First MJ(s)

[Awesome]

Friday we spent the evening getting the truck ready for a car show that my daughter wanted to enter. She washed it. More paint came off. 

 

It leaked in a few spots. It leaked from two places under the dash - one up in the passenger footwell, and one on top of the transmission tunnel, which I assume means a heater box leak. 

I don't know how water accesses these areas from outside the truck. Well, we needed to take stuff apart and paint it anyway, so I guess it's time for dash disassembly. 

 

Saturday we took part in the car show. Daughter had a lot of fun. She can't wait for Wednesday - she gets her learners permit.

[Awesome]

Not much of an update yet this week.

 

Daughter got her permit this morning. She drove the TJ around town for about half an hour, then in the afternoon we took her MJ out to the pasture and she practiced shifting and hill starts. She did pretty good. A couple more sessions and I think she'll be ready to take her truck on the street.

 

I have a bunch of new stuff for her truck coming in the mail this week. Will post up as we get stuff finished up.

Oh, we did put the MJ into 4wd for a while in the pasture and it wasn't making any unusual sounds. No idea why I thought the transfer case was bad. Maybe the vacuum leaks were causing oddities with the CAD? Regardless, I need to check the CAD then install the front driveshaft.

[Awesome]

Started on the new battery cables and the electronic speedometer swap today. 

 

I realized pretty quickly that I had made a few mistakes. I was really hoping I could use a few of the gauges from the '92 cluster, but I obviously can't. 

 

Also discovered the fuel gauge is different between the '88 and the '86, so I'm going to have to use the '88 gauge with the PRNDL cutout on it. 

 

Really wish I didn't have to cut up my cluster from the '88 but the '86 is a bigger priority. 

 

Anyway, we're getting stuff done.

[Awesome]

Got battery cables made and almost installed (daughter was on her own with the install and got confused) while I worked on the speedometer. 

 

 

 

 

@boxyjeep, as you can see, I have the oddball cluster without the three screws on the left. Can you tell me which of the screws on the fuel gauge are which? If you can't, I'll find out tomorrow when I put a meter on them.

[boxyjeep]

Just now, Awesome said:

 

@boxyjeep, as you can see, I have the oddball cluster without the three screws on the left. Can you tell me which of the screws on the fuel gauge are which? If you can't, I'll find out tomorrow when I put a meter on them.

Unfortunately, wasn’t expecting people to modify the dummy clusters so didn’t include that in the instructions.  It’s the two terminals to the right from the fuel gauge in your pic.  Toss a multimeter on to verify.

[Awesome]

1 minute ago, boxyjeep said:

Unfortunately, wasn’t expecting people to modify the dummy clusters so didn’t include that in the instructions.  It’s the two terminals to the right from the fuel gauge in your pic.  Toss a multimeter on to verify.

 

Right, I just don't know which is which. I'll use a multimeter to verify.

 

I wouldn't have used the idiot light cluster if I'd been able to find one with actual gauges. Very few early XJs in my area and all of them had the idiot light clusters. The only one I found with gauges was the '92 cluster.

[Awesome]

QUESTIONS:

 

Why would I have a pretty bad oil leak from this area:

 

And where inside the cowl would water be getting into the truck from? If I pour water into the cowl, half of it ends up on the driver's side floor.

If I pour water on the blower motor, water ends up on the passenger side floor.

I don't know if there's a cowl drain on these trucks (could be clogged?) and I am not sure how the blower motor is sealed.

[89 MJ]

The oil leak could be the front of the pan gasket, the timing cover gasket, or the seal in the timing cover that the crank snout goes through. 

[Awesome]

6 hours ago, 89 MJ said:

The oil leak could be the front of the pan gasket, the timing cover gasket, or the seal in the timing cover that the crank snout goes through. 

 

Turns out it's really rusty coolant.

 

Replaced the water pump today and flushed the system again. There must have been a bunch of junk inside the heater core, because we had flushed the block really good when I replaced the radiator and freeze plugs.

 

Hooked up the temp gauge finally. 

 

@boxyjeep, I got the electronic speedometer hooked up and installed today, but it's not working. I verified I have 12v at the speed sensor across the orange and black wires. What should I check next? I will try reseating the sensor/gear.

[89 MJ]

17 minutes ago, Awesome said:

Turns out it's really rusty coolant.

 

Oh, that's gross haha

[Awesome]

41 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

Oh, that's gross haha

 

It sure is. 

 

I removed the speed sender and spun the gear by hand with the key in the Run position. Daughter confirmed speedometer needle moves. I reseated it a couple of times and still am not getting a working speedometer. The gear doesn't look damaged but it must be. It's not engaging.

 

I also suddenly have another massive vacuum leak for some reason. It's back to running super rich and bogging down under load. I thought I'd run out of gas, so I put some gas in it and it's still doing it. 

 

Is THIS the correct type of sensor gear? 

 

I currently have THIS gear installed in my NP207.

[89 MJ]

Is the part that goes into the transfer case similar to the cable driven speedos where there are four different ways the gear could be positioned depending on the size of the gear? 

[Awesome]

26 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

Is the part that goes into the transfer case similar to the cable driven speedos where there are four different ways the gear could be positioned depending on the size of the gear? 

 

It doesn't appear that way, no. Looks like it's pretty well centered. I'll check it again tomorrow.

The gear itself may just be worn down, but I find that rather unlikely.

 

My google-fu is telling me that they used a GM-style gear on the NP207 and finding the correct ratio is more difficult than with the Jeep gears.

 

EDIT: I finally found a video that shows the gear installed properly, and mine isn't seated fully. I'll try again tomorrow.

