Eagle

Take out the front parking lights and remove the bulbs from the sockets. Then try it with the 10-amp fuse. The sockets are often the problem.

The factory recommendation was 10W30, with an alternate recommendation of 10W40. In my '88 XJ (which I bought new) I ran 10W40 for the first 175,000 miles, then I changed to synthetic and I now run 5W50 because I had noticed the oil pressure was a bit low (40 psi) at highway speeds on long trips. But I'm now at 268,000 miles so a slight reduction in oil pressure isn't a surprise.

To have a 4WD clutch replaced at a shop? Using quality parts, not junk? Ball park, between $600 and $800 182,000 miles on the original clutch? Yeah, you're living on borrowed time. The original clutch on my '88 XJ 4.0L went 204,000 miles, but nobody makes clutches last as long as I do.

Actually, the cross members are the same but the tranny mounts are all different. And, depending on the tranny, the cross member can mount in one of two locations -- which happen to be 4" apart. If you look carefully at your frame rails, you'll see another set of holes that you can use to relocate the cross member.

Man, I'm confused. Are you asking if the caliper mounting bolts should push on the pads? Hell, no! The mounting bolts go through sleeves and should allow the calipers to slide sideways. The only thing pushing on the pads should be the caliper pistons.

I don't think it gets any better. CT has had a law against driving while using a cell phone for two years now, and it is universally ignored -- by drivers, and by the police. I was nearly broadsided recently as I proceeded through a traffic light that had clearly turned green for me. The other driver didn't see it turn red for her. It was a young woman who (naturally) was so busy gabbing on the cell that she wasn't paying any attention to what was happening. She slammed on the brakes and stopped about 15 inches short of t-boning my driver's door. And had the nerve to glare at me like it was MY fault she had to stop for the damned red light. What I find curious is that I know from my own experience that using a cell phone while driving is a serious distraction -- even using a hands free device or a bluetooth. Yet I've driven all over the country, yakking on a CB radio, and somehow that never becomes the same degree of distraction. I think it has to be that "telephone" is so much a part of our daily lives that when we get into a "telephone" conversation the part of our brain that says "Hey, I'm driving a 3,000-pound guided missile, I should probably pay attention" gets switched off. But our brain associates CB radios (thanks, perhaps, to Burt Reynolds and Smokey and the Bandit) with trucks and with DRIVING. I've never once felt that I've lost track even for a nanosecond of the fact I'm driving while using the CB radio. Which is why I'm so glad the CBs flew under the radar when the state passed the law against using a cell phone while driving.

Oil filter o-rings Distributor

The knock sensor doesn't have much effect on gas mileage, if any. And it won't change the idle speed enough for that to tell you if it works. You need two people -- you have to clean up the timing marks on the front of the engine and harmonic damper (yes, even though timing is not adjustable, the old marks are still there). Put a timing light on it, see where the mark is when idling, then watch to see if the mark jumps when you hit the block. My guess is that you probably need an oxygen sensor.

Ouch! Just shows that the old adage about "staying with the flow of traffic" isn't a universal fail-safe. Was your speedo indicating anywhere near 49 MPH, or have you put on oversized tires and not corrected the speedo?

I bought it new in January of 1988. I don't wheel it every weekend, and once I started wheeling the MJ the XJ sort of got retired to primarily street use, but in its day it has seen multiple trails in CT (yeah, right -- all two of them), most of Paragon except for the real hard-core stuff, Old Florida road and nearby trails in MA, and a now-closed trail in RI a few times. Plus some back-country sightseeing in northern New Mexico. So it hasn't been just a pavement pounder. But I don't abuse it. I do not regard breaking something as evidence of a good day wheeling, I regard it as proof that I screwed up.

You mean if my factory u-joints had been greasable they would have lasted 280,000 miles instead of crapping out at a measly 260,000? Dayyum, I sure wish I'd a knowed that.

96 was the first year of OBD-II, but it was a crude implementation compared to the 97. Really more like OBD-1.5. But the 94 engine should be fine with the newer computer. Just use the sensors from the newer engine. You should also check the injectors, I don't know for sure but they used a couple of different sizes through the Chrysler years and the 96 injectors may be larger than the 94.

