The neglected jeep

[nobody]

Hello jeepkj,

I've frequented car forums before but never contributed. I must say this site has some wonderful information. I just bought my first jeep two weeks ago and it is a sorely neglected 2004 3.7. I live in North Dakota and the wife and I decided a 4wd was in order. We liked the Liberty body style and this one came up for sale for peanuts since the previous owner didn't want to pay to have it fixed.

When I say it was neglected the previous owner had it into a shop and was told the oil pressure sensor was out, the front differential was out, an oxygen sensor was out for so long it possibly ruined the catalytic converter. After he took it to the shop he decided to just drive it as is for who knows how long since it was just a work vehicle to him and not worth fixing. During this time he managed do something to the rear window so it would no longer latch, a bungee cord was his solution to that. There was no spare rim/tire for reasons unknown.

I bought the jeep with 127000 miles on it, with an oil change overdue by 5000 miles and 20 months. I'm sure the truck hadn't been washed or cleaned in at least that time. The CEL was lit and the oil light would come on at stop lights and you could smell burning oil. Again the price of the vehicle justified everything that should have been reason to walk away.

I checked the CEL and found an ignition coil (P2302) the Oxygen sensor (P0038 & P0037) as a misfire (P0300)
The oil was changed and I sent a sample out for testing - that ought to be interesting.
The rear window I was able to adjust and get rid of the bungee cord.
Thanks to this forum I was able to figure out it was the CV joint on the prop shaft that was making noise, not the front differential so that was ordered.
I've picked up a new oxygen sensor, the old one had a broken wire from rubbing on the shaft.
Again thanks to the forum I was able to determine the oil smell was due to the valve cover gaskets, those have been replaced.
While I had easy access from changing the gaskets I replaced the spark plugs. The old ones were showing a gap of .080 they were long overdue.
I picked up a new coil for cylinder #1 and replaced that right away as well.
I haven't started the truck up since the head gasket and spark plug replacement as I found a broken wire near cylinder #1 that I was hoping someone may be able to identify. I'm not sure if I broke it getting the driver's side valve cover out or if it was damaged before and contributing to my misfire code. Any chance anyone knows what the green wire with yellow tracer is for or where it should be connected to? Its looped and taped near the #1 injector and individually wrapped with electrical tape so I don't think it was included in the wiring harness that goes down the front drivers side of the engine. Picture's below.
The third pic is the truck as advertised/bought.

 

[profdlp]

It's good to know that your Liberty is now in good hands. Sounds like you're off to a great start. It will be interesting to follow your progress. :favorites13:

And ====> (welcome)

 

[nocTurNalX]

Thank you for giving the much needed TLC and attention for this jeep, good luck with the build!

 

[sota]

granted, i'm working off my 07...
if that broken "wire" is actually 2 wires, it could be for a sensor on the inlet side of the throttle body.

 

[nobody]

granted, i'm working off my 07...
if that broken "wire" is actually 2 wires, it could be for a sensor on the inlet side of the throttle body.

Thanks sota, but its not quite long enough to reach my throttle body and I confirmed those wires are all intact. I also double checked that is indeed green with a yellow tracer and not the green with orange that runs the injectors. Does anyone have a link for the 2004 service manual? I've found the 2003 and 2005 but nothing 2004 specific.

 

[sota]

03 should be close enough to 04. there weren't any major changes made.
05 and 06 will probably work as well, even with the mostly cosmetic alterations.
07... don't even get me started.

 

[nobody]

Good to know. I'll start looking at the 03/05 books closer. Thanks sota!

 

[profdlp]

These may help:

Index of /manuals/Jeep/KJ

 

[twowings]

Thanks for keeping her alive! She'll come to mean much more to you than some shiny, silly new thing....:gr_grin:

 

[LibertyTC]

Welcome to forums! Will be nice to have it all fixed up & driving soon!
Re that wire...somebody been in there, you are missing the plastic wire loom, that also help to protect em all.
Here is a photo from my KJ showing the same area.
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You must be registered for see images attach

It would appear it should be part of the bundle that runs with coil wires etc.
Will try to get Bill to take a look at this & see if he knows.

 

[Billwill]

Good to know. I'll start looking at the 03/05 books closer. Thanks sota!

The 2003 Circuit diagram from the links given to you should be OK.

What you...and the rest of... us need to know is:

When you say the wire is green with a yellow trace..... is this a Light Green or Dark Green?

This will show in the circuit diagrams as DG/YL for Dark Green Yellow trace
or as LG/YL for Light Green yellow trace.

You will need to check all other wires to compare this color ie. find some other green wires and look for the light green and dark green.

Once we know this it is then a case of paging through the circuit diagrams to find this missing wire.

I have a CRD so cannot try to find this wire as yours is a 3.7 Gasser:shrug:

 

[nobody]

Thanks LibertyTC, the missing loom is because I just changed the valve cover gasket and the plastic looms were so brittle they just feel apart. You are right about somebody being in there though. I went to a local pick-and-pull to pick up some missing pieces this week and looked at all three of the Libertys they had there. None of them had my mystery wire. I came home and pulled the harness/tape apart to see where it went and it was spliced into #1 fuel injector control wire (white with dark blue tracer). I'm thinking they may have had a car starter in the vehicle at one time and needed the injector feedback to tell when the truck actually started.

Billwill, sorry about the lack of clarity on the color, the wire happened to be dark green with a yellow tracer. I'm fairly certain its not factory at this point as I capped the wire and put the car back together and it fired right up.

 

[narntek]

It hurts to see a Liberty like that. It's even the Limited Edition, and low miles for the year. People just don't seem to care when it comes to these. The only major repairs I've had since 05 were the power steering & my gas tank fell off as a result of rusted fuel straps. I bought it at 15k miles and it's sitting now at 164k. It's amazing how capable these Libby's are. Once you get it up and running perfectly you're going to love every minute of it. As far as cosmetics go, it doesn't look bad picture wise, but I guess looks can be deceiving.

Glad you're getting it back on the road. It deserves to live longer!

 

[nobody]

Had the jeep out for a nice long drive. Really happy with it so far. 4wd worked great. No strange smells or oil light. Did trip the CEL a couple of times. P0171 and p0172 each time it heated up to opperating temperature. I double checked them as they seem to be conflicting codes (too lean and to rich on bank one). I reset them once i got home and they haven't reappeared yet. I think if they do a new upstream oxygen sensor is in order unless someone else has any ideas.

 

[sota]

personally... I'd seafoam the hell of it just before you change the oil.
and I'd inspect the wiring harness to the oxygen sensors. Not on the jeep, but I had on another mopar vehicle the downstream O2 sensor wires get damaged such that they'd randomly short out in weird ways, causing all kinds of bizarre behavior from the car.

 

[renegade 04]

Welcome! The best thing you can do for the wiring that is exposed is to put new wire loom on it.