Lloyd

Absolutely Love it when it's being good. And to think this truck sat in the yard for 3 years when i had broken the bellhousing on the manual transmission. Finally gave up on the bellhousing being replacable at a decent price. Located a 92' in the junkyard with an automatic and even with people telling me I couldn't get it done it's now the daily driver for me.

:cheers: I had to take the MJ to work friday because my carpool person(my sister) works in another part of the plant that has been cut back to working only 4 days a week due to the lack of sales. I gave the other guy in my dept. a ride and was quite proud of how the comanche ran. :D On the way home when I went to merge into the traffic on hwy. 84 at the ritchie road on ramp a little acura tried to get on the ramp before me so I put the pedal to the metal and left them sitting in the back position. :waving: I was really proud of how she is running when my passenger commented, "Man this thing can get it!" :D :D 8)

:agree: I haven't found Rokauto to be very competitive with thier prices, no great discount over the local parts places especially on such parts as brake shoes. It's usually only the uncommon items that I have to get online for. Like I am currently looking for a simple set of starter brushes,

Certainly try the fuel down the throttle body test. And the cross over the ballast resistor test, Two ideas that the great people in CC gave me that directed me to an inexpensive fix of my problem. And once again, Thank You to those people who helped me solve my issue. Whoa, 1 year old twins! I bet you are strapped for time and money. Hope you get it fixed.

Sounds like a good upgrade. Maybe I'll give it a try when I can.

Sorry if I neglected to answer everyone on time. I'm glad to have the truck running again. The pressure was almost 40 psi. The pump strainer when I pulled it was rather dark and dinghy looking. And it had been put on with a hose clamp holding it in place. I was unable to do the fuel through the throttle body very well due to working by myself. But I guess all is well that ends well. Thanks tremendously to everyone who offered up an idea. :cheers: :bowdown: [/img]

[/img] Learning how to put the photos up. Cell phone pictures. I guess I need to learn to resize correctly.

And not 1 second over :no: . That is until the ticket gets paid off. Then I plan to purchase my new muffler. A Cherry Bomb glass pack.

:banana: It's running this evening!!!! But :hmm: it kinda makes me feel stupid. :dunce: I went and got a fuel filter on the way home, checked the price of the pump while at Autozone. :eek: Almost had a heart attack when he said $101.90. :ack: I changed the filter first thing. Didn't seem stopped up but poured a little dirt out. Did the hotwire to the pump side of the resistor got her started and took it for a spin. A bit more adjusting and it seems to be running and starting OK. The 3 day weekend I plan on cleaning out the fuel tank and replacing the "sock" filter. Thank you guys for all of your help. I am so glad to have found this site. You people are great and sometimes it just takes a look from a distance to point to the right thing. Thank you tremendously.

I think you could be right but my money will be pretty tight this week, have to pay on my ticket and the insurance(ironic that it's for a vehicle not drivable at the moment). So how can I be sure before I get the fuel pump? I guess with the resistor crossed try the gas dribble through the throttle body? It could possibly be the fuel filter stopped up too so i could change that out before throwing to much money at the whole situation. They are talking lay-off at work this week. I know that for the moment my job is safe, there are 3 trailers in my dept yet to be built. But they may be cutting hours again. Times are getting hard again and I could use the truck to make some kind of extra cash on the time off. So I think this will be my plan of attack for tomorrow; Replace the fuel filter, Try the fuel through the throttle body method with the last able to run setup, Try pulling the pump and cleaning the "sock" filter in the tank. Then see where I stand after that. Thanks for the input. I very much appreciate the help.

Worked on it, worked on it, and worked on it some more. After I finally got it to start for a moment, While I was contemplating the significance of crossing over the ballast resistor as to if I get the resistor replaced will I be back in running order or is there something else I need as well as the resistor. I took a flame decal from work and taped to the truck and fogged some white paint around the edges to see what it would look like. I plan on painting it later on so I practice with things on it now rather than when the paint will be good.

Well this afternoon after work I was trying again to figure out just what I need to replace or repair in order to have the MJ going again. I put the ballast resistor back in the equation and tried to start it. It attempted to start but wouldn't so I crossed it over again and it stayed the same so I took a break and contemplated myself to sleep in the recliner. When my nap was over I took another shot at it and she cranked on the first spin of the starter ran about 10 seconds and died, twice. So I guess replacing the resistor is my next move??? :dunno:

Oh hell yeah! I need bumpers like that on both front and back. I'm a little rough on em I guess. :D Nice work.

