defmornahan
New member
This'll teach me to leave well enough alone...
I was just finished adjusting the timing and my new Weber carb, and I decided that I would go ahead and do the Nutter Bypass that everyone seems to recommend. It was running okay, but the rpms would wander up and down some. Well, first I spliced the wrong purple and orange wires (into the fuse box, I think, something on the body, didn't figure out what). Then I found the right ones at the computer just to the driver's side of the valve cover. It wouldn't even start, it was so out of timing, but eventually with my friend's help I decided to twist the distributor counterclockwise and eventually was able to get it more or less timed properly again. We cut out the wiring to the dangling connectors that had once gone to the carb and air cleaner for the stock setup. There are still some connections to the computer (the knock sensor, for instance).
Then I went to work trying to fix the vacuum connections from the transfer case to the front axle motor. I had started the Jeep several times and driven it a few miles. Then I tried to start it again after fidgeting with the 4WD vacuum lines one more time and suddenly all the electrical system was dead. Clock stopped, lights wouldn't go on, definitely wouldn't crank. My friend says he heard a definite "pop" from the engine bay. We pulled the big brass fuse at the bottom of the fuse box, checked it with a multimeter and found it was not blown, pottered around doing nothing much, and then noticed the clock was running. Turned the key, click, dead.
It sat there for 10 days. I took the battery to O'Reillys and it was 87% charged, so I had them charge it up. I left it on the front bumper and looked at some wires. I noticed the purple and red wire from the "fuse/diode assembly" (so saith the Chiltons) was sitting where I could imagine it was shorting, so I put a wire nut over it. My friend pulled the little board out of that plastic box and noticed one of the electronic components on it was not conducting current according to the multimeter. For the heck of it, we put the battery back in and turned the key. The engine cranked. We went to work on some other things, turning it off and cranking it again a couple of times. We were going to start it again and were about to back it out of the garage, and the power blew. We've discovered that taking both battery cables off for a minute will put the power back on to the clock and lights, but it will collapse if I try to crank it.
I have no more clues what to do to this thing. The fat little rubber connections that I assume are the fusible links all _look_ fine. All the fuses in the fuse box are fine. The starter relay is brand new; the old one blew out a few months ago. We put more connections on and de-Nuttered the circuit, and that didn't help either.
I was just finished adjusting the timing and my new Weber carb, and I decided that I would go ahead and do the Nutter Bypass that everyone seems to recommend. It was running okay, but the rpms would wander up and down some. Well, first I spliced the wrong purple and orange wires (into the fuse box, I think, something on the body, didn't figure out what). Then I found the right ones at the computer just to the driver's side of the valve cover. It wouldn't even start, it was so out of timing, but eventually with my friend's help I decided to twist the distributor counterclockwise and eventually was able to get it more or less timed properly again. We cut out the wiring to the dangling connectors that had once gone to the carb and air cleaner for the stock setup. There are still some connections to the computer (the knock sensor, for instance).
Then I went to work trying to fix the vacuum connections from the transfer case to the front axle motor. I had started the Jeep several times and driven it a few miles. Then I tried to start it again after fidgeting with the 4WD vacuum lines one more time and suddenly all the electrical system was dead. Clock stopped, lights wouldn't go on, definitely wouldn't crank. My friend says he heard a definite "pop" from the engine bay. We pulled the big brass fuse at the bottom of the fuse box, checked it with a multimeter and found it was not blown, pottered around doing nothing much, and then noticed the clock was running. Turned the key, click, dead.
It sat there for 10 days. I took the battery to O'Reillys and it was 87% charged, so I had them charge it up. I left it on the front bumper and looked at some wires. I noticed the purple and red wire from the "fuse/diode assembly" (so saith the Chiltons) was sitting where I could imagine it was shorting, so I put a wire nut over it. My friend pulled the little board out of that plastic box and noticed one of the electronic components on it was not conducting current according to the multimeter. For the heck of it, we put the battery back in and turned the key. The engine cranked. We went to work on some other things, turning it off and cranking it again a couple of times. We were going to start it again and were about to back it out of the garage, and the power blew. We've discovered that taking both battery cables off for a minute will put the power back on to the clock and lights, but it will collapse if I try to crank it.
I have no more clues what to do to this thing. The fat little rubber connections that I assume are the fusible links all _look_ fine. All the fuses in the fuse box are fine. The starter relay is brand new; the old one blew out a few months ago. We put more connections on and de-Nuttered the circuit, and that didn't help either.
