hillbilly51

Stand to the side of the truck and have someone crank the engine while you hold your finger on the starter relay. If it clicks the problem is not in the ignition switch. The starter on my 88 Model Comanche 4.OL Renix sometimes won't respond to the ignition switch. It's not the switch, relay or wiring causing the problem, it's simply that the starter solenoid is bad and doesn't pull the electrical contacts together in the solenoid. . If I bump it with a piece of wood it starts. Look at everything. hope this helps steve

My wife drove my 88 Comanche Chief to work today so that a guy could come and change the windshield. I heard her crank the truck and then back up to head down the driveway...then the phone rings. "I rolled the window all the way down". The left door window regulator is stripped at the bottom of the travel, and I marked a line on the window with a marker to remind me (and her) not roll the window down past that point. She's a good girl, so I went out and used a pair of pliers to pull the glass up so that the regulator would work. Next it was "Does the defroster work? Well it used to. "Get in the truck and we'll take it down to the shop so I can look at the fuse". Turn the ignition switch and no crank. I have power to the solenoid, so I take a sledge hammer and bump the starter with the handle. It cranks. Never had to do that before. Get it to the shop and get a flashlight to look under the dash. I pull the 30A fuse for the blower and it's still good but has been hot. I look at the fuse terminal and it's melted and the metal is pushed back too far and is too corroded to contact the fuse. I've had to change that fuse before but never had this problem. I cut a piece of 16 gage copper wire, bent it into a U shape and hit the ends on the bench grinder to give them a sharp point. I then plugged the wire into the fuse holder to make contact. I hope nothing shorts out in the blower today, or it'll be a smoke bomb. These Jeeps seem to have a personality of their own, and this one is having a bad day. I just hope she makes it back home with a new Glass. Just venting steve

I'm pretty sure that it's a 1 1/8" diameter, 10 spline. The nose for the pilot bushing is 5/8" diameter. Hope this helps steve

Just because a throw out bearing makes a noise doesn't mean that it can't still do it's job. Some of them can last a long time until the bearing totally fails. On that internal slave system the bearing can get hot enough to harm the plastic slave cylinder. Does the noise happen when you are shifting gears with the clutch pedal depressed? Or is it a constant noise. steve

This may be handy to someone. It lists the flow characteristics of different fuel injectors. httpusers.erols.comsrweisstableifc.htm You will note that the flow rates for Bosch injectors are rated in n-Heptane verses gasohol (E85) for other makes of fuel injectors. I copied this from www. racetronics.biz for converting Bosch injectors to their rated flow in (E85) Gasohol. steve "Injector flow rates are based on testing with n-Heptane test solvent (0.6855 gml). U.S. EPA emission test gasoline 40CFR86.113 (0.735gml) flows in most common injector designs at about a 3 to 4% higher rate than n-Heptane. A ratio of 1.0351 can be used when converting the flow specifications above" (Racetronics).

After reading this, I bought 6 used Volvo 280 155 74 (Bosch 94545556) injectors for my 88 Comanche 4.0. I got 5 from one source for $25 (delivered) that all came off the same car and had to buy a single one from another source for $13 (delivered). $38 for all 6 didn't seem too bad. I plan on cleaning them up and comparing their flow rates. What should the flow rate be for these injectors using my truck pump to pressurize the injector? I had a leak in one of the original fuel injectors about 2 years ago and replaced that injector only with a used one. I'm hoping for better fuel mileage and smoother performance We'll see. steve

If you've got the "Part Time" 4 wheel drive, you can't run it in 4 wheel on dry pavement. The chain will jump teeth in the transfer case resulting in a loud "POP" Ask me how I know? steve

Are the Volvo 746 injectors "plug and play" in my 88 Comanche Chief 4.0L Renix? thanks steve

Volvo Part Number 0 280 155 746 Bosch Part Number 9454555 steve

" just changed the water pump(and can feel flow through the hoses when on and running)" I don't know if the 87 model 4.0 is the same as my 88 model 4.0 but when you changed the water pump did you.......? 1.....Make sure that you got the correct water pump. They make a cw rotation and a ccw rotation impeller. If you put the wrong one on, that would cause a big cooling problem. Did you compare the old one to the new one? 2....Are you sure that you got the serpentine belt on correctly?....assuming that the 87 model is the same as the 88. On the 88 model it is possible to install the belt so that the water pump will spin in reverse direction. That would cause a big cooling problem Just a couple of ideas Hope this helps steve

Awesome Job!. Tons of good information in this post. Makes me wish I was young and healthy enough to try one of these myself. One Sharp Truck. steve

Except he's asking about a fuel pump for a 1997XJ. On the XJ's you absolutely have to remove the tank unless you cut an access hole in the rear trunk floor. OOps, I missed that

I added the can of STP Oil Treatment to my 90W gear oil just to increase the viscosity of the gear oil. I don't know the viscosity of STP but it's really thick and took a while to get it in the transmission.... It's also very slippery and I didn't figure that could hurt either. The transmission has been very quiet and shifts smoothly.

