Jimmy

Yesterday I tried to start my '88 Comanche 2.8. It cranked just fine for about 3 seconds, almost started, then it just went dead. Even the headlights won't come on. It acts like the battery is disconnected. I checked the battery cables, cleaned them, everything looks good. I thought that fixed it, it started, ran for a few minutes (enough to pull out of my driveway and into the alley), then same thing happened. Just completely dead. I checked the connections at the starter (I replaced the starter last week), everything is tight, clean, no corrosion. I charged the battery overnight, just in case. I even swapped the battery out of my car, just to eliminate that as a possibility. Even with a charged or confirmed-good battery, it does the same thing. I did notice that unlike most cars, the main connection from the electrical system to battery is not at the starter, it appears to be at a [relay?] adjacent to the battery. If that relay next to the battery went bad, would it cause the problems I am encountering? If it were the fusible link in the battery cable, the whole system wouldn't be dead - it just wouldn't crank? Right? Is there something else I should check? I need to get the truck out of my alley before someone vandalizes it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! -James-

BIT, if you know the ins and outs of doing a homebrew turbo, I say go for it. I think it would be cool and different and probably pretty rowdy in a 2WD truck. It seems like the numbers I've seen on weight suggest that a 2WD Comanche is a good bit lighter than most trucks, keep it fairly stock looking and I'm sure it will surprise many people how fast it is. Not sure what the front suspension is like on a 2WD, but if it's double A-arm, you can probably make it handle respectably too. Sounds like a fun and unique project to me.

My headliner is not too bad. The cloth is gone, there is a lot of glue scum left, it's a little frayed around the edges. I'll probably pull it out and try to save it to reupholster another day. It's not torn or bent or anything. Thanks for the heads up on that. I didn't realize that they were becoming rare.

Looks a little unstable to me. Too tall for it's length. I bet each wheel/tire weighs more than the original car did though, so it might not be as bad as it looks.

Thanks for the tip. I have a nice MIG welder, but I've never tried to do anything as thin as body panels. I have a friend that is a certified welder though, I'm sure he can do it if I can't. If you pull the interior side panels out is the back of that area still not accessible? I need to take the headliner out - it's destroyed and dropping nasty bits of something when I go over bumps, plus I need to pull the seat to do the floor. I'll probably tackle those this weekend, I figured I'd pull those side panels too and see if I can get to the back of that area and see what I need to do to fix it.

I picked up my '86 Comanche today. First drive in her was about 60 miles from Radcliff, KY to New Albany, IN. She ran great the whole way. After about 30 miles though, the clutch stopped disengaging. When I would come to a stop, I had to kill her, drop her into first, then start her in gear to get going again. After about 20 miles of that I decided to stop and check the clutch fluid level. A little shot of fluid and she was fully functional again. Finding the leak and fixing it is no on my official to do list, but there are a few more urgent projects to tackle first. She's a '86 with the 2.8 V6 and a five speed. I know it's not the most desirable drivetrain combo, but I wasn't even really looking for a Comanche, I was looking for any truck under $1000 that ran, drove, didn't have too much cancer, and if it was a Toyota or Nissan, it had to be extended cab because I just can't get comfortable in standard cabs on the really small imports. I picked her up for $800. Her steering feels good, no slop. She cruised along nicely at 60-65mph Her radio and gas gauge work intermittently - another thing on the to do list. She doesn't make any bad noises or smoke. Here are my first pics of her after getting her home. The only rust you can see on her from standing next to her is above the rear wheel well on the driver side, and it's just bubbling under the paint. The passenger side front wheel is not the same as the other three. The interior is a little rough, but usable. The passenger side floor is great. The driver side... not so great. The drivers door doesn't close all the way. Before I went to look at her, I perused the forums here and saw people having rust problems around the hinge, so when I looked at her and noticed the door doesn't close all the way, I inspected the hinges and they looked alright. I figured it was just an adjustment issue. When I got her home I noticed this. The striker pin area on the cab is cracked. Weld the cracks up??? Replace the metal around it with one from a junkyard Comanche (maybe Cherokee?)??? Or fabricate a reinforcement and stick it in behind (assuming that area can be accessed from inside the cab with the trim removed)??? I open to suggestions on that one. A bed full of incriminating evidence from the previous owner. Glad I didn't get pulled over on the way home. My plans for her are to get to be a reliable work truck. To me that means using her a few times a week for trips to Home Depot for house stuff. I also will be using her for runs to the steel shop to get metal for fabrication projects in the garage (the cinder block building behind her in the first couple of pics). I plan to fabricate a front and rear bumper and roll bar for her that will be part of a bigger project to make racks for carrying 20' sections of tubular steel when I need to. Longer term plans might include fabricating my own arms for the suspension, lifting her a little bit, slightly larger tires, and some kind of engine swap, but those will have to wait for a future day when I have more disposable income to play with. If you have any suggestions for things to check on her, what to do about that door striker, or any other projects that will make her a good reliable worker, I'm still on the learning curve when it comes to Comanches, so I'm totally open to advice. Thanks for looking!

