popeyeball

Hello Mary and welcome from the Sugar Bowl winning state of West
Virginia from the bowles Great Lake state of Michigan. You asked a
direct question, "What is a ground", and I am not sure if that was
addressed. This can be terribly confusing or quiet simple depending on
your approach.
If you look at your battery you will see the Negative post and the
Positive post (sometimes marked red).
If you trace one of the cables from the negative battery post you will
find that it leads to the body / frame of your auto and is attached /
bolted on. Thjis virtually makes your entire 'metal' body of auto a
negative charge for electrical components to complete electrical
circuts (for the most part). Each electrical device such as your
computer, starter, generator, radio, - you get the idea - is connected
to both a positive and negative (which is eventually part of the cars
body) on the car. These go through fuses, switches, relays, and all
sorts of components, BUT, they all eventually lead to a ground
somewhere that is attached to the body / frame of the car.
There are countless grounds on your Jeep. When underneath you will see
single wires or groups of wires attached / crimped to a metal ring
screwed to the metal body of the car.
These grounds can appear to be 'clean' but can still only provide a
partial connection which will make a failed connection. Ppart of all
good maintainence includes checking these grounds when ya see'em,
unscrew em, sand them clean and the screw and the part of the body they
go to. This assures that what ever they go to will work properly. If
a tug on the wire breaks the connector that you have found a future
break down..
I am sure that there may be a caveats here by disconnecting a ground
from some componet that could cause a problem and I'm sure my post
will be corrected in short time.
Good luck with your Toy and welcome to this helpful (and sometime
madhouse) of information. In due time you will learn who to listen to
and who is a hoot.
Steve in Michigan

Mary wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm new to this group, and I have been reading. Wasn't sure what
> the protocol was as far as introducing myself. So I'll just do it how
> I think I should.
> My name is Mary and I have a 94, 4 cyclinder, automatic Jeep that I
> adore. It is black. I live in the mountains of WV (near Gore if
> anyone is familiar w/ the Jeep tracks there) and I count on my jeep
> during the rough weather months.
> Well, my computer took a crap on me recently and so I took it to
> the Jeep dealership and they want $550 to put a new one in. But they
> had to order it, so like an idiot, I brought my Jeep back home to the
> mountain and now it won't start at all. :( So a dealer told my
> husband (he works in the auto industry for Get Auto/Auto Trader) that
> he could pull the computer off himself, get the numbers off of it, and
> just buy one and put the new one on. So we took it off this past
> weekend, got the numbers and Mike went on a search for a new one.
> Well, the only one he was able to find was out of Texas, from some
> dude's personal vehicle and he wants $175 for it. There is no
> guarantee that it would work once we got it (why would you sell the
> computer off your personal vehicle?) so we have decided to keep
> looking.
> I would appreciate any and all advice any of you could give me on
> finding a computer for this. Or maybe good websites or what have you.
> I really need to get her running before another snow. My other car is
> a Crown Vic police car and she's a beast. I do have chains which allow
> me to get out if I have to, but there will be no playing on the
> mountain in the snow in that car. We ride 4 wheelers too, but there's
> just something about the Jeep, you know, HEAT, music, etc, not to
> mention she'll go anywhere the 4 wheeler will go, that makes it fun
> during a snow.
>
> Thank You in advance, and I hope I'm not remiss in how I jumped into
> the fray. I just need to figure out how to fix her!
> Mary in Hampshire Co, WV

popeyeball

Hello Mary and welcome from the Sugar Bowl winning state of West
Virginia from the bowles Great Lake state of Michigan. You asked a
direct question, "What is a ground", and I am not sure if that was
addressed. This can be terribly confusing or quiet simple depending on
your approach.
If you look at your battery you will see the Negative post and the
Positive post (sometimes marked red).
If you trace one of the cables from the negative battery post you will
find that it leads to the body / frame of your auto and is attached /
bolted on. Thjis virtually makes your entire 'metal' body of auto a
negative charge for electrical components to complete electrical
circuts (for the most part). Each electrical device such as your
computer, starter, generator, radio, - you get the idea - is connected
to both a positive and negative (which is eventually part of the cars
body) on the car. These go through fuses, switches, relays, and all
sorts of components, BUT, they all eventually lead to a ground
somewhere that is attached to the body / frame of the car.
There are countless grounds on your Jeep. When underneath you will see
single wires or groups of wires attached / crimped to a metal ring
screwed to the metal body of the car.
These grounds can appear to be 'clean' but can still only provide a
partial connection which will make a failed connection. Ppart of all
good maintainence includes checking these grounds when ya see'em,
unscrew em, sand them clean and the screw and the part of the body they
go to. This assures that what ever they go to will work properly. If
a tug on the wire breaks the connector that you have found a future
break down..
I am sure that there may be a caveats here by disconnecting a ground
from some componet that could cause a problem and I'm sure my post
will be corrected in short time.
Good luck with your Toy and welcome to this helpful (and sometime
madhouse) of information. In due time you will learn who to listen to
and who is a hoot.
Steve in Michigan

