Eagle

Wattage doesn't matter. Under American law, fog lights MUST be wired such that they do not operate when the headlights are on high beam. I doubt that Canadian laws are different in this regard. All this means is that you don't take the 12 volts to the toggle switch from the battery or fuse panel, you tap the wire going to one of the low beam headlights. That's the simple way. If you want to be able to run the fogs with just parking lights (no headlights) and do it legally, then you need two relays and it gets more complicated. NOTE: DRIVING lights are the opposite of fog lights. Driving lights must be wired so that they operate ONLY with the high beams, and turn off when you dip to low beams or turn off the headlights. Again, I assume (always dangerous, I admit) that Canadian law is the same.

Don't ask about anything. Most owners are clueless, and the ones who aren't clueless lie. Heck, a few months ago I went with a friend to look at what was advertised as a 1993 Jeep Comanche with liter high-output engine. Well, we pretty well had it figured out that it wasn't a '93, but when we got there it wasn't even an HO -- it was a 1988. The owner said he was sure it was a '93 when he bought it -- then he went home and "looked up" the paperwork and called my friend back to admit that, by golly, you guys were right it IS a 1988. "I didn't even realize it." That took about $300 right off the top. Then there was the 1998 XJ "4.0L Sport" I went to look at on a used car lot near where I used to work, for a NAXJA friend from out of state. I went over after work on a pleasant, sunny summer afternoon. The vehicle was in the front row, looked really nice, but it had some door graphics on it that I had never seen before, even in pictures. Nobody on the lot when I got there, so I looked in the windows. Hmmm ... idiot lights. On a Sport? Then the sales drone spotted me and came out. He opened the doors and I could get inside. It had manual windows, which were nominally the standard equipment of Sports -- but I've never seen one of the new body style Sports that didn't have electric windows. Then we open the hood, and I see this VERY small-looking engine in there. And I only see 4 spark plugs. So I ask the guy if this is the vehicle they had advertised. He says "Yeah, why?" "Well, because you advertised a 4 liter Sport, and this is a 4-cylinder SE." The dweeb professes to not know what I'm talking about. I'm standing on the passenger side of the engine compartment, he's on the other side, and honest-to-goodness, he says "Gee, I don't know what could have happened, it was a 6-cylinder when we bought it" and he proceeds to start looking around on his side of the engine for those mysteriously missing two spark plugs. In short, ask to see the repair records, but don't take the seller's word for anything. As already noted -- inspect everything. Crawl under and look for rust, as well as evidence of being bashed over rocks. Shake the drive shafts to check for worn out u-joints. If possible, if it looks good enough that you're interested, ask if he'll either let you take it to a mechanic of your choosing to be checked over, or if he will drive it to your mechanic. If you aren't very experienced in working on older vehicles, dropping $50 or $100 to have a good Jeep mechanic check it over could be worth a lot of heartache.

Those Delco alternators have the voltage regulator built in, so the problem has to be with the alternator. Where are you getting them? They should be able to bench test it for you. The odds are certainly against getting two bad ones in a row, but anything is possible. The other thing to check is the heavy wire that's supposed to deliver the output from the alternator into the wiring harness. I don't remember if that's a fusible link, but somehow I think it is. If it fused, it is now an open circuit. The fix is to run a new cable, preferably using something like 8-gauge or 6 gauge battery cable or welder cable, with an external 100-amp fuse from a marine supply store (actually, I've seen the fuse at Auto Zone, but they don't always have it). For starters, take your VOM and check for continuity between the two ends of that wire.

Yeah, with 6" of lift and 32s you have enough clearance to mostly avoid the "rock magnet" problem. At 4" of lift on 31s, the brackets are hardly any higher off the ground than the stock LCA pockets on an unlifted vehicle, but you're trying to drive over bigger rocks. Even so, at 6" of lift and 32s the brackets aren't any higher than an otherwise stock vehicle with a budget boost.

I vote to go with OEM rubber. Poly rides harder but, more important, doesn't flex. When a leaf sprung axle gets twisted (like compressed on one side and drooped on the other), the springs have to twist to allow this. Stiffer poly buching mean the spring leaves themselves twist MORE ... which is not good for the springs.

The REs are clones of the original Trailmster brackets, which were on my '88 when I bought it. The Trailmaster kit was a 4" lift, which is what the brackets are optimized for and which is the MINIMUM height with which they should be used. They work. At 4" of lift they bring the suspension geometry right back to stock. Good steering, no death wobble. For street driving, they are ideal. The problem is that off-road they are hanging down right where your chassis comes down when you take a line that runs a frint wheel over a rock (like to clear the axle). The wheel goes down the far side of the rock and the rock smashes into the bracket. I hated them. They are rock magnets. Took 'em off and swapped them to a friend for some other junk he had. IMHO I can wheel better with a 2" or 3" lift and no brackets than I could with a 4" lift and the brackets. It depends on what you want to do with the truck.

