Something had to go wrong at some point

Sooooooooo. Two days ago I started the new Jeep engine in the 98 Tj. First time ever doing a motor change. I was relatively careful, I took pictures of every step during tear down, uploaded them to my laptop. Then between removal and install my computer blew up and I lost all the pictures. However it is a fairly straight forward install and there is so much online to help too. Anyhow two days ago was first startup. I primed the engine as recommended, installed and hooked up the plugs and she started right up. No leaks, a little smoky but that is to be expected. I let it run a few minutes at which point I needed to get ready for work, but before I left I wanted to shoot a video of it running and send it to my neighbor who helped me a little and who is vacationing in California. Just prior to that I had pulled out the wiring for the front end lights that I was planning on reinstalling the next day. I laid them across the top of the grill and not thinking I jumped in and turned the key. The engine made a horrible noise and in a panic I shut everything down. Like maniac i look under the hood and see my lighting wiring wrapped around the fan. Shredding most of the wires. I am going to have to run new wires now, I am thinking about just putting in a 8 pin connector to the wires still attached to the jeep. That way if I ever have to remove the grill again, I can just unplug the front end lights as opposed to threading them out of the grill.

All of it is proof that even though things seem to go smoothly there is always a buzz kill lurking in the shadows to make you feel stupid

 

Somebody needs to get hold of Murphy and kick his butt.

 

i used to say,"if it works the first time you dont get to learn something!',sorry. get er done..

 

Reran the wires today. Every thing metered correctly. Plug everything in, pull the headlight know and..........the wipers come on. Push the knob wipers go off. Pull the knob wipers come on. I am completely baffled. I am running through my head how that could even happen. So after a few minutes of just rationalizing things. I noticed one headlight was a bit dimmer that the other. Checked my grounds and sure enough I hadnt tighten the grounding bolt down or install it at all. Dilera no longer come on when i turn on the headlights. And im not asking why.