New to me MJ

[ComancheX2]

Hi all,

 

New member here.  I recently picked up an '87 Chief and am starting to get to know it and figure out what I need to do.  It's a 4.0, 4WD, BA10/5 manual.  

 

First question.  It came with a spare AX-15 along with the appropriate crossmember and NP231.  As I was cleaning up the crossmember there's what I believe to be a mouse nest in the center accessible by the lightening holes.  But just to be sure, since it looks like compressed cotton rag, they didn't come with any insulation inside it did they? I'd think it would just be a moisture trap, but stranger things have happened...

 

Next question.  It has a 3" lift and 31x10.50 tires.  Driving home it only got about 16 mpg. It runs really smooth, so I don't think there's anything significantly wrong, but I was surprised at how much less it got compared to my H.O. era AX-15 XJ.   I ended up pulling the wheels off the XJ and putting 235/75's on the MJ.  Still didn't make much improvement, only getting about 17 mpg.  My XJ would get at least 21/22 and occasionally up to 24 mpg.  Would the lift cause that much of a drop in mileage?  An alternative, or maybe additional factor based on some searching, the temp gauge didn't get anywhere near as warm as my XJ, only about 150/160 at 60mph.  Haven't been able to test yet to see if the gauge is accurate or if it really is operating that cool. If accurate would that be the primary cause rather than the lift?  The prior owner said that he'd gone thru Cruiser's tips.  I'll start doing the same and may find something, but if anyone has any suggestions on what to look at first, I'd appreciate the guidance!

 

Oh, and the turn signals stopped working too.  They worked on the test drive, but driving home after turning on the headlights, the left turn in the instrument cluster stayed constantly lit. Then when turning the switch the actual turn signal wouldn't flash.  Right turn signal did flash however.  After getting home, two days later neither worked.  I'll have to dig into that too.

 

Other than that, it's got a few things where the prior owner(s) had little dents here and there with a largeish one on the bed sidewall where the paint was knocked off and it's starting to get some surface rust.  I'll get those places taken care of to protect it from becoming bad. In the mean time, I'll have some fun with it.

 

Thanks,

Robert

[MagicJames]

Lets see some pics my friend, gotta love a Chief. 

The poor milage is probably just a bunch of little things inmy option. The lift won't help, running a bit cold doesn't help, the throttle body and the whole system could need  going through. 

The turn signal issue is a bad bulb or bad ground. The sockets for the bulbs also get pretty corroded and do that too.  

[ComancheX2]

Thanks James,

 

I actually tried to upload a picture into my profile, but something didn't work.  Then reading thru the rules it talked about 3rd party hosting.  I'm somewhat of a luddite, so I'll have to get my nephew to help me with where to host pictures. 

 

I'll get busy and start going through things one system at a time.  I was able to learn some working on my other Comanche (Not an MJ) but I don't have a lot of experience with automotive maintenance.  Part of the reason for getting this was to have something I can work on and learn.  The PO had commented that on occasion it would have a high idle and I did experience that once so far.  Said he'd replaced the IAC but it would fix it for a while, but always come back.  I'm wondering if it could be a small vacuum leak.  So I'll get the experience to learn.

 

Today I've got to go get a load of top soil to address drainage issues at my mother's house, then get down to my farm to do some work.  I'll get some pictures to have ready to post.  It's definitely not a show truck, but it's a good starting point.

 

Maybe this will work to post a pic...