You don't need more than 3" to do most of the trails around that part of Massachusetts. NAXJA-NAC wheels up around North Adams/Mohawk Trail a lot. I've done many of the trails with a stock XJ, and a lot more with an MJ at 4" of lift on 31" tires. Yes, there are always a few trails where another inch or so would make a difference -- but that's true no matter how much you lift. Personally, I would not go SOA because if you start out thinking 4" when all you really need is 2" or 3" -- SOA is going to boost the rear about 5-1/2" and then you're really looking at problems in the front, because you can't go that high without drop brackets and adjustable control arms, or long arms. Remember -- K.I.S.S.

The alternator is dead. I had a new one that was DOA, too. Doesn't matter if it's new or rebuilt ... dead is dead. It should read between 13.5 and 14 volts across the battery terminals with the engine running. The gauges may be dead because there's a bad (or corroded) ground between the cluster and the chassis.

I found one at Advance Auto that IS a perfect fit. It's listed for a Ford, but I don't remember which year and model.

Not for a Renix. You've been reading Haybes again ... shame on you. It should give a resistance -- 125 to 275 ohms, on a hot engine. Which has to be one of the most idiotic specs I've ever seen, because how do you warm up an engine that won't run?

Guys, be careful how much you talk up any truck's value "because it has a lot of good parts in it." Remember, we ARE talking about a rust-bucket. I'm buying complete, running, solid MJs for between $100 and $500. Yeah, they're 2WD, but they are viable vehicles. If you lads start driving the price of PARTS trucks up to a grand, soon we're going to be paying $2000 for any MJ that runs and hasn't broken in half. COOL YER JETS! A junkyard will tow it away for him for free. If he can sell it to someone for $250 he's ahead of the curve. Forget this "I'd pay $700 for it" stuff. At least ... in public.

The RENIX computer in an '89 doesn't reset. More accurately, it doesn't need to be reset because it doesn't "learn" anything -- it automatically resets every time you turn off the ignition. It also doesn't control any of the problem items mentioned. You've got plain old electrical problems.

The 228 or 229 was what they were using as the 'Selec-Trac" option back then, and just like the NP242 Selec-Trac on the newer XJs, I don't think the option was offered with the 5-speed. So it's most likely an AX-5 with NP207, but as noted, it could be a T-5 tranny.

Our new member StrokerMJ is so-named for a reason :D Pick his brain. The problem with this kit (aside from not knowing how to spell Cleavite, which to me is a BIG problem, because it means they are functionally illiterate) -- what are they using for rods, and what are they using for pistons? Here's the deal: The 4.0L crank and the 4.2L crank have the same journal diameters, so you can drop a 4.2L crank in the 4.0L block and get a longer stroke. Cool. BUT ... The 4.2L rods are smaller and wimpier than the 4.0L rods, and if used with stock (or stock-replacement overbore) pistons, the piston comes just slightly too high in the bore, resulting in too much compression and resultant detonation ("ping") problems. But if you use the beefier 4.0L rods, they're too long to work with stock pistons and the longer stroke. Accurate Power (the company that's now defunct) used to have custom pistons made up with a higher wrist pin height to compensate, so they could run the longer 4.0L rods with the stroker crank. The specs on this kit say 9:1 compression, but it doesn't say how they get there. If I don't know how they're achieving it -- I don't believe it.

Big bucks for what is basically a 4.2L crank. Gotta tell you, I'd feel a lot more confidence if they could at least spell the name of the world's best-known bearing company correctly. (It's C-L-E-A-V-I-T-E)

