Hey.. just wanted to tell you a bit about our trail ride today in upstate NY, while it was snowing (4-6 inches on march 30? what a winter!).... Anyways, the trails are in Pittsfield State forest area, which is about 20 miles northest of Albany. The trip consisted of myself (Andy), red 94 runner, and my roomate Frank (99 wrangler), and a few friends. The trail was pretty muddy and rutted, with a few good mud puddles and steep climbs. There were a few stairsteps going up a narrow road, which started to get kinda hairy.. but both of our trucks did just fine, and considering they are both stock, with the exception of my downey lift (even in teh 5" snow on the ground). the wrangler even had smaller than stock street tires with little treadware left. I wish I couldve gotten some pictures but it was kindof a last minute trip and never got around to picking up a camera. I'm planning on going back soon and I'll be sure to take some.

But.. with all this fun something has to go wrong....
The truck was fine on the road back from the trails (about a 15 min drive). It sat for a few hours, then I went out again, about halfway though my drive the check engine light came on and i noticed this whirring sound coming from up front. It would grow loud as I accelerated consistent with the engine, but when i shift gears the whirring noise would continue for a second or two and then slowly stop. All fluids ok, including engine oil.. no visible debris seeming to cause problems, but there is a big draft coming up from the radiator fan, which seems abnormal. It must be some sort of water damage, possibly to the fan, but I dont know... I went through some pretty deep mud puddles (slopping over the hood), but the intake filter is clean too... I'm gonna let it sit overnight and run it in the morning and see if the noise disappears.


Also...(sorry to make this a rant)
I finished my speaker brackets for the rear and installed my 4 infinity kappa speakers last week. I got 4"(42.5i) and 5 1/4"(52.5i) sizes. The fronts fit in the existing speaker bracket, but I had to cut some plastic away. The rear brackets I fabricated were made of 1/4" acryllic, 8"x9", with 4 11/16" hole in the center. I used this laser cutting tool on campus... (a pretty crazy machine, accepts cad drawings via desktop computer, and has a big glass window that you can watch it cut) You can bet that my dimension's were cut without error. I wish I could show you pics because they are pretty cool looking the clear acryllic with a speaker mounted in it looks pretty good. I ran new wires directly from the head unit to wire them up.

 

Sounds like you had a good time....As far as the check engine light, have you run the codes yet? Do that and see what the code comes up as.

Salue

codes

 

Haven't run any codes yet... I'm going to check it out again today, hopefully it goes away.

 

I doubt it will just go away, at the very least you will have to unplug the efi fuse for a few minutes and put it back. When you start it, the check engine light will be gone but it might come back on after you start driving if the problem has not been fixed. But, if it was just a fluke, then it might not come back on.

Salue

 

did you check the air filter? My buddy just had this problem and it was water that came in the air box from it not being connnected properly.

i his check engine light came on also. We poped the airboxand the filter was wet...which explains the slight sputter when he accelerated. We thought the check engine light came on because the o2 sensor got damp and the mixture was off from the changes to the filter dynamics. We drov it til it was good and heated up then let it sit with a new filter in it. The o2 sensor turned off the next morning and it ran perfect.

So in conclusion I believe that you got water in your air box area or (heaven forbid) in the engine. If so you need to keep that bastard runnin so the wayer will evaporate and not sit on the heads and RUST.

Do you have a high flow intake on it?:pat:

 

I checked the air filter last night and it was clean and dry.. Also pulled the EFI fuse but the light stayed on... Interestingly, on a short drive from my friends place a while ago I heard the noise stop about 1/8 mile from home.. I'll check it out in the morning.

 

 

:pat: Possibly condensation or water shorting one of your connections,sending a code to the ECM.I've seen people have their vehicles detailed and the bone heads spray the engines with high pressure hoses.EFI's and water don't mix,needless to say,their check engine lights would come on.Like Salue said,just pull the efi fuse if the lite comes on again.