[USMCBuckWild]

I have reached the point of hate and discontent with my YJ that I am tempted to drive it into the ocean!!!!

The PO hacked absolutely EVERYTHING on my poor Jeep. The wiring is so screwed up its unbelievable. I press the horn and the jeep dies. Turn the wheel 90 degrees and the horn works just fine and the Jeep stays running. Turn on the windshield wiper and the radio quits. No reverse lights, the dash panel/idiot lights don't work, fan relay is wired to the radio fuse. If I stuff the brakes hard, the entire electrical system goes dead. Jeep dies and NOTHING works. After sitting for about 10 minutes the power comes back and it fires righ up and drives.

The engine was replaced with a 350/700r4/231, but most of the factory wiring was left in and boogered together to make it run. It has caught fire 3 times now and I am at wits end with fixing it. I am tempted
To get a painless kit and redo he whole thing but I HATE doing wiring!

Advice from the beehive Please!!

[pete1991YJ]

Get the Painless kit. Wiring is *much* easier to deal with when you have all the old crap ripped out, and the new stuff is already all nice and neat. And that's the main thing about wiring - is to be real neat and clean and organized. Once you do that, its much easier to deal with.

[grandboost98]

If it already caught on fire 3 times, Id go with the painless harness and be done with it. WAY easier than trying to figure out the mess it sounds like you have

[jsawduste]

The Painless kit is an underhood kit. Sounds like most of the OP`s issues are with the underdash harness.

Couple options.

Get in touch with
http://www.cfoffroad.com/index.html

and have them send you a 91-95 dash harness. Maybe even an underhood harness. Then start out fresh with a wiring diagram.

Option two is to ID the circuits you want/need and make up your own harness. Gauges are simple as are the brake, turn, stop etc.

In any case you are in for a lot of work and will become intimate with your electrical; system.

But it can be done and done easily

Or you could send it by my way and I could do it for you.

[murilstone]

just as a word of encouragement.
when you do get into this mess and work some things out things will get easier and you will get more confident and it will be worth it.

[superj]

i would've helped you last last weekend, i was up there visiting my brother and sister. bro lives in maysville and sis is right down the road from dixon high school off 17.

[bdpalace]

I've got an underdash YJ harness (minus the heater plug) to include the fuse box. PM me and we'll see what we can work out.

[90DesertTanYJ]

Originally Posted by murilstone

just as a word of encouragement.
when you do get into this mess and work some things out things will get easier and you will get more confident and it will be worth it.

Gotta agree with this statement. I never delt with much wiring but on my 77 CJ7 project there were a lot of hack jobs going in as well. The other thing was I had a 304 and I was trying to adapt a 6 cyl under hood harness because I wanted to get rid of the Ford alternator and external voltage regulator. Its tedious work but once you have studied the wiring circuits and traced out color codes to find out where they ONCE went, then it isnt so bad to put it back. With your 350 transplant it brings in a bunch more things to do. I definitely would consider the Painless harness as well. Sounds also like you will be reworking parts of the steering column I know you hate it but it will be an accomplishment that you overcame that and got everything straightened out.

Good luck and when you get frustrated, take a break

[94chb]

once you get in there and look at wiring diagrams and figure out how to read them its actually pretty easy, ive swapped a 350 into a 87 yj and did all the wiring myself. and i also swapped my 89 yj from carb to fuel injection and from auto to manual.

[deedubbadoo]

Sounds an awful lot like what I'm dealing with as well. No dash lights..hacked wires everywhere. Not to mention, switches that go to nothing.

[jjmoonen]

DO THE WIRING HARNESS! As stated before, if it caught fire 3 times already......well you can count on a 4th, 5th, 6th ,or as many times as it takes to have a car-b-que.

You dont necessarily have to use a painless kit either (I know they are a bit spendy). THere are other options out there. There are several universal kits that would work just fine. I am starting up a 350 swap into my 91 YJ and will be using this kit to rewire the entire jeep:

12 Circuit-
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Econom...ness,2352.html

20 Circuit -
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedw...ess,42872.html

Bought the 12 Circuit for my brothers J10 with a 350 swap and its a pretty decent harness. Well labled and good instructions.

[youngjeeper11]

I searched e-bay until I found a stock harness with a lot of good pictures to show it was not hacked up at all and in good shape, and just replaced everything, but this is only because I want my jeep to still follow factory schematics, just my preference, but it worked!

Either way, dont waste time with a hacked harness.

[JWELK]

Go down to the base electronics shop with a carton of Starbucks and some donuts. One of the techs will be able to steer you in the right direction. May cost you a few brewskies, but it is cheaper than insurance.

Regards,

Jim W.

[ratmonkey]

If you're not a jerk I'm sure you can make use of the base auto shop and pick the brains of some electronics tech or motor pool mechanic.
It's really really easy to fix these things in a yj. As long as you know where to start and what to use.

A factory service manual is a good investment for this btw.

[USMCBuckWild]

Sorry i took me so long to reply, spent most of yesterday at the hospital for my anole again.

I looked at the painless kit and just don't want to spend all that money. I know, a harness is cheaper than a new jeep after it burns up, but I just can't afford it yet.

I appreciate the guidance and the offer of assistance. Lets see where this goes over the next week or 2.