Hi all,
due to an unfortunate turn of events it looks like I'm going to have to scrap my beater Jeep Cherokee. Apparently a wiring harness fault took out the PCM and the best auto electric shop in the area has tried and failed to find a replacement PCM that will run it without a CEL for a leak detection pump that was not installed on this particular vehicle. So I can't register this vehicle as it won't pass emissions, and it doesn't look likely that I will be living in an area without an emissions test.
Silver lining - this gives me the opportunity to do something that I kind of wanted to do anyway, which is buy a better looking body (this one was hail damaged years ago and never repaired) and transfer over all the stuff I can save from my old one (skid plates, trailer hitch, full sized spare kit, stereo, speakers, fog lights, cruise control, heated mirrors, etc. etc. etc.) and end up with my beloved beast but with maybe a few more creature comforts and a non-embarassing interior and exterior.
So the question. When I got this beast, the LED headlights were new and exciting. I didn't trust them as they were as of then unproven, so I ordered a pair of Cibie reflectors and a Susquehanna Motorsports relay harness and installed that. However, time marches on and the last time I replaced a headlight bulb I noticed that the reflectors were starting to look pretty shabby, to the point that it was time to start thinking about replacing them.
What would you do in my situation? Remove the relay harness from the old XJ and install it on the new one, and buy new Cibie reflectors? Or just bite the bullet and pony up for new LEDs which would remove the need to have a relay harness in the first place?
Keep in mind that part of this equation involves that I'm going to be thrashing like hell to remove all the "good stuff" from my old XJ without even factoring headlights into the equation, as I've got a lot of stuff on my old '99 that I want to keep and with which most XJs weren't equipped, because my plan is to keep the old one driveable and hopefully sell it to someone in a non emissions county as a beater to get a little more money than I'd get sending it to the Big Parking Lot in the Sky. (I'm really kind of crying inside, because the drivetrain on this thing is rock solid and I've been maintaining it as if I were going to keep it forever and I'm going to have to start all over again.)
So. I see the JW Speaker lights are going for about $225 apiece right now; a new pair of Cibies would be about $210 for both.
The appeal of the Speakers is less work, plus I would not be technically illegal anymore. Would it be worth the extra $240 to save the effort, and would I be happy with the lighting? Opinions on Speaker vs. Truck-Lite vs. other products?
I know that I'll have to do the relay mod behind the driver's side headlight to get the fog lights to work for either option, I'm OK with that, I sussed that out in the first place when I put fog lights on my old Heep as I couldn't find a good how to written up anywhere. This time I'll at least have a working conversion to copy
thanks guys!
due to an unfortunate turn of events it looks like I'm going to have to scrap my beater Jeep Cherokee. Apparently a wiring harness fault took out the PCM and the best auto electric shop in the area has tried and failed to find a replacement PCM that will run it without a CEL for a leak detection pump that was not installed on this particular vehicle. So I can't register this vehicle as it won't pass emissions, and it doesn't look likely that I will be living in an area without an emissions test.
Silver lining - this gives me the opportunity to do something that I kind of wanted to do anyway, which is buy a better looking body (this one was hail damaged years ago and never repaired) and transfer over all the stuff I can save from my old one (skid plates, trailer hitch, full sized spare kit, stereo, speakers, fog lights, cruise control, heated mirrors, etc. etc. etc.) and end up with my beloved beast but with maybe a few more creature comforts and a non-embarassing interior and exterior.
So the question. When I got this beast, the LED headlights were new and exciting. I didn't trust them as they were as of then unproven, so I ordered a pair of Cibie reflectors and a Susquehanna Motorsports relay harness and installed that. However, time marches on and the last time I replaced a headlight bulb I noticed that the reflectors were starting to look pretty shabby, to the point that it was time to start thinking about replacing them.
What would you do in my situation? Remove the relay harness from the old XJ and install it on the new one, and buy new Cibie reflectors? Or just bite the bullet and pony up for new LEDs which would remove the need to have a relay harness in the first place?
Keep in mind that part of this equation involves that I'm going to be thrashing like hell to remove all the "good stuff" from my old XJ without even factoring headlights into the equation, as I've got a lot of stuff on my old '99 that I want to keep and with which most XJs weren't equipped, because my plan is to keep the old one driveable and hopefully sell it to someone in a non emissions county as a beater to get a little more money than I'd get sending it to the Big Parking Lot in the Sky. (I'm really kind of crying inside, because the drivetrain on this thing is rock solid and I've been maintaining it as if I were going to keep it forever and I'm going to have to start all over again.)
So. I see the JW Speaker lights are going for about $225 apiece right now; a new pair of Cibies would be about $210 for both.
The appeal of the Speakers is less work, plus I would not be technically illegal anymore. Would it be worth the extra $240 to save the effort, and would I be happy with the lighting? Opinions on Speaker vs. Truck-Lite vs. other products?
I know that I'll have to do the relay mod behind the driver's side headlight to get the fog lights to work for either option, I'm OK with that, I sussed that out in the first place when I put fog lights on my old Heep as I couldn't find a good how to written up anywhere. This time I'll at least have a working conversion to copy
thanks guys!