terrawombat

I did some more experimenting tonight. Drove the MJ around some local 45MPH roads. It gradually warmed up to just under the 210 mark on the temp gauge and sat there for about 5 minutes or so and I thought it magically fixed itself...but then I came to stop at a traffic light and I saw the gauge steadily rise to the tick mark after 210 and even as I was cruising at 45MPH again, it just sat there and wouldn't fall back to 210 where it had been sitting previously. Pulled back into my shop and parked the MJ next to my '01XJ which has a functioning cooling system that keeps temps where they ought to be. Pulled out my infrared thermometer, let the XJ get up to operating temperature and began taking measurements at similar locations on the two engines. The XJ held fast at 195-210 on the thermostat housing whereas the MJ was up around 225-245 at the same spot. Shut both engines down and tested the mechanical fan clutches by spinning the fan. To my surprise, my MJ fan had more resistance than the XJ fan, which tells me that the mechanical fan is probably not the problem. The MJ has yet to really overheat, but it is running too warm for my comfort, but I just can't figure out what it is. The coolant isn't boiling and there isn't steam spurting out from anywhere. If I didn't swap the full gauge cluster in, I probably wouldn't have even known this was an issue as the engine runs fine otherwise...

No, that's the stock fuel cap with the lock broken out of it. Opens up fine with a flathead screwdriver...

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but in this video you can see the "key" I made for my old Yamaha motorcycle that came with no keys :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhlmatiAE50

1988MJ Pioneer 4x4 with 4.0L, AW4, 78K miles. Truck was given to me when the waterpump quit. Replaced that and inspected the inside of the block hoping to see all kinds of muck, mud, and crud, but the coolant actually wasn't that bad. Replaced waterpump and continued to drive it. Had the idiot light gauge cluster so I have no idea what my temps were. Replaced with full gauges and the truck would stay around 210-220 degrees at idle, but after I drove it around for a bit and put some load on the engine (and probably got the auto tranny fluid temps up), the truck will continue to increase in temps when I'm sitting at a stop light or idling in my driveway. Seems to stay around 210-220 as long as I'm moving. Figured it was the mechanical fan so I swapped one in from my other MJ that I currently have torn apart. That MJ never had any cooling issues, but the "new" fan didn't fix it. Decided to replace the thermostat with a Stant SuperStat 195*. Burped the cooling system by raising the back end of the car up and removing the temp sensor in the head. Ran the truck until coolant poured out, replaced sensor, and nothing - still overheating. Noticed that the hose on the bottom of the expansion tank was seeping coolant. Removed stock clamp, put on a new one, tightened, and no more seepage, but we're still overheating. I see no evidence of seepage or leaking from the expansion tank cap, but I do have a spare tank/cap I can replace it with from my other MJ which never overheated on me. Anyone have any other suggestions? Also, at what temp is the electric fan supposed to come on? Mine seems to come on when the temp gauge hits the red portion of the gauge, which I feel like is too high. I usually leave the truck on defrost mode, which is a double-edged sword since it kicks the A/C compessor on, but the electric fan comes on.

Huh? What's wrong with the engine bay? :???:

Ah, I thought you meant you wanted to plow with the CJ. My fault.

No, it would be an abomination if you made that into a plow truck. It's a piece of American history that deserves to be restored and taken to parades and car shows.

There are so many things wrong with this truck and the description, I don't know where to start :D The ad says it has leather seats. That made me LoL Were the bed and the cab painted at different times? They don't even look remotely close in color here:

I've thought about doing this to my '97+ 4D seats, but they're in such good shape I fear that I may screw it up so bad that I can't even use them anymore. If I can get my hands on a crummy pair of 4D seats, I may try this to see if it's even feasible.

It's manageable, but not ideal. In my '88MJ Sportruck, I did some test fitting with seats out of a 4-door '98XJ. Granted, they are the newer style seats so I don't know how they would compare to the older style (and since you didn't mention the year of the donor seats, I'm assuming they are from an older body-style XJ). If you put the seat ALL the way forward and recline it in its most upright position, you can get back there, but there isn't a ton of room. If I had anything back there, like a sub or amp, that needed to be accessed occasionally, I could see it becoming a real pain in the rear, but like I said earlier, I was just doing some brief test fitting. Now, on my '88MJ Pioneer, I have a set of older style XJ buckets out of a 2-door. The difference is night and day. They fold down flat and allow for excellent access to the rear. So far all I've needed to get back there for was to install my factory jack and the other misc. stuff that goes with it. Easy access that didn't require me to move the seat up, just fold it down. Another thing that was handy about the fold down seats was that I was able to fold down the passenger seat and fit a dog cage over top (back was full of stuff and was afraid the cage would bounce out over the side of the bed). It wouldn't quite fit with the seat up because of the length, but just fit with the seat folded down.