Update August 31, Evening . I tried the direct feed of fuel with no improvement. I rechecked the distributor line-up, Re-set the distributor after bringing up TDC, the notch on the harmonic balancer lined up with the zero mark on the timing tab. Rotor pointing slightly past the #1 tower. The results seemed to be the same. I eliminated the possibility that it was only detecting a run situation whenthe key was in start position because I was using a remote start switch. :headpop: Running out of daylight and patience I was giving up on anything but starting over. Then I remembered the suggestion to crossover the ballast resistor and tried it and after a little cranking on it she started. It ran good while sitting there idling but took it around the block and it has no power and resists when I try to give it gas. Bak in the driveway at home I left it running and was trying to check things out, when the never ending story of the nieghbors that call the cops everytime I work on my truck after 7 pm makes an appearance. A flashlight beam passes by my feet and i look over to see the same local officer that has been over the most on the 6 or more times they've been called comes up apologetically saying "You know why I'm here>" We received a complaint that you were revving up your motor. We chatted awhile about the truck and how ridiculous whomever is calling is So That's where I had to leave off. Thank you to everyone who has helped with the diagnostic this far. I hope to have it going pretty soon and will be able to annoy the nieghbors getting the Buick going again. :rotfl2:

I was barely able to make it to Oglesby and back from McGregor. I believe it is just wanting to suck some more cash out of my wallet. And the last time I was in Comanche County... well I was kind of literally IN Comanche County. :( :oops: I was able to replace the electric auxillary fan that had broken in the center, the donor vehicles were scarce at the jy this time.

Couldn't really afford the whole new setup. When I hadn't removed and brought the distributor with me and they said $70 core charge I opted for the sensor only hoping I could get it running again and not have to put up with the carpooling to work with the usually bitchy in the morning sister. lol. The distributor was removed to get the sensor out, have to remove the gear and pull the shaft. But the marks made before removal lined up when reinstalled. I should have gotten the whole thing being the price wasn't that much higher, but that dang core charge I couldn't cover also at the time and the borrowed rides owner(the sister) would have been whining about how long it took if I went home and pulled it and went back. It's like a 15 minute drive one way to our nearest parts store.

:wall: I don't know what it is, good ole Murphy, bad karma, or a finicky MJ. Drove the MJ to my gf's place and she came back with me (approx. 40 miles) and it ran fine. On the way to take her home it started acting like i was cutting the key off when I got around 50 mph. TPS I thought. The next morning it wouldn't start at all. Replaced the TPS and still nothing. pulled the codes and it said the cam sensor or a.k.a. pick up coil in the distributor. Replaced it and cleaned the plugs and replaced the plug wires. Now it tries diligently to start even will run a few seconds, but won't stay running. Replaced the MAP sensor, checked wires for continuity to the PCM from all the sensors. Replaced the crank sensor. It worries me that when it does start for a few seconds when it stops it blows a good amount of compression out of the air intake. It's a 91' 4.0 MPI. It makes me think a stretched timing chain or jumped timing. It could have at least waited till I had the Buick running again. As of now I'm back to bumming rides everywhere again. :oops: I did a fuel pressure check it came out fine. I brought u the no. 1 piston and it seemed that the rotor was pointing at the no. 1 tower. Maybe some of you folks can give me an idea or two that won't suck my poor already thin wallet dry. The buick already has an over $100 problem to deal with that I can't even afford. And the MJ got me a $100 ticket when I first took it out while I hadn't yet got the inspection sticker. Hopefully it will be an easy and inexpensie fix. :dunno:

Went to the JY and browsed the market. Found a good auxillary electric fan that I needed. Pulled some new looking plug wires for it. Got a pick up or cps to try and get it running again. Noticed how fast they get pilfered when they arrive at u-pull-it. Then I contemplated practicing paint on it before I commit to getting the final color made and things. Then I went to bed to dream about the comanche adventures to come.

...you work on other peoples vehicles to get money to spend on your MJ.

The most important tip I can think of is: Let no one discourage you from making it into what you think you can. I had people tell me I couldn't put the automatic transmission in place of the manual on my 91' comanche. It is now done and works great. I say whatever you're thinking of doing, if there's a will there's a way. Keep on pushing for your goal.

When I had to replace that switch on my 91' Comanche several years ago I was faced with the same problem, what to ask for at the parts house. I located one at Pep Boys and armed only with a good description got what I was looking for and was informed that the computer listed it as an ignition switch.

Glad to hear you were successful in solving your issue. It is very similar to the one I had but the ignition switch on mine was not connected with the key cylinder. I guess since mine was a 91' that they have advanced the anti-theft properties since then. Oh, and by the way, my back issue was the L1 disc. LOL. :rotfl2: :rotfl2:

I thanked my Higher Power and the powers that be for being able to bring it back to life. Packed in a whole bunch of tools and headed to work on other peoples vehicles. As I usually do with all my spare time. I swear, some day it will all come back to me in a big way, like maybe I'll get into heaven even though I don't deserve to or something. First I tapped new threads for a water neck on my brother in laws Beretta. Then back to the Ice Cream truck to reset ponts and get it running again. went to sleep last night feeling OK. Woke up so stiff I couldn't get out of bed. From staying bent over the Beretta so long I'm sure. I am going to have to start charging full mechanic rates, relatives and friends or not.

I had an issue with my Comanche once that had a similar description. I lost wipers, blower motor and tail lights. It turned out to be the ignition switch that is bolted on the column near the brake pedal. It is controlled by a pushrod from the key cylinder. The plastic cased switch had melted under one contact, so while the others made contact, the particular one for those componets was not making good contact. But it made good enough for some things to work with albeit lower voltage. It was strange and hard to diagnose, but I was able to tell it was the problem by turning the key on and the blower switch in a run position and then squeezing the column mounted switch with my hand around it and the column. Then the blower would come on until I released the grip.

...even if you just washed it, you drive right down the middle of an unexpected huge mud puddle that formed in your path as someone left their sprinklers on.