I actually have no idea where the cage is from, I wish I did because it's the most asked question I get lol. The SEM Camel color really is a very close match to the Sahara interior.
Skees '97 TJ Sahara Build Thread
- Thread starter Skees
- Start date
I actually have no idea where the cage is from, I wish I did because it's the most asked question I get lol. The SEM Camel color really is a very close match to the Sahara interior.
Thank you very much! Next project will probably be the audio setup that you so graciously helped me with! Everything finally showed up so it’ll be time soon!
Well I’m back yet again! So I was having a bit of a dilemma on what to do about the new tires situation. As you guys know, I had the 16x10 RockCrushers on the Jeep and finding tires for the 16” wheels is quite difficult. So, I began looking locally to see what kind of deal I could find on any tires. Basically the cheapest set of 5 I could get was around the ~$1,500 mark and that seemed a bit much to me. So I had to decide if I wanted to take the money I would have to invest into the tires for the 16” wheel and just roll that towards a new set of wheels and tires or just pony up and get the tires.
After some deliberation, I decided to just go ahead and pull the trigger on a new set of 17” wheels and go that route. So my search started yet again and I landed on a set of RaceLine Ryno 951MC wheels and I got a really good deal on a set of tires to go with them. So here’s the result! Let me know what you guys think!
Next big project I’ll be doing will be the stereo install, I finally got all the pieces in and I just need to set the time aside to get everything installed. I’m very excited for the stereo upgrade for sure!
After some deliberation, I decided to just go ahead and pull the trigger on a new set of 17” wheels and go that route. So my search started yet again and I landed on a set of RaceLine Ryno 951MC wheels and I got a really good deal on a set of tires to go with them. So here’s the result! Let me know what you guys think!
Next big project I’ll be doing will be the stereo install, I finally got all the pieces in and I just need to set the time aside to get everything installed. I’m very excited for the stereo upgrade for sure!
Hello again everyone! It's been a minute since I've done any updates so I figured I'd post my most recent issue that I'm trying to diagnose/track down.
Recently we've been getting a lot of rain here in SoCal and living in the desert means we get some monster puddles sometimes. My kids love going puddle splashing so we went and did some puddle splashing.
Well, after the last big puddle, I got a high idle. A few weeks before that had happened I had a CEL come on (P0138) so I had ordered some new O2 sensors (both up and down stream). I'm currently waiting for the up stream sensor to show up and since I couldn't find NTK/NGK anywhere, I ended up ordering some Denso sensors, so I'm hoping the Jeep Gods will bless me with acceptance of these from the truck lol. Anyways, initially the high idle didn't come with any codes so I wasn't really sure where to look. I started by taking the entire throttle body assembly off and cleaning the IAC/TPS as well as the TB. It was filthy, which I'm sure is the fault of the K&N intake I have on the truck (which I am fully planning on swapping back to stock as soon as I can find a stock box local to me). I also noticed it was missing the TB/IM gasket, so I'll be picking up a new one from a local parts store to put on once I get the new TPS. Now it's all spotless and clean, buy my high idle problem still persisted. Fast forward a couple days, I got a new code (P0123) for the TPS, so I'm going to go scoop up a new Echlin TPS from the local NAPA store and swap that out once my up stream O2 sensor shows up and I get that replaced.
I'm hoping it's the TPS and not the clock spring acting funny and messing with something because I have noticed a slight ticking noise coming from the wheel when I turn it, noise comes from turning either direction. The only thing that makes me think it's actually the TPS is I had read another thread here on the forum where someone had basically the exact same thing happen (big puddle -> high idle -> P0123) and replacing the TPS seemed to solve his issue. So fingers crossed on that! If it's not the TPS, I'll order a new clock spring and just knock that out as well.
I still haven't gotten the chance to do the stereo install just yet but I'm planning on doing that once I get these issues sorted out, I don't want to invest time into any of these other projects until I get the truck running correctly. It's drinking fuel like a pig, which I'm assuming is a problem from the failed O2 sensor so I'm really excited for the new one to show up lol. The Cali gas prices are no joke when I'm having to fill up every ~100 miles or so!
Another issue I've noticed is that I'm still getting a "thunk" sound from the rear end when going over small bumps. The new shocks seemed to have remedied all of my other problems except this thunk so I crawled underneath the truck today and did some shake testing. From what I can tell, I think it's the rear track bar bushings because that is the only part that I touched where I could actually "feel" the noise, so I was hoping someone here could give me some insight on what would be a good route to go for that. I'm not sure if it's better to just replace the bushings or if I should grab a new and adjustable rear track bar. From what I can tell, it's not hitting anything in the rear which makes me believe it's a "proper" part but I also haven't done my alignment yet to know if everything is dialed in correctly or not. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Recently we've been getting a lot of rain here in SoCal and living in the desert means we get some monster puddles sometimes. My kids love going puddle splashing so we went and did some puddle splashing.
