Help convince me I am not crazy for buying a TJ (so I can convince my wife)

I started this thread asking if the TJ was easy to work on for someone with no automotive knowledge. I was encouraged by members that I could work on my TJ if I got one. As seen above I got my 2001 TJ 5 days ago. I found a few things wrong with it and researched solutions. I bought parts, watched videos and attacked two projects today, both were a success! Thanks for the encouragement, with a 20 year old car there will be things that go wrong no matter how good the condition the Jeep I bought.

projects:

1. Turn signal, radio and wipers were working intermittently. Discovered this is an issue with the ignition switch and ignition switch actuator pin. Replaced both. Did this fix with my son. Everything works perfectly now.

2. AC/ heater fan only worked on high. Found out that this is due to a bad resistor on the blower. This ended up being a much harder project as once I got in there the whole wiring harness was melted (see photo below). Autozone had it in stock so I cut the old one off and rewired the new harness. Plugged it into the resistor, installed the resistor and fan works perfectly. I damaged the plastic cover under the glove box which was already down to one of four screw attachments. Now I have a project for next week once I find a new part to replace it with.

Thanks again to the forum!

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I started this thread asking if the TJ was easy to work on for someone with no automotive knowledge. I was encouraged by members that I could work on my TJ if I got one. As seen above I got my 2001 TJ 5 days ago. I found a few things wrong with it and researched solutions. I bought parts, watched videos and attacked two projects today, both were a success! Thanks for the encouragement, with a 20 year old car there will be things that go wrong no matter how good the condition the Jeep I bought.

projects:

1. Turn signal, radio and wipers were working intermittently. Discovered this is an issue with the ignition switch and ignition switch actuator pin. Replaced both. Did this fix with my son. Everything works perfectly now.

2. AC/ heater fan only worked on high. Found out that this is due to a bad resistor on the blower. This ended up being a much harder project as once I got in there the whole wiring harness was melted (see photo below). Autozone had it in stock so I cut the old one off and rewired the new harness. Plugged it into the resistor, installed the resistor and fan works perfectly. I damaged the plastic cover under the glove box which was already down to one of four screw attachments. Now I have a project for next week once I find a new part to replace it with.

Thanks again to the forum!

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You will love tinkering with it and I bet your son really likes it. Good deal.

Glad you held out and got a solid one. There are always things to sort out on them, but then you know what you have.

Use the forum. It will save you time, money and aggravation.
 
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You will love tinkering with it and I bet your son really likes it. Good deal.

Glad you held out and got a solid one. There are always things to sort out on them, but then you know what you have.

Use the forum. It will save you time, money and aggravation.
Thanks! This forum has been my jumping off point from the start and, lam sure, will guide me along the way going forward. Already on my next project (airbag light) and the forum had the fix.