glundblad

Here is a picture of the interior of my Chief. It is really in better shape than the picture indicates. The black really shows every leaf and piece of dirt that lands on it. Within a week after we bought it new, we purchased some cheap rubber floor mats. I took them out for the picture. I hope they saved the floorboards. But honestly, I am too chicken to look. While you can't really tell from the photos, the carpet is in pretty good shape. I still want to get rid of that bench seat someday. You can see a tear in the side of the seat and my failed attempt to hide it with electrical tape.

Thanks TAZ, moving the ground to the engine block really helped. I was able to get it dialed in pretty well. Unfotunately, it didnt do much good. The idle was either too high or too low. I began to feel sorry for the starter so I stopped. To me, that means I must have misdiagnosed the problem. I think I will need to take it to a Jeep dealer and pour money on the ground. But since I may have bought a new TPS while my old one was still good, I probably already waisted money anyway. :doh:

Yes I believe I am following the correct procedure for the '87 5 speed. Once I put the probes in the connectors, they seem a little tempermental to get a voltage reading. Sometimes I really have to move the probe around to get a reading. Perhaps that is my problem? I have considered stripping the wire but that just sounds like a really bad idea for some reason. I can tell this engine really likes the new TPS even though I keep messing up the settings. It is starting to behave like I remember it so I know I am on to something. And yes I did have a picture of the interior after all. I promise I will post it on Sunday. By the way, I hope BLHTAZ doens't get mad since I misspelled his name. :brows:

I purchased a new TPS. BLHTAS was kind enough to present an article on how to adjust the TPS. I believe I am missing something and could use some advice. Before I connected the sensor, I checked voltage at terminals B & A and it read 4.99 volts. I assume the variance is due to my inability to get the probes inside the connector properly. When the connector is mounted and adjusted to .8 volts on terminals C & B, the engine races. I have better luck if I adjust it by hand. Unfortunately, when I do, the idle is way off after I restart the endgine. Am I overlooking something? :dunno:

I am the worse excuse of a mechanic on the planet. Is it pretty easy for a computer guy to replace the front coil springs on an MJ? :dunce:

Peaked into the garage to look at it before I went to work.

That is impressive. Looks great.

My son just got a Grand Cherokee. Does anyone know of a forum as good as this one but for a Grand Cherokee? :popcorn:

Sure, I can post some interior pictures. I don't have any pictures right now so it won't be until the weekend. I must warn you though. It is nothing fancy. It is all stock all the way down to the wonderful factory AMC AM/FM radio. I still want to get rid of that bench seat someday. It always seemed broken down even when it was new. :USAflag:

Well, I am not offended. I am the guy that started this thread with a dunce cap. No steam and never ever look at my TPS. Got it!

I have a fairly heavy duty steam pressure washer (up to 250 degrees & 3,000 psi). Has anyone successfully pressure washed the engine bay of the MJ without blasting the engine into pieces? When you look at those used cars at the used car lots, they are always able to get the engine bays to look pristine. I can see why I would want to stay away from the coil. Any other dangers? Has anyone else sucessfully washed their engines without destroying them and if so, can you recommend any cleaner that would bring it back to like new appearance? :dunce:

Has anyone heard anything positive about putting a performance chip on a Comanche 4.0 or an XJ 4.0? Good or bad?? I always assumed they were a hoax but I had a guy try to tell me they really work. :banana:

I am in the need for a new Throttle Position Sensor for my '87 Comanche 4.0/5 speed. Can anyone suggest a good place to get one? I found one at Napa for a mere $114 but I hope to find one a little less expensive than that.

Thanks BLHTaz. I salute you. :cheers:

I agree. I have a factory '87 roll bar and that is not it at all.

I'm old school and this post really surprises me. When I was a kid, I had an old POS Datsun 240z. The muffler went out on it. I drove it for awhile without a muffler. After I put a new factory muffler on it, I bet I lost 10% hp. My 4.0/5sp commanche runs pretty well. I bought it new in 87 and bought back used in 2008. THe exhaust was rusted from the engine to the tailpipe. It also didnt have the torque I rememered when I owned it originally. I replaced the muffler & exhaust with factory everything except for the cat. I can tell by the loud sound the cat is empty now due to the years of sitting and low mile driving. I would have thought for sure a new cat would reduce my hp even further. So I wasnt even considering replacing it. I always thought more back pressure reduced horsepower. The posts here indicate I am wrong in my assumptions. I think I am going out to get a new cat. I always liked the factory sound of the 4.0 anyway. So is it generally agreed that lack of backpressure robs torque?

I recently purchased a shop manual off of ebay from a company called Faxon. I paid quite a bit for it. The description indicated it covered the 1986 - 1988 Comanche. Mine is a 1987. It also incuded the service notes. No problem. After I received the manuals, I was more than slightly surprised that the 4.0 engine was not included in the manuals. :huh???: You can call me sucker. Could anyone tell me a safe bet on where to purchase a more complete shop manual? By the way, if anyone needs to know valuable information such as where the catalytic converter isnt on the diesel comanche, let me know because I have it documented. :nuts:

I had the same problem. The teeth on the assembly were wore out and it needed replaced. The price for the new assembly was $265 and by the way, they don't make them any longer. Consequently, the junk yard was my only option. They are a pain to take off and put on. If you are married to a gymnist, I suggest you have her do it. Anyway, if you found someone that has one and you cannot find one at a junk yard, you may want to call them and have them ship it. It may be your only option.