Hard question to answer. I drove my 88 Comanche Chief for over 2 years with a bad bearing(s) in a Peugeot BA10/5. It shifted OK but made a h*** of a grinding noise in all gears. It finally failed me by suddenly getting hung up in reverse. I was about 15 miles from home, but I finally got it out of reverse by stopping the engine and letting the truck roll slowly with the clutch in while pulling on the shifter. After that I made it home, and a month or so later I was barely able to get it to my cousin's shop (with a lift) to replace the BA10/5 with another BA10/5 that I got for a good price. I ended up stuck in 3rd gear for the last few miles. I only use the truck for hauling firewood in the winter and any other misc. hauling I need to do. My truck only has 133K miles and it's already on it's 3rd. BA10/5. I know that I need to convert it to a better gear box and will when (and if) this transmission lets go. So far it's real quiet and shifts smoothly. I'm running 90w Gear oil and a can of STP in my transmission. I'm not recommending that for you, it's just what I put in mine, your mileage may vary.. If you only have a whine in 3rd. gear and it doesn't sound like a bearing going bad, you can probably get some mileage out of it yet. I wouldn't drive it far from home though if it was mine.....I won't drive mine far from home as far as that goes. hope this helps steve

I guess I should have quit while I was ahead. I followed the procedure and had what I now suspect was a OK parking brake. I'll put the new cable on and try again....this time going down hill. thanks everyone steve

I recently replaced the rear brakes and rear parking brake cables on my 88 Comanche Chief. I adjusted the rear brakes and then tightened the center parking brake cable cable..the main one from the pedal...until it was pretty tight. I jacked the rear wheels off the ground so that I could spin them by hand, and tightened the brake cable in steps. After each adjustment, I would make sure that the brake shoes weren't dragging. I tightened the cable until I had the parking brake pedal adjusted so that it would travel almost to the bottom of it's stroke without hitting the floorboard, and the wheels would still spin freely (slight drag) with the parking brake released. I live on a pretty steep hill, and my test of the parking brake was to pull part way up the hill, put the transmission out of gear, push the parking brake pedal down as far as it would travel and then release the brakes. The parking brake will not hold the truck, and allows it to roll backwards. I'm definitely getting some braking action, but I would expect the parking brake to hold the truck stationary. Do I need to tighten the cable more, or is this the nature of the beast. I'm afraid that I will break the front parking brake cable if I tighten it anymore. I'm already putting a lot of force on it with the adjustment that I have now. How well does your parking brake hold? All response is appreciated steve

I changed the fuel pump on my 88 comanche chief several years ago, and I didn't have to remove the gas tank. I remember it being a tight fit to get the assembly out and back into the tank, but it was possible. Use a brass punch on the lock ring...you don't want to make any sparks. hope this helps steve

Well the Comanche Chief is back on the road with new rear brakes and parking brake cables. I took extra time to clean all of the rust off the pieces that I re-used and paint them black enamel. I also cleaned and painted the backing plate. I learned one thing and I've read somewhere else on this forum about a problem with the brake shoes pushing themselves out of position and not wanting to stay seated properly when re-installing the brake drum. I had this problem and the fix for the problem was to finish the installation of the (new) parking brake cable before installing the drums. The spring on the new cable is fully extended and can push the parking brake lever back too far (inside the drum where cable attaches) . This prevents the lever from fitting into the indentation that's formed in the backing plate just for this lever, and prevents the rear shoe from fitting in proper position. I attached both new rear parking cables to the adjuster (main cable) beside the gas tank and tightened the cables just enough to allow the brake shoes to set properly. The shoes then sat as they should and I was able to rock (knock by hand) the brake shoe assembly from side to side and check for proper movement. I didn't tighten the cables enough to cause movement of the shoes because I had not as yet adjusted the brakes. Just enough to allow the shoes to sit properly and still be able to slide the drums on and off freely. I then gravity bled the new wheel cylinders, adjusted the brake shoe by hand until I had a small amount of resistance when installing the drums, then did a final adjustment thru the hole in the backplate with a "brake spoon" (a screw driver will work.) You want a slight drag on the new rear shoes when the brakes are correctly adjusted. The "auto adjuster" will do the rest. Then I adjusted the parking brake cables until I could push the pedal in the cabin almost to the bottom.....maybe 5 clicks from bottom. I've now got what I wanted when this all started.....a parking brake. O yeah, I also have rear brakes too, for the first time in ????? What a difference....and all it cost was some work and <$100 for parts and fluids. steve I've posted some pics.

