Eagle

I vaguely remember having something like that happen when I reassembled the '88 Cherokee I refurbished for my ex-GF. Starter had come out because I had to move the tranny back to replace the flex plate. When I reinstalled the starter, I managed to set them so the little skinny wire (technical term) was making contact with the big fat wire (another technical term). As soon as I hooked up the battery, it cranked -- and cranked ... and cranked. Is it possible that the wrench fused one of the wires sufficiently to melt through the insulation somewhere, allowing wires to touch that aren't supposed to? Any chance of back-feed maybe melting the ignition switch on the steering column?

The 2000 and 2001 Cherokee Classic had 16" rims, the fancier first generation Liberty used the same wheels in different colors, and some of the last of the ZJ Grand Cherokees had 16" rims. Any of those would provide the correct backspacing for you.

The injector may be gummed up and not closing when "off." The fuel system is under pressure. When you shut off the engine, the pressure may be forcing raw gas into the intake manifold. On a later 2.5L with MPFI this gas would drip directly into the cylinders, but with yours it may be getting sucked in during those few revolutions afte you shut off the ignition while the engine is shutting down. You're sure it's gasoline and not coolant?

The easy way is to undo the torx bolts that hold the door onto the hinges. Pay attention to how many shims are in each hinge, because that's the way you should start out with the new door. You may need to shift them around, though, to get an optimum fit. Remove the inner trim panel first, so you can unplug any wires that run into the door. (Probably just speaker wires, unless you have electric windows.) Have at least one large helper. Especially if you're working with a complete door that has the glass and riser mechanism installed, it will be HEAVY.

It should be easy to test the fuel pump -- run a 10-gauge wire directly from the battery to the heavy wire back at the fuel pump. There's a 3-wire connector about a foot from where the wires go into the tank. Be sure you have a decent ground on the black wire. The other skinny wire is for the fuel gauge, and the heavy wire is the fuel pump. If it pumps when hot wired, you can figure the security system had a kill circuit.

If the outer (balance) ring doesn't move forward into the fan, it moves back and wears away the front cover. Once you see the rubber coming out, it's better to replace ASAP because the potential consequences are expensive, and it's a matter of "when" will it happen, not "if" it will happen.

It's more than "thinking of a run." NAC Fest is the big annual trail event put on by the North Atlantic Chapter of NAXJA since either 2001 or 2002. We used to hold it at Paragon until Paragon was closed. It will happen, and it's a great time if you can make it. Rausch Creek isn't really all that far from southern New England. From the New Haven area it's about 4 hours (for most of you -- a bit more for Mr. Speed Limit here). Take I-84 to Scranton, then south on I-81.

Possibly. That info was taken from the original 1986 MJ factory service manual. Doesn't even have a code for the 4.0L engine or the short wheelbase models, because they weren't introduced until the following year. Hmmm ... http://www.comanchemj.1hwy.com/custom3.html "1991-1992 Coming Soon" (big help)

Anything from 86 through 94. In 95 they switched to a Chrysler column with an air bag.

That would have to be either a bad hub/bearing unit or bad ball joint(s).

Technically, there ain't no such critter as valve "seals." The valves are fitted with little rubber/plastic unbrellas whose purpose is to direct as much oil as possible dripping off the valve cover away from the valve stems, but the umbrellas go up and down with the valves and don't seal anything. The are more correctly called "deflectors." Fouled plugs are much more likely to be caused by ring problems.

Here's the 88-90 4.0L coolant system bottle, from the Quadratec web site: http://www.quadratec.com/products/51216_01.htm As noted, this is not an "overflow" bottle. It is an integral part of the pressurized cooling system. It will not function properly without a cap, and the cap has to maintain pressure. That's why it's generally useless to replace only the cap -- a new cap usually won't seal on an old bottle. Just buy the whole assembly. It should not be filled all the way. It should be half full when the system is cold. NEVER remove the cap when the system is hot.

As noted, you can't knurl valve seats. But I also don't know how you would install new valve guides, since they are an integral part of the head. That notwithstanding, if you were losing compression through the valves you would either have air being blown back through the intake, or out the exhaust. Leakage at the valves would not pressurize the crankcase. It sounds like your rings are not seated. It could be that the rebuilder didn't fit them right, didn't use the correct rings, or didn't hone the cylinder walls correctly. It's also possible that he honed the bores too much, and used the original pistons so that they are now a sloppy fit in the bores. Another possibility is that he used chrome rings, which are very hard, take forever to seat (and never really seat well), and require a different hone pattern. Even then, they often always use more oil than regular rings.

