DaveT

Oh, wait, it will idle. There might be an anti diesel solenoid, I don't know those older ones as well anymore. If that were failing to open, it could be a cause of shutdown.

Was it run regularly before you got it, or sitting for years? Check fuel delivery. There might be a list of codes for that mode on here. If you can try to get a factory service manual (ebay, etc.) Give it a 1 to 2 second shot of carb cleaner down the throat, and see if it fires momentarily. If it does, you have a lack of fuel problem.

The one cj I let go really bad before swapping never showed play. It did have a torn boot, and dirt had gotten into it. It was already clicking intermittently, and I didn't have time to get at it right away. It eventually began to cause shimmy and shake the steering, making noise etc. Swapped it out, gone. If the bearings are so bad they are causing your trouble, you should be able to wiggle the wheels and see them shift around in ways they shouldn't. You might have to remove the caliper to free things up though. It is often difficult to apply forces equivalent to those caused by normal operation by hand with the car in the air.

Definitely alternator brush worn out. I just rebuild them. Get a new brush and bearings are due.

Inconsistent makes me think more towards cvj. A really bad one. At this point, it's cvj, bearing, brake related, I would just pick a side, go through it all, then do the other.

The revving making it go out makes me suspect the alternator. The pedal trave could be a booster problem, assuming all the bads and shoes are decent.

It is not normal for the brake light to be on. The only time I have seen it on is when the fluid is low. It should be on or off. Only light while cranking for lamp check. How many miles are on the alternator? If it is original, a brush fails at about 150k miles like clockwork. The alternator light doesn't always show this, but it messes with the other lights also.

When you say it does the thumping on deceleration. ... This happened to one of mine - might be worth checking... The pinion shaft bearings failed in one of my wagons. Any engine braking would cause the pinion to move forward and hit the diffential carrier. Horrific sound and shuddering. It happened to the car my wife drove. Unknown to me, the gear lube had leaked out of the differential case, and ran dry for quite a while. Amazingly, these things can run low on gear oil and not get noisy enough to notice until too late. I drive it home when it had gotten so bad she finally told me something was wrong.... it drove fine under load, or acceleration. But engine braking was bad. Had to keep my foot on the gas while slowing to a stop to prevent the banging.

It doesn't sound like a good idea to run a welded diff for street use.

You can get to the back of the ac controls without removing the entire dash. I have removed and reinstalled a dash. Had no problems, but it's a big project.

Yes, you want the O2 sensor, as written above.

That is weird. Never seen it .

Both wheels off the ground, parking brake released, turn 1 wheel, the other will turn the opposite direction. The CV axle play - how do you mean? What part are you pulling / pushing / what direction relative to some other parts?

Run over temp when low on coolant, headgaskets get damaged. Never ignore coolant smell. To check coolant level, look at the overflow. Also sharply squeeze the upper radiator hose. Normal to hear the giggle pin in the thermostat. Normal to hear maybe a little gurgle of bubbles, but monitor this. This is a before every drive check at this stage. If there is less air each time, things are ok. If there is more, that's bad. It's also tricky to get all the air out of the system. Look for threads discussing burping. It is not as simple as just adding coolant.

That battery is likely killed. Extended over discharge will do that. Much of its capacity is likely gone. Lead acid battery chemistry just doesn't tolerate that, especially starting batteries.

Lots of things might do that. CTS? Did you replace / check both catalytic s? Although, I can't day I've seen one change over temperature - if it's blocked, it should be blocked. But almost anything electric, / electronic can developed failure modes sensitive to heat / temperature. This means anything in the ignition circuits, engine control system, etc is suspect. T in a fuel pressure gauge, so it can be viewed while the malfunction happens.

Look for loose axle nut, loose brake caliper, bad wheel bearing , bad cvj.

The shafts that come out the side of the transmission ate not pinion shafts. Those are axle stubs. The bearings that support them and the differential are on screw in carriers that are used to adjust the mesh of the pinion and ring gear. The pinion shaft and it's bearings are inside the transmission, and major case disassembley is required to get to them.

Ah, here is what to do - disconnect the OEM thick white wire from the alternator output post. Tape off / insulate the lug, really well. Make a new output wire and fuse, and connect from the new alternator's output post to the + battery post. The circuits normally powered by the white wire and it's link will still get power without further modification, via the link which is still in place.

Correct, carb cleaner into throttle body or one of the ports in the boot. Not into the maf. Note to be clear, the injector test I mention above will likely flood the engine, don't even try to start it while doing the test, and only apply the 12v for a second or so at a time. It's simply meant to verify the injector coil works, and it opens, and fuel is there.

since it runs with fuel dumped into the throttle body, it has to be a fuel supply problem. The injector can be triggered open by unplugging it from the harness and applying 12 v across the 2 pins. You can see the fuel spray down on the throttle plate. Sometimes I've seen these get flooded, and it take a LOT of cranking to get it cleared. AFTER verifying the fuel lines are correct RE: supply & return, try spraying a good second or 2 of carb cleaner into the intake boot. Then crank it. If ti fires then dies, try a few more times, see if it clears. The official clear flooded engine procedure is to hold the gas pedal to the floor and crank. It still takes a good amount of cranking though.

Just looked at one of mine - the fuel supply line goes to the lower connection on the throttle body.

I have swapped lots of engines around, there is no reason it shouldn't work. Something like the lines, yeah, be looking over stuff like that. 40 psi is too high, it should be somewhere between 20 to 25.

This sounds like why I never liked how our 01 drove in snow. I much prefer my older ones that have part time 4wd.

Ahh, not 20k, 200k.