Well, after the last big puddle, I got a high idle. A few weeks before that had happened I had a CEL come on (P0138) so I had ordered some new O2 sensors (both up and down stream). I'm currently waiting for the up stream sensor to show up and since I couldn't find NTK/NGK anywhere, I ended up ordering some Denso sensors, so I'm hoping the Jeep Gods will bless me with acceptance of these from the truck lol. Anyways, initially the high idle didn't come with any codes so I wasn't really sure where to look. I started by taking the entire throttle body assembly off and cleaning the IAC/TPS as well as the TB. It was filthy, which I'm sure is the fault of the K&N intake I have on the truck (which I am fully planning on swapping back to stock as soon as I can find a stock box local to me). I also noticed it was missing the TB/IM gasket, so I'll be picking up a new one from a local parts store to put on once I get the new TPS. Now it's all spotless and clean, buy my high idle problem still persisted. Fast forward a couple days, I got a new code (P0123) for the TPS, so I'm going to go scoop up a new Echlin TPS from the local NAPA store and swap that out once my up stream O2 sensor shows up and I get that replaced.
I'm hoping it's the TPS and not the clock spring acting funny and messing with something because I have noticed a slight ticking noise coming from the wheel when I turn it, noise comes from turning either direction. The only thing that makes me think it's actually the TPS is I had read another thread here on the forum where someone had basically the exact same thing happen (big puddle -> high idle -> P0123) and replacing the TPS seemed to solve his issue. So fingers crossed on that! If it's not the TPS, I'll order a new clock spring and just knock that out as well.
I still haven't gotten the chance to do the stereo install just yet but I'm planning on doing that once I get these issues sorted out, I don't want to invest time into any of these other projects until I get the truck running correctly. It's drinking fuel like a pig, which I'm assuming is a problem from the failed O2 sensor so I'm really excited for the new one to show up lol. The Cali gas prices are no joke when I'm having to fill up every ~100 miles or so!
Another issue I've noticed is that I'm still getting a "thunk" sound from the rear end when going over small bumps. The new shocks seemed to have remedied all of my other problems except this thunk so I crawled underneath the truck today and did some shake testing. From what I can tell, I think it's the rear track bar bushings because that is the only part that I touched where I could actually "feel" the noise, so I was hoping someone here could give me some insight on what would be a good route to go for that. I'm not sure if it's better to just replace the bushings or if I should grab a new and adjustable rear track bar. From what I can tell, it's not hitting anything in the rear which makes me believe it's a "proper" part but I also haven't done my alignment yet to know if everything is dialed in correctly or not. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Well I'm back to update from the issues I was having in the previous post:
My downstream O2 sensor showed up today so I ran up to O'Rileys to grab a throttle body gasket, which was missing for some odd reason, and then went over to NAPA and grabbed an Echlin TPS. I decided to start off with the TPS because I wanted to install the TB gasket anyways. Upon removing the old TPS, I noticed it was missing a seal which makes a lot more sense on how a puddle could've shorted it out. My thinking is the puddles splashed into the engine bay, and without the seal on the TPS some water must have crept into the sensor and shorted it. It also doesn't appear that this was an OEM sensor and that coupled with the missing TB gasket makes me think my Dad had been digging around in there at some point and replaced the OEM TPS with some cheap-o that he got from a local parts store. Oh well, new one installed on the TB housing and then installed the TB housing and gasket back onto the IM and properly torqued to spec. Big shoutout to Jerry for providing the proper torque specs on that, the last thing I want to do is snap off a bolt.
I crawled up under the truck to start the O2 sensor replacement, upstream came off totally fine without and need to use penetrating oil (yay SoCal truck lol) and new Denso unit installed easy peasy. Made my way to the rear, luckily my skid plate is the perfect length to still give me access to the downstream sensor without needing to be removed! The Denso unit that showed up actually didn't fit (incredibly annoying) so I ran back up to O'Rileys and picked up a Walker downstream sensor since I had seen some posts saying that people had luck with both Walker and Denso units. I'm hoping running the 2 brands won't cause any problems down the road, but we shall see. Got the downstream sensor installed and tightened up and proceeded to do an ECM reset by holding the battery leads together for 30 seconds after disconnecting them from the terminals.
Fired the Jeep up, started up no problems, idle problem gone and I let it run for 10 minutes or so and no return of high idle or CEL's! Hip-hip-hooray!