[eaglescout526]

13 minutes ago, Awesome said:

My google-fu is telling me that they used a GM-style gear on the NP207 and finding the correct ratio is more difficult than with the Jeep gears.

Yeahhhh thats a special hell we have to endure. Wait, did you actually get the electric speed sensor on the 207?

[Awesome]

Just now, eaglescout526 said:

Yeahhhh thats a special hell we have to endure. Wait, did you actually get the electric speed sensor on the 207?

 

Yes, but as my edit five seconds ago (while you were posting, lol) states, the gear isn't fully seated into the bullet. I need to mess with it some tomorrow. I'm positive that's why the speedo isn't working right now.

 

No idea where the sudden vacuum leak came from but that's a different problem.

[eaglescout526]

1 minute ago, Awesome said:

Yes, but as my edit five seconds ago (while you were posting, lol) states, the gear isn't fully seated into the bullet. I need to mess with it some tomorrow. I'm positive that's why the speedo isn't working right now.

 

Lol! I would love some pics of this since ive got the 207 in my XJ. I didnt think you could remove the speed gear unless you removed the tail shaft of the 207.

[Awesome]

3 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

 

Lol! I would love some pics of this since ive got the 207 in my XJ. I didnt think you could remove the speed gear unless you removed the tail shaft of the 207.

 

I'll take pictures or video of it tomorrow. It was pretty simple using BoxyJeep's kit and an extra electronic sender I had laying around. I put Super Short SYE's on the YJ and the TJ so I have two extra speed senders laying around.

I actually have the tail housings too. And I have an extra couple of output shafts.

Could probably just make a hybrid 231/207 and use the more modern speed sensors with the extra parts I have lol.

[eaglescout526]

Lol hybrids work. I’d love to have a 229, 207 and a 231 as spares to see what I can mix and match.

[boxyjeep]

Glad to hear that the kit is working but the issue is with engagement on the tailshaft of the tcase.  Have you rotated the speedo gear housing until it touches the tailshaft gear?

[Awesome]

4 hours ago, boxyjeep said:

Glad to hear that the kit is working but the issue is with engagement on the tailshaft of the tcase.  Have you rotated the speedo gear housing until it touches the tailshaft gear?

 

It doesn't work that way. I took a video showing everything. I need to edit it a little bit and then upload it. I should be able to post it tomorrow. I confirmed that my gear is stripped and that's why it's not working.

 

I currently am having problems with it running very poorly.

I found a loose vacuum line and reattached it, and now it's running WORSE than it was with the open vacuum leak. The heck? It keeps trying to die while idling and the vacuum is around -10-15inhg. Not enough vacuum. It actually did manage to die a couple of times. When the IAC kicks up, the vacuum climbs into the -20-23 zone and it runs better, but when it goes back to idle the vacuum falls again and it tries to die.

 

Here's what I touched:

 

I replaced the water pump and flushed water through the system.

I tightened the sensor on the power steering line, since it seemed to be leaking.

I replaced the gauge cluster with the new ('88) cluster.

I removed the speedometer cable and replaced it with the new wiring.

I installed the speed sensor.

I wiggled some wires under the dash when the headlights wouldn't turn on - they started working.

I tightened down the ground wire connection to the alternator bracket/block mount, since it was loose.

I put a T in the rearmost coolant line coming off the intake and got the water temp gauge sender installed in that T.

 

I have gone through most of that and can't figure out how any of it would be affecting the way it runs now. Unless maybe the fuel pump wire is broken? I can hear the pump running though. It makes a steady whine.

 

I'm getting a lot of blowby (smoke) out of the valve cover ports that I still haven't adapted into the intake system yet.

Oil is leaking from the distributor shaft. Could THAT be causing this?

[Awesome]

 

[Awesome]

I've gone through a lot at this point. 

 

Exhaust isn't clogged.

Unplugging the MAP sensor vacuum line (and plugging the manifold side) brings the idle to normal and smooths everything out. Stops surging. Which, from what I understand, indicates a big vacuum leak. 

I have checked all the vacuum connections. I sprayed throttle body cleaner around. 

I tightened the intake manifold bolts.

I have been attempting to get a reading on the TPS but it's very difficult to backprobe. I got an A-B voltage reading of 1.093 volts.

The B-C reading jumps around a lot between .33v and 5.8v. It is never steady from second to second.

Next I will try pinching off vacuum lines. 

 

Other than that I'm out of ideas.

 

EDIT: pinching vacuum lines does nothing, unless I pinch the MAP line. That kills the engine every time.

 

I'm leaning toward the TPS as I don't think a skipped tooth on the timing chain would explain the surging or the bogging under load.

[eaglescout526]

Is it the original TPS? I found out you can take them apart and clean the internal contacts.

 

Aftermarket, it varies.

 

Also A and B should get you the voltage from the position of the throttle opening, B and C should get you ECU voltage.

A and B should be 4.6-4.7V at WOT. 

[Awesome]

28 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Is it the original TPS? I found out you can take them apart and clean the internal contacts.

 

Aftermarket, it varies.

 

Also A and B should get you the voltage from the position of the throttle opening, B and C should get you ECU voltage.

A and B should be 4.6-4.7V at WOT. 

 

I know not. I will take it off tomorrow and see if I can clean it. That will also allow me to do a better job of backprobing it.

[eaglescout526]

15 minutes ago, Awesome said:

 

I know not. I will take it off tomorrow and see if I can clean it. That will also allow me to do a better job of backprobing it.

Be very very careful if you can take it apart. There are 3 fingers on each contact rail, it is very very easy to screw them up.