this job my be easy...I was slightly mistaken in that opinion....

After getting the old clamps off, I realized the pipes were welded together...So I began to try ancient methods (the old hammer trick)....Thought I would just bang it loose...That's what she said!!! :) Just kidding!

Anyway, Joking aside, I ended up trying a powerful Dremel to cut through the old pipes...LOTS OF SPARKS!!! What ended up working really well was a hand held reciprocating saw...It cut right through the pipes and never sparked...

So I then slid under the Jeep, which is nice about a 4-inch lift, you can just crawl under with plenty of room to work..

Once under the Jeep, It took me about 10 minutes to install the new muffler...I didn't have a welding torch, so i used 4 clamps to attach the exhaust extensions and muffler...The only thing I have left to do, is get a clamp hanger to raise the catalytic converter, which is resting on the skid plate...

I turned on the ignition and although it still sounds throaty for a 4 banger...it was much more smooth as you can imagine...