98 4.0 JCG ltd - 3 problems!!!

[TorontoAnt]

I hope someone can help me with the following:

Heating
======

its -11 here in TO and my engine doesnt want to heat up (temp gauge stays fairly low) and therefore i become a popsicle on my drive to work. The ONLY way i can mange to heat up the Jeep and raise the temp, is to thrash the Jeep in a lower gear '2' for about 10 mins and then the temperature raises and voila i get heat. Then i go back into normal Drive. I dont want to keep doing this - any ideas?

Fuel Gauge
========

My Jeep rarely lets me put anyhting more than 65-70 litres in, even though the fuel gauge and digital reading says 0km and the warning light is on. I must have fuel in as it only lets me put 65-70 in. However i dont want to keep driving on 0km just to prove this point to myself. Are there any issues with faulty readings on both the gauge and the computer?

Seat Warmers
==========

Both passenger and driver side dont work. Lights come on the switched when i slide them up - no heat though (this especially sucks when in combination with my heating issue

[TorontoAnt]

ANyone have any ideas? Im leaving work soon, and its cold and im starting to worry about my feet ;-)

[TorontoAnt]

Has anyone got any ideas or seen any of these issues before?

[Ron68]

Originally Posted by TorontoAnt

I hope someone can help me with the following:

Heating
======

its -11 here in TO and my engine doesnt want to heat up (temp gauge stays fairly low) and therefore i become a popsicle on my drive to work. The ONLY way i can mange to heat up the Jeep and raise the temp, is to thrash the Jeep in a lower gear '2' for about 10 mins and then the temperature raises and voila i get heat. Then i go back into normal Drive. I dont want to keep doing this - any ideas?

Fuel Gauge
========

My Jeep rarely lets me put anyhting more than 65-70 litres in, even though the fuel gauge and digital reading says 0km and the warning light is on. I must have fuel in as it only lets me put 65-70 in. However i dont want to keep driving on 0km just to prove this point to myself. Are there any issues with faulty readings on both the gauge and the computer?

Seat Warmers
==========

Both passenger and driver side dont work. Lights come on the switched when i slide them up - no heat though (this especially sucks when in combination with my heating issue

#1 Check that your coolant level is high enough. Not enough coolant can cause your symptoms. A thermostat that is stuck open will also give you a low engine temperature as the coolant continues to circulate through the radiator and doesn't stay in the block long enough to heat up very much.

#2 Yes there has been issues with the fuel quantity sending unit in the tank (attached to the side of the in-tank fuel pump/regulator/filter assy). There was a recall on the unit for faulty readings. You must drop the tank and remove the assy to change the unit, a small clip-on module with a two wire plug attached. I had to do it on my 97. I wasn't aware of the recall, of course, until AFTER I had changed it myself. See your dealer about it.

#3 If you have no heat to either seat, then check the simple stuff first. Fuses OK. You might also have a bad relay common to the heaters. The switch would turn on the seat heat by closing the relay which supplys the current to the heating elements in the seats. Normally I would think that each seat would have it's own relay, so both being inop would make me think there is no supply voltage to the relays. I don't have a wiring diagram, so I can't help you there.

Wool socks, maybe...good luck.

[legalfee]

Heated seats. This is a common problem with Grand Cherokees. I took mine to the dealer and they sent it to an ulphostery shop to remove the seat bottom (they were afraid they'd ruin it) and they ended up replacing a thermister that was defective (open) with a 1 ohm 1/2 watt resister. Wala it works. Anyway they make a repair kit that supposedly doesn't require you to take the seat apart. Here's the link to the TSB on my Web site: http://home.sc.rr.com/janet/TSB/08-03-99.htm

[Griffon327]

The reason your jeep takes so long to warm up might simply be as simple as the thermostat sticking. No bull. happened to me about this time last year and took nearly 12 minutes to correct. first make sure the coolant level is correct. As low coolant level can be other problems that need not be dealt with as long as this fixes the problem. Replace the thermostat and gasket and top off fluids and make sure you recheck the fluid level repeatedly after a couplr of trips to insure all the air is removed from the system. The thermostat can be checked for proper operation with a boiling pot of water and a thermometer or infrared temp gun but the are inexpensive to replace so if you are already in there then time to replace it. Had the exact same problem as you took 30 minutes to be luke warm and after replacing the thermostat it now is toasty in 4 miutes of driving time sometime less.
Also if for some reason you installed a 180 degree or 160 degree thermostat for perfomance reason (IE cold air box and chip) then recomend putting the stock 195 degree thermostat back in for winter.

As for the seats not getting hot? if the bulletin does not correct the issue (given by someone else) then the problem is almost definetly in the lower elements only. the back elements (seat) rarely fail
check for voltage (power) to the circuits when the switch is activated to verify that there is not a fault in the switch or wiring.

[dksob81]

I had a similar problem at the beginning of the winter, I tried blocking off the radiator to get heat which worked a bit my temp guage went from 120 degrees to abot 140 degrees, still didn't have enough heat for me tho. So I replaced the thermostat thinking it was stuck open but it wasn't, but it did help, my temp guage now reads around 170 degrees and I have plenty heat.

Altho the T-Stat was not stuck open it might have been bad and opening prematurely which would cause the coolant to flow at a lower point which would keep the engine cool and not allow for the coolant to build heat to transfer into the cab.

[dksob81]

I had a similar problem at the beginning of the winter, I tried blocking off the radiator to get heat which worked a bit my temp guage went from 120 degrees to abot 140 degrees, still didn't have enough heat for me tho. So I replaced the thermostat thinking it was stuck open but it wasn't, but it did help, my temp guage now reads around 170 degrees and I have plenty heat.

Altho the T-Stat was not stuck open it might have been bad and opening prematurely which would cause the coolant to flow at a lower point which would keep the engine cool and not allow for the coolant to build heat to transfer into the cab. Bottom line, replace the Thermostat. Another reason for insuffucient heat would be the mixture of water with anti-freeze, not enough anti-freeze would give you no heat, but this would not effect the temp guage reading, if the temp guage reading is low, replace the T-Stat.