'93 ZJ Check Engine Light

[mbalbritton]

Anyone around Winston-High Point have a Scanner for a '93 ZJ or know how I can extract the code. It has a mechanical mileage so no code thru that.

Everything runs and sounds fine, all idiot guages read fine.

any typical sensors to check with 245K miles on the I-6.

 

[dlbrando]

flip the key on and of 5 times
leave it on the 5th time
watch the check engine light blink.
blink , blink blink is 12
blink blink, blink blink blink is 23
blink blink blink, blink blink is 32

ect, ect, then look them up online to get the code

 

[mbalbritton]

ok, figured, there was a way even with a mechanical, odometer.

thanks

 

[mbalbritton]

I got this series of numbers

1-2-4-1-5-5

 

[mbalbritton]

looks like 12 is normal an dalways there, and it ends with a 55, so my code should be 41

now I can't find a list of codes to cross refernce.

 

[mbalbritton]

heh, just found these two links:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/1993_Grand_Cherokee_check_engine_codes

http://allpar.com/fix/80s-codes.html

41* Alternator field control circuit open or shorted.... which means nada to me, cause I don't know electrical.

anyone?

 

[marvilusone]

This should help you.
http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/fault/code41.html
In simpler terms your voltage regulator and/or alternator is most likley on it's way out. Run it up to the parts store and get them to test the alternator. If it checks out good then you either have a short or a cut wire somewhere. If it checks out bad then you should know what to do.

 

[dlbrando]

yes 12 and 55 always pop up, they are the beginning and end codes. Also, I think 12 can sometimes mean something like battery disconnected within last 50 key ons

 

[mbalbritton]

No Check engine Lights today... wondering if it's a bad connection or short somewhere.

 

[dlbrando]

OBD one is kinda wierd about how it stores codes. Give it a day or so.

 

[mbalbritton]

well, It's up, It's down, It's up, It's down.... all the way home.

I'd shift down into 3rd to bring the rpms up and the guage would jump back up to 14, then it would drop back down after a mile or two to about 11, I'd kick it back into OD and let it ride for a minute, then drop it back into 3rd and the dash and guage would go back up.

All this over a 30 mile trek home. Then it settled back at 14 like all was normal. But never a check engine light again.

Kinda wondering about a short or bad connection. Or what are the symptoms of a Regulator going out?

 

[mbalbritton]

So my neighbor brought home his Charging System Scanner the other day and at idle I was pulling 14 volts or there about. As soon as you put a load on it, you could hear that alternator complain and the output dropped to the 9-10 volt range.

So I just got done swapping out a new alternator fired it up for a few seconds (as to not wake the sleeping 4 month old with an obnoxious exhaust note) and my idiot gauge on the dash says I'm pulling about 15volts. Granted that's in the "safe" range according to the red bars. Is that fairly normal after having run home on about 9-10 volts this afternoon? Is it going to output high until it gets the battery charged back up?