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Not Another One!!?? '88 Eliminator


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Got the cables replaced. Drove it around last night. Went to Advance Auto to look at some things, got into the Jeep, and it almost didn't want to start. Noticed the headlights getting dimmer, and when I put the brakes on, the dash lights would dim. Got back to the house, shut it off, and it wouldn't start (not enough juice). My question is, with the arching that went on before I changed the wires, what would have normally gone first, the alternator or the battery? In the past when the engine was running, it would run 30-40 mins, and immediately restart no problem. That makes me believe everything was fine before the arching. I'm going to first take the battery out and have it tested, and then the alternator if the battery tests good.

 

Jerry

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Ok, got it straight. When the arching of the battery cables happened, it took out the voltage regulator in the alternator. It wasn't putting out at all. When I started the Jeep, the battery was at 11.3 volts. As the engine ran, it slowly dropped to 9.4 volts and leveled out. The fusible link between the alternator lead and the main harness was good. I took out the alternator, and had it tested, it didn't even get passed the regulator test before it failed. Replaced the alternator, and, at startup, the battery was 12.8, with engine running, it was 14.3/14.4. Problem solved! Now, on to the vacuum lines that need to be replaced.

 

Jerry

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Well, the Eliminator did it's first job for me on Friday, took a few things to storage.

 

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Runs ok, a little sluggish, but, drives fine. After the Seafoam in the crankcase works a little bit, I'll change the oil, as well as all of the fluids. Still need to replace some vacuum lines, replace both front tires, and swap over the D44 from the '86. Also found out that the D44 has 4.10's and LSD, nice!! This BA10/5 is geared higher then the AX15, so, the lower gears will help.

 

Jerry

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Changed the oil and antifreeze. I got a thermostat, but, when I pulled the housing off, there was none!! Installed the new t-stat, refilled and burped the system, then took it on a test drive. Drove fine, the temp gauge never went close to 210. Only issue is, the coolant bottle is leaking now. Ordering a replacement tomorrow, as well as taking the Airtex fuel pump back to Advance and get the Bosch pump, thank God for lifetime warranties!!

Jerry

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Have a question for those of you that have factory consoles. Are they supposed to be offset to the driver side?

 

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My XJ with the console is evenly spaced between the seats. The Eliminator had the brackets already in there, but the original console couldn't be found by the PO's family. Just looks strange. The console lines up with the original console's impressions in the carpet, so, it seems it was like this from the factory.

 

Jerry

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Well, I've been fighting a high idle issue since I got this thing running. I couldn't get it to idle below 1200 rpms! I fixed every known vacuum leak I could find, but still had the high idle. Was reading about cleaning the throttle body, and someone mentioned the idle set screw on the TB. I totally forgot about that! I backed it almost all the way in, getting the rpm's down to 500. I raised the idle up to around 800 or so.

 

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That's about where I want it! This was adjusted after it warmed up, so I could set it at it's lowest idle. Runs great now!! Apparently, when the PO was trying to get it to run, he jacked up the idle super high! Marked that off the list!

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I think you were sapose to only adjust the tps not the screw...

It may have been your intake bolts that are loose...buddy of mine had a high idle after warm up and all the top intake bolts were loose and it calmed the idle back down...9/16 wrench helps with the top bolts...

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The thing is, when I was looking for vacuum leaks, I sprayed throttle body cleaner around the intake to see if it was loose. It wasn't leaking, so, that wasn't causing the high idle. Might reset the TPS and the screw, see if the idle changes.

 

Jerry

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Well, got the tailgate letters back, thanks to Goof Off, I was able to get the paint off the letters.

 

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Found this little Jeep decal with a star above it, both above the 4.0 Litre badge.

 

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I'm guessing this was part of a dealer decal.

 

Jerry

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In process of cleaning the Eliminator stripes at the bottom of the tailgate. These are proving more troublesome, as they are not in as good of shape as the letters. There are big pieces of the stripes missing, and that is probably the reason for the crappy repaint on just the tailgate.

 

Jerry

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Well, yet another set back, the Airtex fuel pump that had been really loud, went silent tonight. I had just replaced the sockets for the front turn/marker lights, as well as new headlights. I was going to drive it to a place I could check the headlight alignment, when it had trouble starting, and when it did start, it would run a few secs, then die. Checked the fuel rail relief valve, sure enough, no pressure. I had come from the auto parts store with a new fuel filter, installed it, didn't seem to effect it in any way. Looks like taking out the Airtex pump, and swapping it with the Bosch pump. Yeah, go me, fix a few things, then another one comes along, oh, well!!

 

Jerry

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Met up with Outlaw Star yesterday for some junkyard fun and MJ wrenching.Image Not Found

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Got some door panels for his MJ, and took out the fuel pump assembly out of mine, and repaired the crap the PO did to fit a new pump in it. When I put it in, I just put the pump in the same way as the PO had it, complete with zip ties. Thanks to Lee, it's mounted like it should, and the pickup is all the way at the bottom of the tank, instead of angling up. Thanks, man! Oh the original reason that we took the pump out, to get the gasket on the pump assembly so the tank doesn't leak past 1/2 full, LOL!

 

Jerry

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been a while since I updated, sorry! Well, last week, the 4.0 broke a valve spring. Got up with Lee (Outlaw Star), and took some needed pieces off his parts XJ, including the whole head (only had 6K miles on it), almost new radiator, rear add-a-leafs for 3" (gain 2" on MJ), and the Mustang injectors. Thanks goes to Lee for this, really will help in getting the Eliminator back on the road quick!!

 

Jerry

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