It's been a minute since I got to work on the Jeep. Since getting back from our trip and through the holidays, it's just been busy...
I did run into a slight issue with the Jeep. During one of the snow storms, I was coming up my steep and freshly covered driveway. It caused the traction control to engage, and likely the BLD, and eventually made it up without much issue. About a day or two later, I was driving my Jeep to the school to pick up my son, and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree...
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I thought maybe I had ripped out a sensor while I was slingin' snow getting up the driveway. I did a walk around and nothing looked wrong. Parking and turning off the Jeep reset everything and it appeared fine. However, now every time I drive, once I get above 10-11 mph, the Christmas Tree lights up again. It was extra cold and a snow-filled few weeks, so I figured I'd just let it go and deal with it once the cold snap ended.
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Fast forward a few days and I was driving through town, stopped at a stop light, and my horn started blaring, my windshield washer pump squirted for 2-3 seconds, and the wipers started. By the time I realize wtf was happening, it all stopped. However, the transmission would not shift out of 2nd gear. It would go into PRN and D, but it would simply not shift out of 2nd gear in D, 2, or 1 on the shifter.
A few days later, while I was parked in my friend's driveway, the horn started blaring, washer pump sprayed almost the entire container dry, and the wipers were going nuts. The Jeep also turned the motor off. I turned the key off, everything stopped, and when I restarted, it was like nothing happened.
Needless to say, I haven't been driving the Jeep for a little while. Now that it's supposed to warm up a little bit (yay, no longer single digits!), I've pulled it into the garage to let it thaw out some and hope to get to working on it. Based on what I've read, the likely suspect is the clockspring. I'll be ordering a new one shortly and hope this fixes the issue. I've heard that the TIPM could also cause similar issues, though all indications here suggest the clockspring is the most likely problem. I did use JScan to check the steering angle and there were a few times where the angle did get erratic and bounced all over the place, though it mostly acts like how you would expect - further evidence that it's like something internal. I'll replace the turn signal stalk while I'm in there, since it doesn't want to "lock" when turning right.
If the weather cooperates, I think I may start on the axle swap sooner rather than later. I still need to throw the gears in the rear, but I'll try to get that done this weekend. I still need to find a machine shop that can cut the lip necessary for the tone rings, but one step at a time I suppose...