I'm sorry, but you are incorrect. Ohio may consider the Comanche a variant of the XJ, but Jeep did not and the VIN does not in any way indicate so. The VIN decodes as follows: Digit: . . . . . . . . Means ------------------------ 1st . . . . . . . . . . Country of manufacture 2nd . . . . . . . . . Company make (Jeep) 3rd . . . . . . . . . . Type (Truck) 4th . . . . . . . . . . Engine Type 5th . . . . . . . . . . Transmission 6th & 7th . . . . . . Series (65 = 4WD Comanche, 66 = 2WD Comanche) 8th . . . . . . . . . . Trim Package 9th . . . . . . . . . . Check Digit 10th . . . . . . . . . Model Year (G=1986, ...) 11th . . . . . . . . . Plant of Manufacture (T= Toledo) 12 - 17 . . . . . . . Serial Number There is nothing in this code to suggest or mention XJ. The XJ VIN shows Type 'C' for the third digit, which translates to "Multi-Purpose Vehicle" (not "Truck")

Guys, he's asking about a 1988 Wagoneer. That's an XJ Wagoneer -- a Cherokee in dress-up clothing. The rear axle just needs to have the spring perches cut off and relocated. You can leave the XJ shock mounts in place, or cut them off. They're not used in the MJ. The ratio will be 3.54 if it's a 4.0L, and either 3.73 or 4.10 if it's a 2.5L. The Wagoneer wasn't available with a standard tranny, so there's no chance of 3.08s. Although the XJ Wagoneer didn't have a Dana 44 front, and the question was in the plural. Are we talking "Wagoneer," or "Grand Wagoneer"?

Before you do ANYTHING -- (1) look at some other XJs; (2) measure from the center of the axle/hub/hubcap up to the bottom edge of the flare and post the measurement; (3) take a picture of your springs and post the picture. ALL XJ springs have essentially negative arch. It's a spring-over-axle suspension. Although nominally the spring isflat, in fact the forward part has a VERY slight positive arch and the rear part has a distinct negative arch. More than likely your problem is just the missing bump stops. If in fact the springs have sagged significantly, you cannot re-arch them in the vehicle. A spring shop could do it, but you'd be better off using that money to buy a set of rear springs from a junkyard, disassemble them, cut the eyes off the main leaves and use them as add-a-leaves.

It's normal. If the clutch were slipping, your RPMs would increase and you wouldn't have to shift.

I am currently running 31x10.50R15s on factory rims on my '88 Cherokee with no lift. The MJ has a lot better clearance in the rear, so it should be no problem. There is slight rubbing of the front tire shoulder on the lower control arm at full steering lock. Takes about a day to get used to how far you can (or can't) turn the steering wheel. And a 2" budget boost will NOT alleviate that anyway.

With 4.88 gears and 32" tires, 70 MPH will be 2714 RPM. With 4.88 gears and 33" tires, 70 MPH will be 2619 RPM. The engine has a 5,000 RPM redline, but in overdrive with big tires, pushing a "brick on wheels" down the road, it's extremely unlikely you could actually get it up to the redline in top gear. But you should have enough moxie to get up over 100 MPH -- which IMHO is a helluva lot faster than anyone should be going in a 20+ year old Jeep that's lifted and riding on mud tires.

Just saw a reference a day or so to a state (NJ?) that calls it the CMV (Commission of Motior Vehicles). Connecticut uses DMV.

Bummer. They make torque wrenches and the manuals publish torque specs for a reason, but it doesn't help if the guy doing the work doesn't bother to follow the specs. If some of those bolts were only finger tight, it may be a hidden blessing that it didn't work, because you could have been driving around with a hand grenade under your feet.

FWIW, 31x10.50s with 3.73 gears turn EXACTLY the same RPMs in 5th gear as a stock XJ or MJ on stock tires with the 3.55 gears. That's a decent combination for street use and light trail use, but not really enough gear for moderate to serious off-road use. IMHO, "ideal" ratios would be 3.73 for 30" tires (which was the plan when I bought the 3.73 gears), 4.10s with 31s, 4.56s with 32" tires, and 4.88 gears for anything larger than 32".

Three soldiers two bunkers away from me in Vietnam were killed by NVA infiltrators because the guy who was supposed to be awake and on watch was high on Mary Jane. Don't EVER try to tell me weed hasn't ever killed anybody.

:sigh: Yet another incomplete poll. Whatever happened to "No opinion" or "Undecided"?

The reference to tubes being corroded through leads me to believe the original poster is not really talking about the sending unit. I think he's talking about the fuel pump mounting assembly, with the two tubes and the mounting flange.