Looking at a 94 Sport(dash light question)

[ronpapworth]

1046164

Hi all, Great board you have here!

Looking at a 94 Cherokee Sport and wanted some input. I am buying it from a private party and they are the original owner. The dash light is out of it and it just started leaking oil(they say). I am sure I can find the oil leak,but how hard is the dash light repair? I can get into dashes pretty easy(on other cars anyway) as well as long as I don't have to remove the whole darn thing.



Any other things I should look for in this model? (meaning could that dash light be an electrical problem)



UPDATE: Just back from looking at it. The oil leak is real bad and appears to either be the oil pan gasket or rear main seal. It is not coming all the way down from the valve cover, and it's not the oil filter(but it is on the passenger side of the motor). Im sure the transmission has to be dropped to get to the rear main, but can the oil pan be done without lifting the engine?



Brakes are mushy, but the resevoir is full and the pads up front look good. Front and back was done a year ago,so I don't think they should be this mushy this soon.Is that a characteristic of the Jeep cherokee? All of the lorados and limiteds I have driven were not this bad.



I can see where they tried to get into the dash to do the dash light, and I got the "well it could just be a fuse" stroy from them,but I know it's not. So back to my original question,how hard is that to fix?



So there you have it. Oil leak, no dash light an mushy brakes. Sound about right for 4200.00?

Thanks in advance!



Ron[addsig]

 

[MudderChuck]

1046212

Had to replace the dimmer in my 87 (same piece I believe). Working behind the dash is doable but be careful (don´t rush) you can do more damage than good. And don´t forget to look under the dash panels (undernieth on top) for the little phillips screws.

Open a corner of the rear brake cylinders (rubber cap) and see if anything leaks out. Could just be they need bleeding. Also listen for a hiss when applying brakes, leaky booster.

Rear main bearing seal leak is pretty common with about a hundred thousand miles or so (all the way back to the original 258). Changed the seal in my 87 without removing the trans and transfer. Put it up real high, jack stands under the frame. Unhooked the shocks and one end of the sway bar (maybe), unhooked the motor mounts. the bottom of the exhaust manifold to muffler pipe and jacked up the motor as high as possible without damaging anything and blocked it up leaving the pan free. Took the pan loose and found out I had to jack the front axle down, a couple of inches to clear (used a screw jack and a block of wood)(see removing the shocks and such). Tap tap tap on one end of the top half of the main bearing seal and she comes out of there. Didn´t mention draining the oil first but some things are kinda obivious. Cleaning up to get a good gasket seal where the worst part of the job, oil kinda raining down from above.

Now the bad news is, the crank could be a little loose, and the bearing seal replacement could wear out relatively fast. A worn crank is usually indicated by slightly reduced (or very low?) oil pressure. But isn´t necessarily an idication of a worn out motor, have seen them run for half a decade on worn main bearings.

Replacing the main bearings, isn´t a terribly rough job, but hard to do from the undernieth (impossible no, really hard yes)( you have to almost surely pull the motor and turn it upside down). And replacement of the bearings often requires turning the crank (or buying a crank and bearing set). And often a selection of bearings to mix and match to get it right (there is often an odd size bearing or two required).

You can check the bearings from undereath, I usually check front, rear and number 5 (I think) or the wider caps, with plasti-gauge, one at a time then retorquing before checking the next.

Hope I´ve given you an idea of what might be ahead. How many miles does the prospect have? Does it have much blow by?[addsig]

 

[jeepthrills]

1046223

Just walk away, there are plenty of other fish in the sea,unless they are going to give it to you for under $1000 and you have another $2000 to put into it. . There is an old saying, look at the owner as much as the car. "Just a fuse" Come on..thats a bunch of crap. If it has this many problems now...just wait till you get it home. You know that it needs brakes, major oil leak, and mystery dash gremlins. This is not a project to get into at the begining of the winter.



If you want I have a 1994 SE 2 door with a 5 speed, AC, Int wipers, 135000 miles, BFG AT's, pushbar (grill guard) and wrap around brush guards, I sell it to you for $2500.00 US[addsig]