Slow down and approach it logically. I saw your other post about tossing in ECUs and "stuff" because you don't "think" you have spark. That's no way to trouble-shoot a problem. Do you have spark, or not? Easy check -- pull the wire off a plug, hold it in well-insulated pliers near any bolt on the engine (or near the tip of the spark plug), and have someone crank over the engine. If you get a big, fat, blue flame -- you have ignition. No flame -- no ignition. If you don't have ignition, try checking the CPS -- or just replace it, since the test isn't 100% reliable. There's a resistance spec for it, but the spec is for "warm engine." I'm still trying to figure out how to warm up an engine that won't start ... If you have spark but no start, then you wonder about fuel. If you don't hear the fuel pump running for a few seconds when you first turn on the key, it probably isn't getting power. Crawl under the chassis, unplug it (there's a connector about a foot away from where the wires go into the tank), and check for current on the big, fat wire. If the fuel pump has power and runs, pump it up 'til it stops, turn it off, then push the button on the Schrader valve on the fuel rail. (Put a jar or a large absorbant cloth in front to catch the gasoline.) If you get a good squirt, you have fuel pressure. No squirt = no pressure. If you're not sure about the fuel, just pour a small amount of straight gasoline into the mouth of the throttle body. Not a lot, just a spalssh. Crank it over. If you have decent spark, it should start and rev for a couple of seconds on the fumes from that splash. If it won't start at all, go back to checking for spark. Do NOT just start throwing parts at it ... unless you have deep pockets and enjoy self-flaggelation.

3.55 was an available ratio, and in fact was the ONLY ratio offered with the 4.0L and automatic.

Where are you trying to connect in, in the engine compartment or back by the tank? The black wire coming out of the fuel pump assembly is the ground. The heavier wire going in (I think orange is the correct colour for your year but not all years were the same) is for the fuel pump, and the third wire (violet in 1988 IIRC) is for the fuel level sender.

The seals for the fixed "vent" windows are completely different from the seals for the operable windows. FWIW, the operable windows ALL leak. I paid extra to get the operable vents on my 1988 Cherokee, which I bought new. The vents leaked from Day One. The "fix" that the factory rep wanted to apply was to replace the optional windows I had just paid extra for with the fixed windows. They weren't offering to refund the extra money I paid, so I told him to take a long walk off a short pier. I periodically open the vents and apply Sil-Glyd (NAPA's brand of silicone grease) to the weatherstrip where the window makes contact. That's been working well for 19 years. By the way -- Josh, the title of your post seems to be a little misleading. "OEM" means "Original Equipment Manufacturer," which translates to "factory." If you really want OEM parts, the answer is any Jeep or Dodge dealer. If you're willing to get parts that work from places like Advance/Checkers/Shucks or AutoZone, you'll save a bunch of money but the parts will not be "OEM."

Being an '87 I don't think I can get a factory build sheet that'll have accurate codes, but I'd be willing to bet a latte that my '87 SWB is factory original with the D44. I bought it from a girl whose father was the original purchaser. There is nothing about the truck to suggest that they ever did anything other than drive it, and maybe change the oil once every five years or so. I have to replace the driver's door window mechanism when I get the truck back on the road. Maybe I'll get lucky and find the original build sheet tucked inside the trim panel.

Actually, for a '99 thru '01 XJ it's 100% of the time.

Step one, if you smell gas in the oil, is change the oil. Throw in cheap Wal-Mart stuff if you have to, but get the gasoline out of the crankcase. Then start diagnosing. My first reaction was that your CPS went bad. That controls ignition, timing, and injection pulses. If your rings are worn and a lot of gas was going into the cylinders and not getting fired, some would leak down past the rings. The Big Bang was probably the swan song of your catalytic converter, when all the unburned raw gasoline hit the hot catalyst. However, I think you also need to check your compression, just to be sure you didn't burn a hole in the top of one of the pistons. That could also account for gaslone in the crankcase.

Only about 4 billion now that we've cleaned out all the porn links to Jennifer Aniston, Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson and friends engaging in unprintable acts of beastiality. That dude was busy. Took up most of my morning finding as many of his posts as I could and getting rid of them.

I've cleaned out a lot of their posts, but I don't have mod access to the MJ Projects forum or the Trail Rides forum. Those will have to wait for Pete to get back, which should be pretty soon now. I also don't seem to have any ability to ban anyone, so final resolution will be up to Pete. Keep a list of any others you see. I sent Pete a list of five who are using the same IP, but there seem to be a couple of others active as well.

Cole, I haven't done it, but a friend of mine down the road installed one of the Mopar MPFI conversions into an early 4.2L (carburetted) Wrangler. I helped him a little. He didn't replace the vehicle fuse panel or instrument cluster. He just had to splice into the vehicle chassis harness in a couple of places to get power for the engine controls. I don't see why it would be any different for a 2.5L. Once you start messuing with the vehicle harness and fuse box, you're going to have to rewire the entire truck. And an XJ harness is NOT the answer ... there are differences between the XJ and the MJ, particularly with respect to stop & tail lights and hazard flashers. You'll need a wiring diagram for your truck, and for the year XJ the new engine comes out of, but with those two diagrams you should be able to figure out where you need to connect the engine controls into the chassis harness. I wouldn't go beyond that.