Rake

Thanks for all the tips, especially the part about oiling the pistons. I'll be heading over to work on it tomorrow, definitely picking up a T-Handle now for the plugs, I'll clean them up, check the gap and spray some oil down. Figuring that, changing the oil and filter and getting some new gas in the tank then going from there. I'll definitely take some pictures of the engine compartment too. I appreciate the concern over working on a vehicle I don't own yet, but I'm not planning on sinking too much into it before the title changes hands, and if that and some time that I wouldn't have spent doing anything otherwise productive is what it takes to show that someone I trust isn't trustworthy, well that's a lot cheaper than some bills I've had to pay in that respect in the past.

Alternate title: Adopting a new problem child. Greetings everyone. I'm probably crazy, because I'm jumping into fixing/restoring a Comanche that's been sitting for about 3 years with no care. I've had a 97 Cherokee before with the straight-6 and loved that truck, so this is something I'm looking forward too. Just to state upfront, I'm going into this with a very minimum of automotive knowledge and few tools, and just trying to learn as I go. I'm a gunsmith by trade and already figured out I'm way better at basic diagnosis on those than vehicles. I hate seeing things wasting away, automotive is something I want to learn, and I've presently got a lot of free time so I thought why not? Vehicle details are it's a 1987 Comanche, 4x4, base model I think, with the Straight 6 4.0 and an automatic transmission. I don't own it yet, though I'm almost certainly going to buy it. The owner is a very good friend of mine and has given me carte blanche to try to get it running, in his words 'It's not doing me a damn bit of good just sitting there'. It was running when parked, but he said it had an oil leak, was coming up on a brake job, and most importantly he had a new car that was under warranty so he decided just to park it. When I first went into it the battery was dead as a slow possum on a busy highway, so I swapped it out for a second-hand battery. Smaller than it needs, but it works well enough to turn the starter and let me trace the electrical. The starter cranks, the ignition coil throws a spark, but it doesn't start. I think I figured that out though (I hope). The gauge registers a full tank, and silly me didn't physically confirm until I decided to check the fuel rail and it was bone dry, along with the tank. On that part of it I'm going to add some new fuel, and see if the pump/sender assembly works. It looks like the relays might have had water damage, there's some moisture and corrosion around them so I'm guessing they might need to be changed. I couldn't find any sort of a relay schematic and I don't have access to a service manual, so if anyone could tell me how to tell which from which, and hopefully test them, I would really appreciate it. It's also pretty low on oil, and the oil's been sitting along with the rest of the vehicle. I know it needs changed but should I get it to run and then change it so that whatever detritus hiding in there may be loosened up, or change the oil and filter before I even try to turn it over any more? I also noticed an air line was busted, dry rot maybe. I don't know the technical terms, but it was a large line running between the air filter and the top of the motor. I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow. It's got what I believe is called the closed cooling system (Degas system?), which I am not remotely familiar with. What do I need to know about that? A more general question, but the tires are of course flat from sitting, but they aren't cracked from excessive dry rot. I'm going to try and see if they'll keep air because they were really nice tires when it was parked. Are there any tricks I can use to increase my chances or just cross my fingers? Anything else at all that might help and any other resources I can find to learn more I would love to have. I've read through a few threads on here and I'd just love to have the advice of people with much greater subject knowledge than I.