I grouse about the internet, WasteBook, Twitter and all the social media time wasting, the fake media, lame stream media sites and rumor mills, but sometimes it is a handy thing.
Since I've had the Jeep it has had an odd problem. If it got warm, not fully hot, as in a run to the grocery store about five miles away, it wouldn't start. Lights came on, but the starter wasn't home. Wait about ten minutes and it would start normally. I learned to live with it.
The other day I decided to pull it up to let the snow that gets shadowed by it where we park our cars get some sunlight and melt. I went out, after the snow melted, to move it back to the normal spot and nothing, nada, zippo. Lights came on, relays clicked, but no starter. No biggie, I can move it tomorrow. Tomorrow came, actually Friday, and the same thing so I walked away in disgust considering a candle to check the gas level through the gas cap.
Went on the internet looking for ignition problems in the Cherokee. First suggestion was check the neutral safety switch by moving the shifter into neutral instead of park. Did that and it starts just fine. DUHHHHHH, why the heck didn't I think of that? I know starting systems well enough to know that there's a neutral safety switch and it will start in either park or neutral but old, blond, senile moments seem to have interfered with my thought processes. New swicth is ordered, already.
Mine is a 98, has the same problem. For mine that switch was expensive! If your's is like mine it's mounted on the right side of the transmission, the shift shaft runs all the way through the trans housing, on the left side the shifter is connected. To remove the switch there is one screw to adjust it to "center" and then the shaft the switch slides onto, the shaft is threaded on that end with a nut that has to be removed to slide the switch assembly off.
Being a older NY vehicle subjected to salted roads in the winter things get rusty, I damn near broke the adjusting screw off, took a lot of soaking with penetrating oil and letting it set for a day, then very gently working it a tad back and forth to get it out. The nut on the shaft came off OK but the rust on the shaft inside where the switch is mounted will not allow me to remove it, I use all the force I dared not wanting to break something inside the trans and it wouldn't budge, even after days of repeated soaking with penetrating oil. I wasn't about to even try dropping the trans oil pan and valve body to see if I could remove the shifter shaft, may not even be possible without having to lower the trans or maybe even pull the trans from the vehicle, I decided to come up with a work around.
Here's a pic showing the shifter sector shaft, note the trans is torn down, valve body has been removed.
I took a break and thought about it, I knew I could wire a toggle switch mounted on the inside to flip on so the starter relay would get the in park or neutral ground or just ground that wire from the starter relay and leave it. I tried just grounding that wire from the relay, the starter relay is in the under hood relay and fuse box on the right side. It worked as far as always starting but the problem is the park/net switch also sends signals to the computer showing which gear it's in, as soon as the computer saw a vehicle speed signal and that it was in park it kicked the check engine light on so back to rethinking another solution.
I jumped in the Jeep, held the key in the crank position with one hand and pushed forward and backward on the shifter while in the park position, forced forward it cranked. So I crawled under it, loosen the adjusting screw and moved the switch just a tad, then locked it back down, it took some trail and error until I found the sweet spot so the backup lights still came on in Rev and I wasn't kicking any check eng codes. I've been running it like that for two years now, eventually the contacts will probably wear enough it will start failing again and at that point I'll wire in a toggle switch, if I still have it that long.
Here's a copy and paste of the steps to replace it with a couple pics from the online site I use for all my OEM service repair manuals, ALLDATAdiy.com The copy and paste shows for me in this post, but I'm logged in on another tab so if it doesn't show for you let me know, I can print it to a PDF file and email it to you.
REMOVAL
- Raise vehicle.
- Disconnect switch wire harness connector.
Park/Neutral Position Switch Removal/Installation
- Pry washer lock tabs upward and remove switch attaching nut and tabbed washer.
- Remove switch adjusting bolt.
- Slide switch off manual valve shaft.
INSTALLATION
- Disconnect shift linkage rod from shift lever on left side of transmission.
- Rotate manual shift lever all the way rearward. Then rotate lever forward two detent positions to Neutral.
- Install switch on manual valve shaft and install switch adjusting bolt finger tight. Do not tighten bolt at this time.
- Install tabbed washer on manual valve shaft and install switch attaching nut. Tighten nut to 6.9 Nm (61 inch lbs.) torque but do not bend washer lock tabs over nut at this time.
Park/Neutral Position Switch Adjustment
- Verify that transmission is in Neutral.
- Rotate switch to align neutral standard line with vertical groove on manual valve shaft.
- Align switch standard line with groove or flat on manual valve shaft.
- Tighten switch adjusting bolt to 13 Nm (9 ft. lbs.) torque.
- Bend at least two washer lock tabs over switch attaching nut to secure it.
- Connect shift linkage rod to shift lever on left side of case.
- Connect switch wires to harness and lower vehicle.
- Check switch operation. Engine should start in Park and Neutral only.
