My New (Used) 2001 Jeep Cherokee Part VII

Well, I haven’t receive any responses concerning my new (used) 2001 Jeep Cherokee fuel filter or the black box located underneath the car. With respect to the fuel filter, my plan is to drop the fuel tank sometime this week and remove, inspect and replace any filters installed within the fuel pump package. As for the black box, I went to O’Reilly and Auto Zone Auto Parts and provided them with the number located on the part’s tag and the pictures I took, but nothing came up in their computers. Our best guess is that the box is actually a fuel vapor trap canister, but don’t know for sure. I will find out one way or another; maybe by taking a trip to the dealer.

Aside from that, it has been raining here in San Antonio almost daily. We needed the rain of course, but having so much rain around this area is kind of unusual. Last Saturday, my wife and I went out for a ride and to shop around, and since then, my Jeep has been parked on the driveway. Yesterday, the alarm system began to chirp and then it would go off; using the alarm control would not deactivate it unless I open one of the doors.

It was late evening and I didn’t feel like messing around with this problem, so I used the valet parking feature to deactivate the alarm. This morning, at about 11:00 am, I tried to start the truck and not only it wouldn’t turn, but there was no electrical power at all. I opened the hood to check the battery and it was completely dead. So I cleaned up the battery posts and connectors and hook a battery charger. While the battery was being charged, I looked around the engine compartment for anything unusual.

My Jeep has a built-in engine compartment light attached to a bracket, which is attached to the hood. It works with gravity and opening the hood completes the electrical circuit needed to turn the light on. When I bought the Jeep, the light didn’t work. I bought and replaced the light bulb and it worked like a champ, but apparently I didn’t attach the light to the bracket correctly. As I drove around, the light felt off the bracket, hangging vertically. This of course completed the electrical circuit needed to turn the light on. In other words, the truck sat on the driveway for almost four days with the light inside the engine compartment on, which of course drained the battery.

The alarm chirping was just a warning about the electrical current running low; I didn’t know that then, but now I know. As for the light, I placed it back on the bracket, but this time I made sure it was attached correctly, but just in case, I will check it out as soon as I am done with this post. It’s dark outside, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to verify whether the light is on or not. As for the battery, I used distilled water to fill each cell to its proper level, charged it and it’s working like a champ…so far.

Well nice readers, this is all for now; until my next post. To all, have a nice day.