'87 fuel-miser

my '87 2.5 's been doing the same thing ... after tuning it up (which didn't help ) swapped out coil's , map sensor cps was replaced before , just completely baffled ... :???: :dunno: truck will run fine for many miles then outta the blue start bucking , sputtering like it gonna die then clear up ... after spending most of the weekend "working" on it (and pulling my hair out !) i sprayed the tb with crc cleaner ( looks better anyway ) changing out cap and rotor (3rd time) no differance ! suddenly i noticed it began to idle very high ... got home to find a large vacuum hose had come off at the base of the tb ... replaced several lines with new hose , started it up , idle ... fine ! took for yet another ride ... PERFECT ! spoke too soon , started the same sputtering , bucking ! I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT !!!! got back and checked all again ... nothing outta the ordinary . with it barely running , for some reason i decided to unplug the tps , GUESS WHAT ? it "cleared" right up took the ol'boy for another ride , seems ok ! i'm going drive it a while to see if it starts acting up again , but i think i've finally found the problem the DAMM TPS !!! :banana:

looks like it's got rocker guards on it too ... would love the grill guard ! :banana:

just went through this with my 4cyl / 4 sp ... plain 'ol ac copper ! don't waste your $$$ on expensive ones ! :thumbsup:

well it's been almost a week , but finally have the time to "investigate" what may be the problem ... loose wires , vacuum lines or anything out of the ordinary , nothing ! all looked fine , so lets start it up ! humm , running , idling normal ... ok , test drive , so far , so good . around town , fine . out to the highway , with speeds up to a wopping 62 mph ! ( remember this is a 25 yr old 4 banger ) running fine . after about a 20 mile round trip , no sputtering , no bucking or wanting to stall out . seems to be running back the way it was !!! :banana: i did nothing , other than let it sit for 6 days . the 'ol boy has mericulously repaired itself !!! i'm completely baffled ? :dunno: yet glad at the same time i kept the original "ac" plugs w/ new wires , cap/rotor . apparently , it didn't like the autolite/copper plugs , what else could it be ? i have no idea ??? but , anyway the 'ol boy is once again up and running fine ! i'd like to thank all who replied ... mark :jump:

plugs were gapped .035 took them out a couple were "wet" 1 was carboned up ... old plugs were gapped at 'bout .045 for some reason ... put them back in , no differance barely running ... if you call it that replaced wires/plugs 1 at a time so that's not it ... it's still dark when i get home from work ... i'll have to wait til the weekend to mess with it some more ... i appreciate the replies guys ... i'm sure you'll hear more ! :doh: :huh???: :dunno: :dunce:

ok , so i'd thought i'd give my '87 4 cyl /4 sp a tune up . wasn't really running rough , but it had been almost 3 yrs since it was done last , and with the price of gas climbing higher as we speak , i figured , hell it can't hurt . well , that was the " kiss of death " ! i changed out the cap / rotor , wires and new copper plugs ( basic autolite's ) anywho , about a mile into my "test drive" the 'ol boy started to buck , sputter and stall out ! limping back home , completely puzzled ... i decided to pull the plugs ... 1 fine , 2 all carboned up , 3-4 , ok ! checked cap / rotor ... fine ! so , i said to myself ... "self , let's put the old plugs back in " ! ( they weren't bad at all ) ... even tried another cap/rotor for $#!&'s and giggles ... same results ... barely running ! for the life of me , i can't figure out what has happened ??? the 'ol boy was running fine before i touched it ... so , anyone out have any thoughts or ideas what has happened ? anyone run into this problem before ? i can't believe a little preventive maintenance has caused such a problem !!! :doh: :???: :fs1:

no body can have just one ! :banana:

regular steel pipe... however , i cut the down turned end of the pipe ( this is on my xj ) and put a straight piece on , believe it or not , it when from sounding lousey, to a sound i'm pretty happy with ! i will try welded thrush on my 2.5 mj when that finally needs replacing ! :banana:

just put a thrush welded on my '99xj (4.0) i'm liking it ! wonder how one would sound on my'87 mj (2.5) ??? :banana:

my vote's for hella ! i used the hella h-4 headlights back in my volkswagen days ... the fluted lenses where pretty cool , not to mention the differance at night ... not knocking the silverstar ( not having used them yet ) but hella always meant quality in my book , i'm sure they still do ... happy holidays ! :banana:

here in south county , r.i. it's 3.47however , 10 miles to the north (warwick,r.i.) it's $3.27 over the border in jewett city ,ct. it's $3.38 ! :banana:

boy that's a nice truck ... my vote for comanche of the year ! :banana:

too bad someone out there couldn't make a mold/die from it to pop some repo's ... just a thought ... :banana:

1 week a month , i give my '99 xj a break and drive my '87 mj ( 2.5 / 135000 miles 4 -sp ) back and forth to work , a total of 80 miles round trip ( x 5 )... NO PROBLEM ! it's much better on gas and it's a smoother ride ! THE VERDICT : yes , they can be reliable ! as long as you don't drive like Steve McQueen and do regular maintenance :banana:

thats perfect ! thanks for the quick reply MFPDM !!! :banana:

is there another diagram for this ? my "new" harness ( 10 wires ) has differant color wires ... for example : black w/wht stripe , grn w/wht stripe , no brown 2 "reds" instead of 3 .... no , i haven't actually tried to hook everything up yet ( not wanting to blow fuses / blubs , ect .. ) just wondering if anyone else has encountered this thanks , and have a safe labor day weekend !

just put a "short " bed tank in my long box comanche . yes , you only need 2 of the 3 straps to hang it ... however , the gas filler location needs a little "re-routing" . i used a couple copper 90 degree angles ( from the local plumbing supply ) to get the right configuration ( took a couple attemps ) but it worked out near perfect ! take your time , and good luck ! :cheers: