Banging my Head Against the Wall! ****

[mygrayzj]

So today I went to Smiths, and for some reason something has to go wrong every time I go there. Last time off came my cat and muffler, they have since been redone so now a new, much larger problem is present. I was driving my

normal highway speeds and normal etiquette (70-75, with/around traffic), didn't go flying by anybody or anything out of the ordinary. All the sudden I felt like I lost all power, and then I looked and everything was acting strangely. I

immediately got into the right lane and slowed the hell down. Then any time I went to accelerate or do anything my RPMs bogged up and down and I had no power, almost as if my transmission was slipping and catching constantly. So I

stopped on the side of the LIE, put it in park and sat there. It bogged a bit in park but not much, very little at low RPMs if I revved it. Then I shut it off, and started back up to check if it would start, started fine. Decided that the side

of the LIE was not the place I wanted to be, so I limped it off exit 57 and got to the side of the service road. The entire way there I couldn't go more than 20-25 because it just got unbearable to jump and felt like it was going to die

the entire time. Any time I let it coast the RPMs would go down to 100-150 and jump back between 100-900. On the side of the road I tried checking basically anything I could think of, which quite honestly was not much. Got back in

and tried to go, no good.. Same bogging/sputtering issue. So I did what I didn't want to, and called my father, who was at home in East Northport (20 min or so from me!). While waiting, I tried to run it again, this time it bogged down

to about 150 and flat out died. I tried to crank it, not even a crank. Gauges and all were reading correctly, but I could not get a start. So while waiting for my dad I am just hanging, and a cop comes up. Thank god she was really cool

and nice and actually kind of supportive of the wheeling community, because I would have bugged out if it was some asshole. She made sure everything was OK and hung out for about 10-15 minutes giving me someone to talk to, then

got a domestic dispute case and had to go. Having nobody to talk to, I tried to find my starting issue. SUCCESS!!!! Sort of, I tested all the relays and my Transmission Relay was no good, swapped with my I/T Wiper Relay and it started

right back up. Unfortunately that did not fix the sputtering issue. Then my dad showed up, checked fuses and all, found nothing. He got in, started her up,and went cranking down the Expwy. Made it all the way to Commack Road no

problem, pulled into Target parking lot and the problem started again, but we were going in so shut it off and no biggie. Came back out and it was fine until we got to the first stop light, truck died suddenly and then came back on him...

I was in his car behind and I saw the license plate lights go out for about 4 seconds and then come back on, we are both baffled wtf caused it. From that point on, it started bogging like a bitch, and then only way he kept it alive was

by cruising down the road and racing it at lights in neutral. We made it another mile or so and even what he was doing stopped moving us too fast. So we shut it off and waited, the cat was hot as amother (not red hot, but really hot)

and it smelt like something was just really hot and almost burning. Waited 10 minutes, started back up and made it another mile or 2, let it cool down and made it home, bogging all the way. On the way home it threw a CEL light, code

P1282 is the one concerning us, ""An open or shorted condition detected in the fuel pump relay control circuit"" I come up with looking around. It just says fuel air blah blah blah malfunction on the scanner. There are also O2 sensor high

voltage and one other code which we believe to be caused by the P1282 issue. I went out before and tried possible solutions I found, (replace relay, check all fuses again) did not work. In fact backed me up, now it won't start again.

FUCK!!!!!!! I am so confused.



My problem with the relays is I don't really know what they should do all the time. For example, when I take the ASD relay out and barely touch it to the contacts it clicks nonstop with the key on. Which

other relays should do that, because none of them do... I also read the resistance between prongs 85 and 86 on the relays should be between 80-90. But I have 3 relays coming up at 77 ohms and the rest at 93. Do certain ones have

to go in certain spots or are the lower resistance ones no good. I have no new relays to test with right now. I really need the Jeep tomorrow to get to Riverhead for work, and I just don't know what is causing this shit. Does anybody

have ANY ideas?

Sorry for the language throughout, but I am really pissed about this whole thing and it is really bugging me.

[Goonies.nsd]

I think it may be another issue. Did you put a new cat in when you did the exhaust?? If so the 4.0s are real bitches if you put a new cat in and not replace the up stream O2. I tried to cheap out when i replaced mine on my wifes 96. Well i almost melted the cat. It did almost everything you listed and the cat was cherry red. changed the O2 and all was well. Ive seen it a few times since on other Jeeps.

But all the other electrical demons should have no relation. And the cat problem should have started rite away. So im a little stumped.

If what ever the short is is causing the fuel pump to short out or run lean be careful. Run it to lean and you could burn up a piston. That could actually be why the cat is getting so hot. Fuel actually acts as an engine cooler just like oil or antifreeze. Running it lean creates a huge amount of heat.

And the ASD should click. Not crazy when its running. But it may be getting confused with all the key cycling your doing.

BBBUUUTTTT all the poking and prodding you where doing may have kicked the light in the first place and have nothing to do with the problem at all.

Its a tough one.

[mygrayzj]

No we did not put a new cat in, but when I ripped the cat off I also ripped the DS O2 sensor off, so to reattach it we he to reconnect and resolder the 4 connectors. Could a connection have broken in there and caused it to go batshit crazy lol?

[stwilson74]

I'd check the fuel pressure at the rail as a starting point, doesn't explain the dimming lights other than the fact that you were having to use the starter more than usual and it wasn't running at a high enough RPM to recharge the battery for a good part of it. When you were out at the beach were you screwing around on Burma road at all or just doing the 10 MPH out on the sand? The reason I ask is I knocked my rear axle up into my fuel pump wiring once and pinched one of the wires real badly, it would get power to the pump intermittently... until it wouldn't. Everything else was fine on the Jeep so it was trying to run but it would just not have enough gas to make decent RPMs.

[Pugulis]

When you turn the key to the on position, do you hear the fuel pump hum for a second? Also, how are all your accessories wired in? Are they going directly to the battery? If so, disconnect them all.

[mygrayzj]

I'd check the fuel pressure at the rail as a starting point, doesn't explain the dimming lights other than the fact that you were having to use the starter more than usual and it wasn't running at a high enough RPM to recharge the battery for a good part of it. When you were out at the beach were you screwing around on Burma road at all or just doing the 10 MPH out on the sand? The reason I ask is I knocked my rear axle up into my fuel pump wiring once and pinched one of the wires real badly, it would get power to the pump intermittently... until it wouldn't. Everything else was fine on the Jeep so it was trying to run but it would just not have enough gas to make decent RPMs.

I was messing around a bit on Burma lol. The lights were because the car shut itself off, not because the battery died. I will have to take a look at it and hopefully thats the issue.. Thanks

[mygrayzj]

When you turn the key to the on position, do you hear the fuel pump hum for a second? Also, how are all your accessories wired in? Are they going directly to the battery? If so, disconnect them all.

Yeah I hear the hum when I turn the key on. They are wired through fuses to the battery, so yes I suppose directly to it lol.

[mygrayzj]

Just as a little note, when driving it messed up, it feels like it did the day I submerged my O2 in water and it acted weird. Thinking John may be onto something with that, but I didn't see anything bare near the wires or anything.

[Goonies.nsd]

The O2 does control fuel trim. So if its giving off a bad signal it will run lean. If the wiring is pinched or got wet the fuel trim may be all over the place. Id do both up and down steam just to be safe. One reason i didnt want the 99 was because of the stupid O2 setup. It does not like hot and cold water. My old 92 with its one O2 up by the manifold was problem free and well protected.

And like i said. I would not really trust the check engine light code. If you started swapping around relays and testing voltages YOU may have kicked the light by mistake. If you can clear it do so. See if it comes back on. Then go from there.

[Tat2dfreak]

I have seen 02 sensors do weird things, i had a truck that would fall flat on its face and it was the 02 sensor. If you damaged the wires on the 02 i would replace it.