Mary wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm new to this group, and I have been reading. Wasn't sure what
> the protocol was as far as introducing myself. So I'll just do it how
> I think I should.
> My name is Mary and I have a 94, 4 cyclinder, automatic Jeep that I
> adore. It is black. I live in the mountains of WV (near Gore if
> anyone is familiar w/ the Jeep tracks there) and I count on my jeep
> during the rough weather months.
> Well, my computer took a crap on me recently and so I took it to
> the Jeep dealership and they want $550 to put a new one in. But they
> had to order it, so like an idiot, I brought my Jeep back home to the
> mountain and now it won't start at all. :( So a dealer told my
> husband (he works in the auto industry for Get Auto/Auto Trader) that
> he could pull the computer off himself, get the numbers off of it, and
> just buy one and put the new one on. So we took it off this past
> weekend, got the numbers and Mike went on a search for a new one.
> Well, the only one he was able to find was out of Texas, from some
> dude's personal vehicle and he wants $175 for it. There is no
> guarantee that it would work once we got it (why would you sell the
> computer off your personal vehicle?) so we have decided to keep
> looking.
> I would appreciate any and all advice any of you could give me on
> finding a computer for this. Or maybe good websites or what have you.
> I really need to get her running before another snow. My other car is
> a Crown Vic police car and she's a beast. I do have chains which allow
> me to get out if I have to, but there will be no playing on the
> mountain in the snow in that car. We ride 4 wheelers too, but there's
> just something about the Jeep, you know, HEAT, music, etc, not to
> mention she'll go anywhere the 4 wheeler will go, that makes it fun
> during a snow.
>
> Thank You in advance, and I hope I'm not remiss in how I jumped into
> the fray. I just need to figure out how to fix her!
> Mary in Hampshire Co, WV

popeyeball

Hello Mary and welcome from the Sugar Bowl winning state of West
Virginia from the bowles Great Lake state of Michigan. You asked a
direct question, "What is a ground", and I am not sure if that was
addressed. This can be terribly confusing or quiet simple depending on
your approach.
If you look at your battery you will see the Negative post and the
Positive post (sometimes marked red).
If you trace one of the cables from the negative battery post you will
find that it leads to the body / frame of your auto and is attached /
bolted on. Thjis virtually makes your entire 'metal' body of auto a
negative charge for electrical components to complete electrical
circuts (for the most part). Each electrical device such as your
computer, starter, generator, radio, - you get the idea - is connected
to both a positive and negative (which is eventually part of the cars
body) on the car. These go through fuses, switches, relays, and all
sorts of components, BUT, they all eventually lead to a ground
somewhere that is attached to the body / frame of the car.
There are countless grounds on your Jeep. When underneath you will see
single wires or groups of wires attached / crimped to a metal ring
screwed to the metal body of the car.
These grounds can appear to be 'clean' but can still only provide a
partial connection which will make a failed connection. Ppart of all
good maintainence includes checking these grounds when ya see'em,
unscrew em, sand them clean and the screw and the part of the body they
go to. This assures that what ever they go to will work properly. If
a tug on the wire breaks the connector that you have found a future
break down..
I am sure that there may be a caveats here by disconnecting a ground
from some componet that could cause a problem and I'm sure my post
will be corrected in short time.
Good luck with your Toy and welcome to this helpful (and sometime
madhouse) of information. In due time you will learn who to listen to
and who is a hoot.
Steve in Michigan

Mary wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm new to this group, and I have been reading. Wasn't sure what
> the protocol was as far as introducing myself. So I'll just do it how
> I think I should.
> My name is Mary and I have a 94, 4 cyclinder, automatic Jeep that I
> adore. It is black. I live in the mountains of WV (near Gore if
> anyone is familiar w/ the Jeep tracks there) and I count on my jeep
> during the rough weather months.
> Well, my computer took a crap on me recently and so I took it to
> the Jeep dealership and they want $550 to put a new one in. But they
> had to order it, so like an idiot, I brought my Jeep back home to the
> mountain and now it won't start at all. :( So a dealer told my
> husband (he works in the auto industry for Get Auto/Auto Trader) that
> he could pull the computer off himself, get the numbers off of it, and
> just buy one and put the new one on. So we took it off this past
> weekend, got the numbers and Mike went on a search for a new one.
> Well, the only one he was able to find was out of Texas, from some
> dude's personal vehicle and he wants $175 for it. There is no
> guarantee that it would work once we got it (why would you sell the
> computer off your personal vehicle?) so we have decided to keep
> looking.
> I would appreciate any and all advice any of you could give me on
> finding a computer for this. Or maybe good websites or what have you.
> I really need to get her running before another snow. My other car is
> a Crown Vic police car and she's a beast. I do have chains which allow
> me to get out if I have to, but there will be no playing on the
> mountain in the snow in that car. We ride 4 wheelers too, but there's
> just something about the Jeep, you know, HEAT, music, etc, not to
> mention she'll go anywhere the 4 wheeler will go, that makes it fun
> during a snow.
>
> Thank You in advance, and I hope I'm not remiss in how I jumped into
> the fray. I just need to figure out how to fix her!
> Mary in Hampshire Co, WV