Come on guys, there is nothing wrong with that little truck. Sure, you may need to replace that bed to get rid of the rust behind those fenders, and the floor boards are probably shot. The fronts probably arent any better behind those flairs and the rockers may be bad. Oh, and the bumper is gone along with the tailgait. don't forget about the rockers. And sure it probably can't even get that snow plow off the ground. But once you buy that thing for only $4,000, put a $4,000 - $5,000 in it, then it will be pristine. I bet that truck will be worth $2,000 - $3,000 when it is finished. Wait a minute, what am I saying? :hmm:

Thanks everyone for the kind words regarding my truck (excuse me, my wife's truck). When I got that thing, the engine ran a little rough and with no exaust, it sounded (and looked like) S!&t but I knew about the 4.0 and how it was maintained originally when I had it so I wasnt concerned about the mechanics of it. It still idles rough when warm and I think it has a bad sensor burried somewhere so in the spring, I plan to take it to a mechanic again. It needed a new bed, new rockers, 2 new doors and 2 front fenders. The wheels were pitted badly and the windshield was broken. Other than that, the body was great. :brows: I searched local junkyards for body parts. We found 2 cherokee doors in great shape $150ea. The big find was a bed in near perfect condition with no rust anywhere except surface on the headboard due to a cab fire. The junkyard didnt know he had it. We found it by accident in the tall grass. He used it with his skid loader to haul scrap. I paid all of $200 for that bed! :clapping: It required minimal touch up. Lucky for me, some guy's comanche caught fire and left the road early. That was the only bed I found with no rust around or behind the flairs. Comanches are disappearing quickly. The front fenders are new and the rockers are new cherokee rockers. As far as the cost of the restore, I have about $6,000 in the paint job. That includes the front fenders, and the rockers, windshield and stickers. He also needed to weld in a new cab corner on the drivers side. I found only one of those with no rust (due to Indiana weather of couse). It wasnt what I would call a frame off restore. The frame was fine but when you take everything off a truck but the cab and hood, there is not much left. Below are more pictures. It doesnt look as bad as it was. Behind those flars, there was nothing but rust. Those Chief decals were basically holding on the bottom of the bed in front of the rear wheels. If you bumped them, it would leave piles of rust on the floor. The wheels are the originals. I sent them to transwheel in Huntington to be refinished. They look new. The price was around $150 per wheel. The frame looks a little rusty toward the back as you can see. It was only surface and was sanded and painted. For the last 12 years, it was stored in a garage with no garage door. That really messed up the rear springs. So I replaced those. Regarding the stickers, the body shop charged me $500. He felt that was a little high. He hired a sign guy to make them. They took photos and made them with a vinyl cutter. I am pretty picky and they looked very accurate except they were not as flat of black as the originals. If I recall correctly, there are 2 coats of paint and 3 coats of clear. It looked good but it didnt look new until I clay bar'd it (after waiting 3 months). Now the paint feels like glass. I still see those doggone swirl marks though when the sun shines on it just right. :fs1: The interior is near mint condition. Although I must admit I really want to remove that bench seat and put in a couple of buckets even though I don't think they were offered for the '87 chief. Any other questions, please ask. Here is what it looked like:

Assuming I posted this correctly, here are some pics of my '87 Comanche. I was the original owner. It was my wife's daily driver until I sold it to my dad in '95. He drove it for 13 years and put 10k miles on it. It was starting to rust pretty bad so I felt sorry for it and rescued it for $500. Then I took it to a body shop for new paint, body parts, decals and so on. They had it all summer. It has 83k miles on it. The roll bar was factory original as was the fog lights (they don't work though). Jeeps don't like the salt on Indiana roads so the body panels were gone. Particularly behind the fender flairs. Hopefully, you off-roaders won't laugh too loud but did I mention I store it in a heated garage!!

Thanks. I may give those a try. I will try to post some photos today. Give me a couple of hours.

I just spent thousands of dollars restoring a Comanche. After giving it it's first wax job, I noticed a few paint chips are starting to show up. I live on a dirt road which doesn't help. Can anyone make a recomendation on front and rear mud flaps that will fit reasonably well for a Comanche? It is a Chief with Metric ton springs and P235 tires at factory ride height. It appears that mud flaps specifically for a Jeep Comanche no longer exist. Cherokee may work for the front but not the rear although I have not tried them.

Thanks, I will give that a try. I pulled plug wires and were getting sparks on all of them. Some didnt impact the engine idle when disconnected. You may be on to something. I thought about getting a new ECU.

Thanks, I will give that a try. I pulled plug wires and were getting sparks on all of them. Some didnt impact the engine idle when disconnected. You may be on to something. I thought about getting a new ECU.