NC Tom

I was thinking that I had the track bar replaced, but now I'm thinking all they did was tighten it up. From your signature, it looks like you done a good amount of modification to your 88. Is there an "order of work" when it comes to front end redo/replace? In other words, a step 1, step 2 and so on?

I know. I'm in a cycle of perpetual work at the moment. Keeping my fingers crossed that my MJ will keep running until I can dedicate some time to it.

Okay folks. I'm going to be a lazy slob and ask you fine folks to look at these images and point out anything that looks suspect. I would say a bushing kit may be in order.

It's been doing this wobble-jump-shimmy thing for a little while now. I had put it on my Get-Round-To-It list. However, I recently hit a small bump around 45 and after hitting the bump it kept on flopping around for several seconds afterwards. I thought the front end was going to eject itself! Tires are new, track bar is new, shocks were changed maybe 8 years ago. Before I got new tires I would experience a serious shimmy above 55 mph. That quit after tires were replaced. I was thinking the old tires were just shot and that was some of the issue. Clearly not. Any suggestions as to what I should look at first?

Ooops! Found it! Barely.

Kinda cool, though. I've been wondering what a Manche would look like with round headlights. Like the mirrors too.

WOW! Your interior is looks amazing! I'm now embarrassed at how bad mine looks.

So, my truck has no sticker or emblem. Any way to find out the original dealer?

It was under load as well. Since it has warmed up a bit, it's been starting fine. Does idle a little rough though. As far as Cruiser's tips, what I have found is that these trucks are essentially hobbies. If you don't like getting your hands dirty, or if you don't have the time or resources, you may experience Comanche Derangement Syndrome or "CDS". I have one foot in the "don't have time or resources" group. So, yeah, I have a little "CDS" going on!

Yeah, battery tested ok. It's a Traveller brand. It's rated well, for what it's worth. Certainly, there is something that is not behaving correctly. Started today without issue. The only thing that has been consistent is a crank/no start when it's well below freezing. Also, I've done many of Crusier's ground checks and refurbishing. But not all.

Ahh. I was born and raised in Raleigh. Worked in Durham, Hillsborough and Mebane. Moved to Deep Gap in 2012.

It's sluggish when so cold. So I figured I would top it off, so to speak.

Where abouts in the Piedmont?

@pizzaman09 You get the award for, "The One Answer I Really Didn't Want to Hear!" Usually, I am a big fan of "random." Not in this case! Ugh!

Thanks for all the replies. I have not touched the thing in almost a week. Too cold!!!! Warmed up to 40+ today. Plugged in a batt charger and have been letting that sit all day. Tried to start and got turnovers only. Cycled the ignition 3 times and still no start. Let her sit 10-12 minutes and she started! Let her idle for a while I read about Cruiser's posts about the distributor and other mentions here too. I really have not spent any time on that.

What's really interesting is that it seems like if I do not start her every day, this happens. Miss one day and all bets are off. It is cold! Especially for NC! I really need to invest in a garage. I don't mind the work, just not so much when there is snow on the ground.

Sure, checked all the above. I checked the fuel pressure at 30+. It may be a little low. I don't know when it's low enough to be an issue.

Ok, I'll check the NSS. I have not, intentionally, adjusted idle screw. I do not know idle numbers. BTW, I just looked through your videos and such. I gotta say, I am truly jealous of your mechanical talents. And that Eagle is sweeeeet! I'm 58 and I remember when they first came out. I've always really liked the SX4!

Yes. Auto.

Happy New Year! It's been nearly four weeks since my last post about this ongoing issue. But, that's okay, because I have collected some additional data/symptoms/etc. Here is a video of the engine turning over, but not starting, as requested by @89 MJ This video was taken a few days prior to Christmas 2024. After this video I let the MJ roll forward a bit and it started. It's done that before so I didn't question it. Just glad it started. The next day, it started fine and I drove it to work. Leaving work, it wouldn't start. The parking lot is sloped, so I tried letting it roll backwards a bit, but no luck this time. At this point, I was in the middle of the parking lot. I put it in Neutral and a couple guys helped me push it out of the way. During the pushing, one of the guys said, "try it now." and it started. Drove home. The next day, the same thing. Turnover, no start. I primed the fuel pump three times and it started. I started thinking about the conditions under which it would and wouldn't start. At home, it's parked on mostly flat ground with a slight nose-down incline. At work, it's parked with a solid nose-up incline. When I got to work, I backed in, so I had a good nose-down incline. Started fine at end of day. Found an area at home to park nose-down too. Also started fine. Up until yesterday, it has been starting and running well for several weeks as long as it's on an incline, nose-down. The only thing that has changed now is that the outside temps have a dropped a lot over the past couple of days. Wouldn't start yesterday. 13 degrees this morning and no starting. It's still parked nose-down. The only other oddball thing is that it will occasionally stall when sitting in traffic for a good while. However, if I put it in Neutral while sitting, it won't stall. I'm not the gear-head that so many of you guys are, but I'm thinking it's fuel delivery. Likely, my brand new fuel pump is not so good. Thoughts?

This was interesting. Usually, I turn the key, hear the pump, and proceed to cranking. This time, I did not proceed to cranking after hearing the pump. Just turned key off, waited 10 or so secs, turn key on, but did not hear pump. How long should I wait? When I try to crank and then turn key off and back on, I can hear the pump. After the pump test, I moved on to cranking and it started. Any idears here?

You're saying turn the key, listen for the pump, turn key off. 3 times. What would that answer? I'm not following.

Have you ever heard or seen a TV show called "Mountain Men"? If so, those clowns live near me, only they are closer to civilization than I. However, I did go by Advance Auto today. Battery test was solid, Alternator was good and because those two were good, he didn't see any reason to test the starter. We talked a bit and he seem to think that it's a fuel delivery issue. He also suggested a vacuum test. I need to find the best way to do that. He suggested I check the secondary fuel filter as well. I picked one up while there in case he's right. For today, after the initial several tries, it ran fine. Went to lunch, started and ran fine. Trouble starting at end of day. It actually started only after I tapped the gas pedal. Could be a coincidence.

Started and ran good yesterday, except for one stall out. I had gone to the dump, stopped short and she cut off. I tried several times to repeat the stall with no luck. This morning she started after several attempts. It's damp and 50 degrees.

Do you recall the specs of that bolt? Size, thread count, etc.?