Thanks Eagle steve

Does anybody know (or will measure) how long the linkage for that Height Sensing valve is supposed to be. I plan to make one if I can find the correct center to center dimensions between the mounting pins. Stock Truck with no lift. thanks steve

I don't know why the dark lines appeared in my post unless it was because I edited my post in A Word Program and then copied and pasted it to the forum. Sorry about that. I don't know how to fix it. steve

I bought and began to install new parking brake cables on my 88 Comanche Chief. I couldn't believe what I found when I removed the right rear brake drum. The linings for the brake shoes were completely destroyed and separated from the metal. All that was left was a pile of small broken pieces laying in the bottom of the drum, and everything was soaked with a black, grimy, brake fluid based, pile of ....s***. I knew that I had a problem, but I never expected this. The only indication of a problem was a loss of fluid in the front master cylinder reservoir, and a low brake pedal that had to be pumped a couple of times to make a full pedal....never a complete loss of brakes, and no warning light. I've got a theory about what caused this (other than the brake maintenance that I've neglected), and I'd like some opinions. After reading about the brakes on this Comanche I found out that this truck was equipped with "The Load Proportioning Valve" on the rear suspension. While I was under the truck I found this valve but the linkage to the rear axle was missing.The lever on the valve was pointing straight down.From the was I understand it, The rear wheels were getting a increased dose of pressure from the Master cylinder because the valve (in error) sensed a heavy load in the bed... I think that the wheel cylinder on the right rear wheel had been leaking for some time and had softened the lamination of the brake shoe to the metal.The right rear shoes suddenly failed and broke into hundreds of small pieces which remained inside the drum. At that point, the wheel cylinder over extended and leaked more brake fluid into the drum. The over extension was the result of there being no liners on the steel shoes which caused the cylinders to extend out at least 1/4" further than they ever had. There were no score marks on the drum so the bare brake shoe never got pushed out far enough to make contact. There was no noise (none that I heard) coming from the right rear brake. The brakes have never been great since I've owned this truck, but I thought it was just the nature of the beast. I've ordered new brake shoes, wheel cylinders and brake hardware. I plan to rebuild both sides of the rear brakes.....then move to the front. I don't get my parts until Thursday, but I soaked the brake line fittings with PB blaster, and the brake lines broke loose easily from the wheel cylinders, so at least that was some luck. I measured the drums and they apparently haven't ever been resurfaced so I'm gonna get both of them cleaned up. They measure 10" ID and the stamping in the drum says 10.060" so I believe that means that the drums can be turned to a max of 10.060" ID. I gonna take as little metal off as I can to get the surfaces in good condition. For anyone who's looking for brake parts, I bought all of the rear brake parts, rebuild kits and new pads for the front calipers and a new serpentine drive belt for this truck for less than $70 delivered. All quality parts...AC Delco, Bendix, Goodyear, Morse and Raybestos from RockAuto.com. They all ship from the same warehouse which is a big savings on freight if you deal with them. I made a few pictures that I intend to post if I can reduce their size (in Pix). Any comments? thanks steve

Not often. I had to go to the store and there was snow on the mountain. I have a problem with the shift solenoid on the transfer case, so I had to open the hood and hook the vacuum up to the front axle so that the axle would lock. About half way down the mountain, I ran out of the snow, so I coutinued the trip the last 3 miles still in 4WD. Going back up...while still on dry pavement is when the transaxle did its thing. I was sure that the noise came from the transfer case, but I wanted confirmation. I need to fix the vacuum solenoid to avoid this in the future. I ran the other transfer case a few times for short distance without problems. I guess the chain in this one is a little loose. I have two spares because these transfer cases for the "'Puke geot" transmissions won't fit anything else....the input spline count is different. Thanks for the responses steve

Hey. I'm having a problem with my 88 comanche chief.....4.0 straight 6 with ba5/10 5 speed and NP231 transfer case. I recently changed transmissions (yea, I replaced the Peugeot again) and I installed the Transfer case that I got with the transmission ($200 for both). The problem is that when I'm driving on dry pavement and the truck is in 4 wheel high there will be a slight jump along with a bump and noise (bang) ...like the transfer case is jumping in and out of gear. If it was a straight shift chevy, I would thing that I have a broken gear (tooth missing) in the transmission, but it will only do it in 4 wheel, so I'm sure it's coming from the transfer case. If I'm driving on snow or ice, the problem doesn't show itself. I Have no problem if I'm in 2 wheel. I'm afraid that there is a problem inside the case, although the front axle could be jumping in and out of lock-up. Any help or opinions thanks steve