2011 – Page 2 – The Jeep Guru

December 10, 2011

Saving on Propane costs

I recently noticed that our propane costs have gone up a huge amount. I know the cost of propane has increased, but our usage is up as well. We use propane only for the stove and the water heater so we really should not use very much propane at all. In fact over the 15 plus years we have lived in this house I have pretty much ignored the propane bills and just let the truck driver stay on top of keeping my tank filled.

However I am paying the price for my inattention right now.

I started by setting back the thermostat on the hot water heater. There is no use heating the utility room any more than necessary. The clothes dryer does a good enough job with that.

Next I started checking for leaks. I mixed up a batch of soap and water and put it in spray bottle. I went around outside spraying joints. I started at the tank and worked my way back to the house. I checked the regulator vent as well because a broken diaphragm could be a big leak.

I finally found a joint that bubbled where the line entered the house for the stove. It had been repaired a few years ago and one of the fittings made a few bubbles. Snugging up the nut made the bubbles quit.

Next I checked around the hot water heater. It was relocated a couple of years ago when the floor was redone. Sure enough there was a leak where the copper pipe joined the shut off valve. I had to tighten the nut twice to get it to completely stop.

I had thought the smell around the hot water heater was just the kitty litter box but I guess it was the mercaptane in the propane after all. A couple of hours after I tightened the fitting, the air was much fresher smelling in the laundry room. I hope this will also translate in to lower propane bills as well.

December 6, 2011

Squeaking drive belt on a Jeep Cherokee

When we rebuilt Sandy’s XJ after the engine bay fire, we installed a new Gates serpentine belt. The old belt was completely burned up so a new belt was needed no matter what.

When we started it up, there was a squeak in the belt. I took the belt off and spun all the pulleys. The idler pulley had a nasty sounding bearing, so we got a new pulley and bearing. The squeak came back after a few days.

On a return trip to the shop, I listened to all the pulleys with a stethoscope and noticed a noise in the AC clutch. Since she has not yet bought an AC condenser, I simply swapped her compressor with one I had in the shop. The compressor was bad but the clutch was still good. I had planned to install a new clutch bearing on her at a later date when she was ready to have the AC repaired.

The squeak came back the next day. I let her drive it for a while to see if it would get worse or go away. It got worse.

Back at the shop, I again removed the belt and spun all the pulleys. I even briefly ran the engine with no belt to make sure it was not the damper rubbing the cover. All the pulleys sounded fine on the stethoscope but the squeak was quite annoying. Jennifer asked if it might be the belt.

I found a used but still good belt in the shop and slipped it on for a test. The squeak was completely gone. I drove it for a day to make sure it did not return as it has in the past. On the second day, it is still quiet.

I am not sure why the new belt squeaks. I plan to try it on another XJ sometime to see if it squeaks there. But for now she has a quiet engine again.

December 5, 2011

Adding Shoulder Belts to the Rear Seat of an Early Jeep Cherokee

Shoulder straps were not available in the rear seat of a Jeep Cherokee until 1991. However the engineers who designed the body must have had them in mind from the beginning.

Scott decided to add shoulder straps to the rear seat of his 1989 Jeep Cherokee. He used belts from a 1993 donor. Removing the belts from the donor involved heating the under body nuts with a torch to allow the torx headed bolts to come loose. PB Blaster just did not loosen the rust and locktite enough to get them out with the limited torque of a torx bit.

After removing the interior panels, we found that the lower mounting points are all there in the exact same place as the 1993. The reel bolted right up and even the stabilizer tab hole is punched it the right place.

The slot that the belt passes through is there as well, however, we had to open up the front of the hole to allow the bolt to pass through without rubbing and to line up with the holes in the 1993 interior panels.

The anchor points at the roof were a bit of an oddity in this Jeep. On one side, the entire anchor point was welded in place but never tapped for threads. On the other side, the hole was punched in the sheet metal and the two plug weld holes were there, but the backing plate was not mounted.

For that side I fabricated a plate from ½ inch steel and tapped the appropriate hole in it. I also added a bolt hole to bolt it in where it would have originally been plug welded.

The mounting points under the seat are in a slightly different place than the 1993 donor. However, simply bolting the shoulder belts in where the original reels were mounted worked fine.

I was amazed that we only had to fabricate one plate and tap one hole to make this update. I really don’t understand why AMC did not offer rear shoulder belts in the early Jeeps since all the mounting points are there. Just for curiosity, we checked our 1984 parts car and found that it has the mounting points in it as well. So Jeep planned for shoulder straps all along but did not actually offer them until 1991.

Scott used the interior panels from the donor Jeep which matched the color of his older panels exactly. He had to cut two holes in the head liner to allow the roof bolts to go in but that was easy to do. He now has a nice safety update to his older XJ.

December 1, 2011

Seasonal Depression

Every year about this time I seem to get in a bad mood. I have always just associated it with not liking the holidays. But this year I really noticed that it started the week after the time change.

After some research on the internet, I see that I may be suffering the symptoms of Seasonal affected disorder or SAD. I find that starting in the fall, I start to carve carbohydrates and begin “bulking up for winter.” I also want to sleep much more than normal. And this year I have especially noticed that I want to withdraw socially. Many of the activities that I used to enjoy just don’t seem as fun anymore.

I notice that when I get home and it is already dark, I get really sleepy or grumpy. Walking the dog in the dusk just does not give me the same mood boost as it does in the summer.

I have noticed that I do feel better when I work in my barn in the evenings. I call it Jeep therapy. However, the last few nights even the Jeep therapy has not helped as much.

I decided to do some research on SAD and I found one of the treatments is bright light therapy. That is when I had a light bulb go off in my head. Normally when I work on the Jeep in the barn, I have my two big Quartz Halogen lights right by my head most of the time. They help keep me warm in the cool nights as well as helping me see what I am looking at.

For the last couple of nights, I have been learning how to gas weld and have not been using the lights. Could that be why I have not gotten the normal mood enhancement that I normally get from working in the barn?

I have been dong Heart Math coherence sessions for a couple days but they have not yet helped me feel much better. Working on the Seasonal Affected Disorder theory, I am going to now try some B 12 vitamins and use my bright lights in the barn to see how that affects my mood.

November 22, 2011January 5, 2012

Changing the Thermostat on a Jeep Cherokee

Janice’s 1999 Jeep Cherokee has had a small water leak for a few weeks now. We finally tracked it down to a leak at the thermostat housing. I decided that since I would have the housing off, I would also replace the thermostat. I decided to use the Mr. Gasket one like I put in Scott’s Wagoneer.

I had forgotten how much easier the thermostat is to access on the later model engines since I rarely work on those. On the earlier engines the belt is right in the way of accessing the bolts. On the 1999 the belt is routed differently and is not in the way at all. I did unbolt the fan shroud to get a little more working room, but I am not sure that helped much.

The housing is held to the block by two 5/16 bolts with ½ inch heads. I removed the two bolts and the housing popped right off. I had to use a screwdriver to pop the old thermostat out of the recess in the front of the block.

Cleaning the front of the block took a while. I scraped old gasket with a scraper as much as possible. I finished up with a Scotchbrite wheel in my drill. To clean the housing, I chucked the Scotchbrite wheel in my drill press and brushed the surface. I polished part of the outside of the housing while I had it in my hand.

I had a little trouble putting it all back in that the thermostat did not want to stay in the recess. I made sure that the bleed hole was rotated to the top and pressed it in. It would fall back out each time. I finally put a few dabs of RTV on the flange and got it to stick long enough to set the gasket and housing over it.

I then tightened the bolts and refastened the fan shroud. Then I put the radiator hose back on and tightened the clamp. I left the heater hose off and used a funnel to fill the head with coolant until it bubbled out the radiator cap. I then installed the heater hose and finished filling the system through the cap.

UPDATE: The new thermostat failed immediately on our Thanksgiving trip. I did not notice it until it started getting cool out and I wondered why the heater was not working. Then I noticed that the temperature was much lower than normal.

When we got back home, I pulled the thermostat and found it was stuck open. Better than stuck closed but still not acceptable. I returned it to Autozone and they swapped it for a new one with no hassle. I still had to buy another gasket to install the next one. Before installing this one, I put it in a pan of water on the stove and made sure it open and closed properly.

She says her Jeep is now running at normal temperature and the heater works again.

Update: I recently changed the thermostat on my 1991 Jeep Cherokee. The belt routing is different and makes the procedure slightly different.

Mr. Gasket PERF THERMOSTAT GM-195 – 4365