Did he just come walking out of the woods, or did someone drop him off? Seems pretty fearless... and delicious...

I think it's the perfect time for you to upgrade to Lambo doors! :ack:

That's not ugly at all. That thing is beautiful. It needs some love, but it's a great starter for a project. If I were closer, I'd be all over it. I'm from the heart of the rust belt. I thought Scouts came from the factory with see-through body panels. You mean brown lace was not a styling trend in '70's American cars??? :nuts:

:thumbsup: Silver POR-15? Never seen it in silver before, looks kinda cool. Looks like you know what you are doing for taking care of the rust. Are you gonna tackle the rockers too? I'd like to see progress pics of that.

Thanks for all the replies! Is the 2.8's propensity for throwing rods related to the same phenomenon on the 2.8L transverse engines? If so, isn't that just a problem of owners letting them run low on oil? Seems like an easy thing to stay on top of. Is there a thread on the 3.4L swap? Seems like it would be fairly straight forward if it's just swapping in the GM 3.4 that is a relative of the 2.8. Is there a way to search for threads about the 2.8 since GM, 2.8, and V6 are all too short for the search engine to work with? Is there something else that they'd be referred to that the search engine will pick up on? Is the 2.8's 5 speed the Peugeot transmission? The guy said that he had been through both axles recently and did all the brakes at the same time, hopefully I'm safe on that one at least. Dealing with a carb doesn't scare me. The owner said that the guy who had the truck before him unplugged and capped a lot of vacuum hoses to simplify the carburetor. It started right up and ran good so hopefully the guy knew what he was doing. My experience with carbureted cars comes mostly from oddball imports, so if the carb gets too flaky, I'll make an adapted and stick a Weber DG series two barrel on it. Nothing simpler or more reliable than those. Overall, I'm pretty excited about the truck. I was looking at crappy little Rangers and such. The Comanche seems much cooler with more long term potential.

Hey Guys and Gals. My name is James, I just signed up for the forum, looks like a lot of good information here. I just bought an '86 Comanche 4wd with the 2.8 liter V6 with a 5 speed transmission. I have very little experience with Jeeps in general - or 4wds for that matter - but I have been wrenching on cars for nearly 20 years. From the various things I read before going to look at the truck, it seems like most people have a generally unfavorable view of the 2.8 liter V6 model Comanches, but I couldn't really find much information on what's bad about the V6 other than Wikipedia mentions it has bad fuel economy. I don't have plans to make a trail rig or anything like that (although I do think that stuff is really cool), I mostly just need a truck for hauling stuff around and the Comanche seems like it's just-right sized and this one was cheap for a good, solid runner. So, what's wrong with the V6 and can anything be done to make it better? If it's just that it doesn't have any more power than the 4 cylinder but drinks more gas, is it possible to improve either of those issues with a different carburetor or maybe a fuel injection swap from one of the plethora of other vehicles that use the GM 60degree V6? Anything else I should know about the truck, anything else to look at upgrading or replacing? Did I make a mistake buying it? I won't have the truck in my posession until Monday, it might not be too late to back out... Thanks for reading and any information would be apreciated. BTW. I tried to search for information on the V6, but "v6", "2.8", "GM", are all too short to work in the search field so if I missed a good thread and am beating a dead horse, I apologize in advance.