When I first saw your post, I assumed your CEL would be caused by the evap. emissions system since all three OBD-II XJ's I've owned have thrown that code. The '99XJ I had threw that exact same code while I was driving it to it's new owner's house (and before I had the money for the vehicle). Luckily it was my girlfriend's mother so she was very understanding about it :D She said her mechanic fixed it by replacing some vacuum lines underneath the truck, which I assume were the ones going to the charcoal purge canister.

Is it missing a belt around the alternator?

One day I aspire to make my NJ rust-bucket SporTruck look like this. I am very jealous. Do you mind me asking what you paid for such a gem?

Likely a 1987 Cherokee that was built in September of '86.

Jeep offered the General Motors (GM, Chevy) 2.8L V6 and the American Motors (AMC) 2.5L Inline-4 in 1986. The GM motor is generally considered a turdy, underpowered engine with a rats nest of vacuum lines for emissions crap. It's also not well known for it's longevity, but there are a few guys on here that have gone the distance with theirs. I had one crap out with well under 100K miles. Good news is that once it DOES crap out, you can do a direct swap to the larger GM 3.4L V6.

Are you sure it wasn't just an auto from the very beginning? Did Jeep offer the 2.8L and manual trans in '86? Are you sure you're not just seeing the standard floor patch that Jeep put on ALL of the column shift MJ's?

He's right. It's a 2.8L V6 and it sucks when compared to the 2.5L or 4.0L AMC engines. It'll last if it was well maintained, but you can also have a catastrophic oil pump failure and waste all of the bearings like it did in the '86 MJ I used to have. Other than that, it looks decent. Has a 10-slot chrome grill (but upside down). Couple hoarders of those in these forums so watch out.

You looking at this one? http://york.craigslist.org/cto/1954550224.html

I hate you Mike Manley.

Jeeper's aren't "normal" when it comes to spending money on vehicles. I was asked by a co-worker what I thought about a '98 Subaru she wanted to buy. She thought it was an absolute steal at $3,000 and my jaw dropped when I heard the price. I told her my absolute CAP for buying a used vehicle is $500. It used to be $1000, but when I bought my '98XJ for $900, it was a major hit to my bank account so the cap was lowered. Most of my friends still can't believe I've been driving a car for a year that I bought for $400 and put another $600 into to get it to where it's at today - everyone seems to be pre-programmed that buying a car is a major expense, but it really doesn't have to be if you know what to look for. Is $500 the absolute lowest your neighbor will go on this XJ? I feel like with all of the damage $500 is still a bit high. What would happen to it if you didn't buy it? If it's gonna sit around and get in the way, it may pay off to be patient and let him get frustrated and sell it to you for $250-$300 to just get it out of his hair.

I found a grey one in nice shape my first time out at a pick-n-pull. Sorry you can't have it :D I went to another pick-n-pull right down the street and found this gem: Interested? I'm sure it's not going anywhere for a loooong time.

I've had some good experiences with Yokohama Geolander A/T-S tires. My GF has them on her '06 TJ and while they're not as aggressive looking as the BFG A/T, they're definitely a step above a normal looking tire like a Goodyear Wrangler GS-A or Michelin LTX. If I remember, I can snap a picture of her rims with the Geolanders - I think they look pretty slick. She has them on a set of Ravine rims, too, except her TJ is the Golden Eagle edition so the Ravines are painted gold from the factory :D

Well, now I know what the heck that annoying steel rod I keep tripping over is. I must have kicked that thing around my shop a dozen times or so not knowing where the heck it came from. Guess I'll put it back where it came from.

Or some broken motor mount tabs like this:

Sounds like a decent deal. I've been looking for something similar for a while now and the cheapest I've seen on a '97+XJ was $800 and it still ran but had some dings/dents and the mileage was up there. I think you could make a majority of your money back if you sold off the interior parts assuming they're in good shape. If you were closer, I'd want all of the seats for my XJ so I could have the adjustable front headrests. I was given a '99 Classic w/130K that was involved in a front end collision and bent the frame rail, but no where near as bad as you described. I had the frame stretched and various front end sheet metal repaired for $1500. Sold it to my girlfriend's mother for the cost of the repairs so I didn't make any money on it, but I easily could have gotten $2500 or more. Don't think I'll ever find a deal like that again, but I'm looking.