I also wanted to take a look at the clunking noise I mentioned in my previous post and I suddenly realized that when I greased all of my zerks a few months back, I completely missed the zerks on my LCA's... I must not have seen them because they were caked with old grease and dirt. So I cleaned the zerks off, and greased everything up. Took it for a drive and the big clunk is gone, so I don't think it is my track bar afterall. I still am getting a little knock with verticle axle movement in the rear so I started taking a look around again to see if anything seemed off.
I took my hand and started pushing everything up and down from under the truck and I found the noise! It's my driver's side rear end link, it's making the exact sound I hear when driving when I hit it upwards with my hand. So, while putting my little ones to bed, I hopped online and bought some Zone Offroad 2-4" lift end links and will be installing those when they show up on Friday! I also picked up a new steering stabilizer (which I didn't need) in the Rancho flavor to match the rest of the shocks on the truck. Should add a little pop to the front end as well, so that's nice. I'll attach a video I took of the end link in question. The passenger side didn't make a peep when I hit it like that which also confirmed my suspicions.
My downstream O2 sensor showed up today so I ran up to O'Rileys to grab a throttle body gasket, which was missing for some odd reason, and then went over to NAPA and grabbed an Echlin TPS. I decided to start off with the TPS because I wanted to install the TB gasket anyways. Upon removing the old TPS, I noticed it was missing a seal which makes a lot more sense on how a puddle could've shorted it out. My thinking is the puddles splashed into the engine bay, and without the seal on the TPS some water must have crept into the sensor and shorted it. It also doesn't appear that this was an OEM sensor and that coupled with the missing TB gasket makes me think my Dad had been digging around in there at some point and replaced the OEM TPS with some cheap-o that he got from a local parts store. Oh well, new one installed on the TB housing and then installed the TB housing and gasket back onto the IM and properly torqued to spec. Big shoutout to Jerry for providing the proper torque specs on that, the last thing I want to do is snap off a bolt.
I crawled up under the truck to start the O2 sensor replacement, upstream came off totally fine without and need to use penetrating oil (yay SoCal truck lol) and new Denso unit installed easy peasy. Made my way to the rear, luckily my skid plate is the perfect length to still give me access to the downstream sensor without needing to be removed! The Denso unit that showed up actually didn't fit (incredibly annoying) so I ran back up to O'Rileys and picked up a Walker downstream sensor since I had seen some posts saying that people had luck with both Walker and Denso units. I'm hoping running the 2 brands won't cause any problems down the road, but we shall see. Got the downstream sensor installed and tightened up and proceeded to do an ECM reset by holding the battery leads together for 30 seconds after disconnecting them from the terminals.
Fired the Jeep up, started up no problems, idle problem gone and I let it run for 10 minutes or so and no return of high idle or CEL's! Hip-hip-hooray!
I also wanted to take a look at the clunking noise I mentioned in my previous post and I suddenly realized that when I greased all of my zerks a few months back, I completely missed the zerks on my LCA's... I must not have seen them because they were caked with old grease and dirt. So I cleaned the zerks off, and greased everything up. Took it for a drive and the big clunk is gone, so I don't think it is my track bar afterall. I still am getting a little knock with verticle axle movement in the rear so I started taking a look around again to see if anything seemed off.
I took my hand and started pushing everything up and down from under the truck and I found the noise! It's my driver's side rear end link, it's making the exact sound I hear when driving when I hit it upwards with my hand. So, while putting my little ones to bed, I hopped online and bought some Zone Offroad 2-4" lift end links and will be installing those when they show up on Friday! I also picked up a new steering stabilizer (which I didn't need) in the Rancho flavor to match the rest of the shocks on the truck. Should add a little pop to the front end as well, so that's nice. I'll attach a video I took of the end link in question. The passenger side didn't make a peep when I hit it like that which also confirmed my suspicions.
A leaking manifold gasket or cracked exhaust manifold can also make our jeeps run rich. An eagle eye with a little extending mirror might be in order?
If the idle issue returns then I'll be going that route for sure. As of the fixes I outlined in my last post, the idle issue is completely gone. She's back to idling around ~750 and no CEL returns as of yet. I'll be taking it out and actually driving it around tomorrow morning so that will be the true test but my fingers are crossed that it doesn't return. I honestly think the old TPS was compromised from the missing seal and water must have crept into the connector from the puddle splashes.
Last edited:
I was saying that in relation to your hopes for better fuel mileage. Exhaust leaks will fool the o2 sensors into running the motor rich
Oh my apologies
. Well the smell already tells me it should be back to what it was before I started having these problems. Once the high idle came it was running incredibly rich, so rich I could smell it. After running for 10 minutes it passed the nose test which is much better than previously. If it doesn’t get better I’ll definitely be going the route you recommended though.Nice looking rig, but I don't see that Raceline wheel in
Nice looking rig, but I don't see that Raceline sells at 17" in 5x114? Also backspacing seems heavy, did you space them out?
Similar threads
