Flex plate questions

[Jeepxj92]

Hello, just purchased a 89 Comanche, 4.0l auto, 2wd. Previous owner bought it for the cool factor, guy he purchased it from was a hack. I am not new to Jeeps. Owned 3 Cherokees in the past, one heavily modified for off-road only use. 

 

When I bought the Jeep, it wouldn't crank. So I didn't know full running condition. Got it to the shop and started working on it. Fixed some burnt and broken wires, got it up and running again runs great. Noticed that the coolant temp sensor in the block was missing and had some issues with other sensor. Pulled the intake and exhaust to fix some issues on that side of the engine, and noticed the part number and build date was not correct for an 89. Block is out of a 94.

 

Have an issue when cranking. When cranking, starter will make noise like the teeth on the bendix or flex plate are stripped. Checked flex plate through inspection cover and noticed a little wear on some teeth, but nothing bad. When redoing my battery cables, noticed the solinoid on the starter was loose. Replaced starter and, same issue. Engine also sounds like it has low compression on one cylinder. Did compression check, and all good. 

 

My question in all of this, when the block was changed, could the flywheel be incorrect causing this issue? If so, how can I tell the difference from a renix flywheel and a non-renix flywheel. 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[scaleless]

The truck wouldn't start with a non-Renix flexplate or flywheel in a Renix truck.  The CPS wouldn't get the right signal.

[jdog]

Had this happen to me, I changed both the fly wheel and the starter by the time I was done. But you might get away with just a flywheel,  just make sure you get it from a good source

[Jeepxj92]

Thanks, gonna try and change the flex plate.. Hopefully that solves the problem.