It's funny how some of these questions evolve as the thread goes on -
to hell with the dead guages, why won't it start type of thing.

Way back when, I spent all sorts of time looking for bad headlights,
broken wiring, dimmer switches (still on the floor) on an old Ford. I
would be running down the road with high beams on when suddenly both
lights would go out. Switch to low beam or turn them on and back on
and they would be fine for a while. One night I noticed that this
happened more often in foggy weather or a drizzle so I pulled the
light switch, opened it up and cleaned several years of corrosion off
the circuit breaker contacts. No more problems (which was good
because the pay of a 2nd Lt. didn't permit too many luxury purchase
like new headlight switches <g>).

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 13:12:26 UTC Mike Romain <romainm@sympatico.ca>
wrote:

> I guess I won't have to say it then....
> ;-)
>
> Mike
> 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
>
> Will Honea wrote:
> >
> > OK, now you have introduced a new (and significant) factor into the
> > mess. The fact that you had bad connections on at least one fuse says
> > that ALL the connections are suspect. I have to sing Mike Romain's
> > favorite song here: remove and clean ALL the ground straps, especially
> > the one between the block and the firewall (braided strap).
> >
> > Out of curiosity, did this thing sit out on a damp night when it got
> > really cold? The moiture from such a night can often trigger all
> > sorts of "sudden" electrical failures due to condensation in some
> > really unlikely places.
> >
> > On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 05:27:20 UTC mcapsu@yahoo.com (mike) wrote:
> >
> > > Hi guys,
> > >
> > > Thanks for the ideas, I put a fuel pressure tester on the fuel rail's
> > > shrader valve this evening and it was between 30-40psi when cranking -
> > > which is within spec acording to the haynes manual.
> > >
> > > Its sounding like less than four cylinders are firing, i'll try the
> > > plug to block test - if it isnt enough spark im guessing to try
> > > changing the coil
> > >
> > > other stuff i noticed, the horn wasnt working, nor the gauges or the
> > > dummy lights in the center of the dash, upon removing all fuses under
> > > the dash and scraping off any corrosion and spraying the hell out of
> > > it with electrical cleaner i got the horn working, but still none of
> > > the gauges or dummy lights. all the fuses in the block next to the
> > > battery are good, the 3 50amp fuses and the 20amp iod fuse were the
> > > only ones not to have 12 volts running across them with the ignition
> > > in the on position and the vehicle off.
> > >
> > > my thoughts now have it down to about 3 things...
> > >
> > > 1. some crazy electrical problem that will cause much pain to find.
> > >
> > > 2. dirty/clogged injector(s) (will it run on 3 cylinders?)
> > >
> > > 3. weak coil (i'll try the post that said to see if the spark jumps
> > > about 1/2 inch to the block - i'll get my roommate to hold it.. hehe)
> > >
> > >
> > > side note:
> > > i'm located in north raleigh, nc
> > >
> > > thanks for the ideas guys - any more?
> > >
> > > Happy Jeepin,
> > > Mike
> >
> > --
> > Will Honea <whonea@codenet.net>


--
Will Honea <whonea@codenet.net>