It is likely a Dana 35, but it is possible that it's a Dana 44. They don't look at all alike. Look at the pictures posted in this thread, then go look at your differential. If the cover is oval, it's a D35. If the cover is trapezoidal, it's a D44.

Greasable u-joints? For the axle shafts? Don't bother. There isn't enough room for the Zerk fittings, so if you get the greasable ones you'll grease them once, then remove the fittings and reinstall the plugs to put them into the vehicle. To me it makes more sense to get the pre-lubed ones and be done with it.

MUCH more trouble than it's worth. You do need to replace both the inner and outer bearings. By the time you buy both bearings and the seals necessary to do the job, you're about 50 cents short of buying a complete hub assembly. If you have an 87 -89 you can rebuild the hubs -- if you're the masochistic type. The hubs changed in 90 (I think -- might have been 91). The newer style is NOT rebuildable, and does NOT interchange with the preceding style.

Ther fan speeds are controlled by routing the circuit through a set of resistors with different ratings. Full speed doesn't go through a resistor. The lower speeds do. More than likely your resistor pack is burned out, so the lower speeds aren't sending any juice to the fan.

Internal or external depends on the year, not the tranny. All the BA10/5s were internal.

Nope, on stock rims 12.50s won't work. The 31x10.50s on mine would rub the inner shoulder of the tread on the inner fender well when the rear suspension was crossed up. There would be new black rubber marks back there after every wheeling trip. I don't think 12.50s would even clear the leaf springs on OEM rims. You definitely need either different rims, or spacers.

Differentiated or not, when you shift a 242 from 2WD into 4WD you go first into 4 part-time, and THEN into 4 full-time. It is best to limit the speed at which you shift to what the owner's manual says, or a bit less. Also, keep your foot and neutral throtlle when making the shift, dom't shift when applying power or coasting under compression braking.

^^^ Check. Center pivot, but only a 90-degree swing (actually, even less than 90-degree). No way it can spin like an airplane propeller. There are pins at both limits

Yeah. You can get it in there, but there's no way to make it "right" at the back edge where you have to cut it for length. My red '88 doesn't have a headliner, and that's better than a butchered XJ headliner any day.

You need rims with more backspacing. I ran 31x10.50s with a Trailmaster 4" lift and no trimming. Other guys in the club have run 33x9.50s with no trimming and 3" to 4" of lift. In fact, on stock rims you can run 31x10.50s with no lift at all.

Other negotiating points: From the later photos, it appears that it has the big gas gauge and not a tachometer. That's wrong for a Pioneer. The Pioneer cluster should have had a small gas gauge and a tach next to the speedo. The Pioneer 5-speed also had a mini-console, which is missing in this truck. He has some aftermarket shifter boot that's just screwed to the floor. That deer catcher could be factory, but it's missing the extensions that protect the headlights. Could also be aftermarket. I don't know what the factory used in '89, but the factory one on my '88 Pioneer doesn't look anything like that one. And a Pioneer should have a chrome front bumper, not black. Going back to look more closely ... There should be an engine ID on the tailgate -- either 2.5L or 4.0L

My '88 XJ is currently at 267,000 miles, the head has never been off (heck, the valve cover has never been off -- knock wood), and on a recent trip from CT to NC and back I averaged about 20-1/2 MPG. 204,000 is nothing for an AMC 4.0L -- we had numerous guys in NAXJA with over 300,000 on their engines. My original clutch went 204,000 miles. The release bearing went bad, so as long as it had to come apart (internal slave) I decided to replace everything while it was open. I still have the clutch somewhere -- the old one looked as good as the new one. Got a better photo of the tires and wheels? The wheels in that first photo don't look like factory rims. IMHO, anyone who wants well above blue book for an old truck should be offering it in showroom condition, and that means authentic Jeep rims, not el cheapo Rock Crawler POS rims that bend if you look at them cross-eyed. Stock rims on an 88 Pioneer were the 15x6, silver-grey steel rims with 9 rectanular slots, and stainless trim rings. The optional rims were the 10-spoke alloy "turbine" rims.

Rubber line is fine when it's new, but if it softens with age it collapses and then you get no vacuum. I prefer to use steel or copper tubing (copper is much easier to bend, but more expensive and you won't find it at an auto parts store, you probably have to do to a plumbing supply house), and just use a short elngth of rubber to make the connections at the ends.