No cap rotor wires nothing
08-15-2015, 09:46 AM
#1
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Year: 1999
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No cap rotor wires nothing
2000 Xj just got this as I always do i wanted to do a tune up plugs wires etc and come to find there is no wires no cap rotor nothing just a blue like cap bolted to the head where the plugs are what is this. Never seen it before.
08-15-2015, 10:01 AM
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08-15-2015, 09:35 PM
#6
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If you desire, you can get rid of the coil rail and install a 6pack coil like the dodge viper uses. I have done 2 0f these. Awesome. more info on NAXJA and XJtalk.com
08-15-2015, 11:20 PM
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Year: 1995
Model: Grand Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 with all of the noise and clatter
Remove the 13mm bolts that hold the coil rail on, unplug the connector at the back of the rail and carefully pull the rail up and off. Inspect the boots on the rail for signs of arcing, but it might be a good idea to replace the rail since you don't know how old it is. When installing the coil rail make sure the boots are on the spark plugs before installing the hold down bolts.
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08-16-2015, 01:05 AM
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Year: 2000
Model: Cherokee(XJ)
Engine: Golen 4.6L
What you have on the 2000 and 2001 is a coil rail with a waste spark ignition system. If you look at that rail, you'll notice three boxes on it. Each of those boxes is a coil that fires two cylinders. The coil fires both cylinders at the same time, both on the power stroke and the exhaust stroke (to burn out any fuel remaining after combustion, hence the "waste spark" name).
The computer controls the ignition instead of a distributor. There's no upgrade for the ignition in this Jeep because you get just about the hottest spark you're going to get from the coil rail. Since the rail attaches directly to the plugs, there are fewer parts to fail.
The down side is that if a coil fails, you have to replace the entire rail. But that's about it, and these coil rails generally last a long time without any of the potential issues from rotors, caps and wires. It's a very reliable system that a lot of Jeep people inexplicably don't trust.
It's really not necessary to do that unless a coil has failed or you're having some sort of spark problem. Tossing out a perfectly good $70 coil rail is a waste of money when it's so easy to replace if it fails.
You'd have a hard time justifying "awesome."
All the so-called "Viper" conversion does is replace the three coils on the coil rail with three functionally identical coils in a pack from a Dodge V10 or 6 cylinder engine, which are then mounted further away from the plugs. Then you have to add plug wires and splice in wire to reach the coil connector on the wiring harness. If you do it right, they fire exactly the same way the stock coil rail did. You don't get any improvement whatsoever in performance. You possibly degrade performance by adding additional wear parts and additional points of potential failure. Not only will it not give you any better spark, at its absolute best it won't be any more reliable than the stock system and can easily become less reliable as the plug wires wear or your splices corrode.
I wouldn't bother doing this unless you have a legitimate compelling reason, like replacing the 0331 head with an older head that isn't provisioned for the coil rail.
The computer controls the ignition instead of a distributor. There's no upgrade for the ignition in this Jeep because you get just about the hottest spark you're going to get from the coil rail. Since the rail attaches directly to the plugs, there are fewer parts to fail.
The down side is that if a coil fails, you have to replace the entire rail. But that's about it, and these coil rails generally last a long time without any of the potential issues from rotors, caps and wires. It's a very reliable system that a lot of Jeep people inexplicably don't trust.
All the so-called "Viper" conversion does is replace the three coils on the coil rail with three functionally identical coils in a pack from a Dodge V10 or 6 cylinder engine, which are then mounted further away from the plugs. Then you have to add plug wires and splice in wire to reach the coil connector on the wiring harness. If you do it right, they fire exactly the same way the stock coil rail did. You don't get any improvement whatsoever in performance. You possibly degrade performance by adding additional wear parts and additional points of potential failure. Not only will it not give you any better spark, at its absolute best it won't be any more reliable than the stock system and can easily become less reliable as the plug wires wear or your splices corrode.
I wouldn't bother doing this unless you have a legitimate compelling reason, like replacing the 0331 head with an older head that isn't provisioned for the coil rail.
08-16-2015, 07:15 AM
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Year: 1998 Classic (I'll get it running soon....) and 02 Grand
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Engine: 4.0
All the so-called "Viper" conversion does is replace the three coils on the coil rail with three functionally identical coils in a pack from a Dodge V10 or 6 cylinder engine, which are then mounted further away from the plugs.
...
Not only will it not give you any better spark, at its absolute best it won't be any more reliable than the stock system and can easily become less reliable as the plug wires wear or your splices corrode.
...
Not only will it not give you any better spark, at its absolute best it won't be any more reliable than the stock system and can easily become less reliable as the plug wires wear or your splices corrode.
You obviously have no clue what you are talking about.
Helloooo! It says "Viper"!!!! Viper, dude! It's from a V-10!!! It's OBVIOUSLY way uber cooler than any stock setup! Duh!
Anybody would know that just by seeing the Viper name!!!!!
08-16-2015, 10:59 AM
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08-16-2015, 11:06 AM
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Year: 1999
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What you have on the 2000 and 2001 is a coil rail with a waste spark ignition system. If you look at that rail, you'll notice three boxes on it. Each of those boxes is a coil that fires two cylinders. The coil fires both cylinders at the same time, both on the power stroke and the exhaust stroke (to burn out any fuel remaining after combustion, hence the "waste spark" name). The computer controls the ignition instead of a distributor. There's no upgrade for the ignition in this Jeep because you get just about the hottest spark you're going to get from the coil rail. Since the rail attaches directly to the plugs, there are fewer parts to fail. The down side is that if a coil fails, you have to replace the entire rail. But that's about it, and these coil rails generally last a long time without any of the potential issues from rotors, caps and wires. It's a very reliable system that a lot of Jeep people inexplicably don't trust. It's really not necessary to do that unless a coil has failed or you're having some sort of spark problem. Tossing out a perfectly good $70 coil rail is a waste of money when it's so easy to replace if it fails. You'd have a hard time justifying "awesome." All the so-called "Viper" conversion does is replace the three coils on the coil rail with three functionally identical coils in a pack from a Dodge V10 or 6 cylinder engine, which are then mounted further away from the plugs. Then you have to add plug wires and splice in wire to reach the coil connector on the wiring harness. If you do it right, they fire exactly the same way the stock coil rail did. You don't get any improvement whatsoever in performance. You possibly degrade performance by adding additional wear parts and additional points of potential failure. Not only will it not give you any better spark, at its absolute best it won't be any more reliable than the stock system and can easily become less reliable as the plug wires wear or your splices corrode. I wouldn't bother doing this unless you have a legitimate compelling reason, like replacing the 0331 head with an older head that isn't provisioned for the coil rail.
08-16-2015, 02:10 PM
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Year: 1998 Classic (I'll get it running soon....) and 02 Grand
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08-16-2015, 02:34 PM
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Year: 2000
Model: Cherokee(XJ)
Engine: Golen 4.6L
Let me spell it out in a little more detail. Don't let the "Viper" thing fool you. It doesn't improve performance.
The Dodge V10 engine used in the Viper and the trucks has two coil packs. One is a six cylinder coil pack for the front six cylinders. The other is a four cylinder coil pack for the rear cylinders. The six cylinder coil pack is the same thing you find in other Dodge six cylinder vehicles and in Dodge trucks. There's nothing really "performance" about it. The coils function identically to the coils on the Jeep coil rail. Most of the so-called "Viper" coils people put in Jeeps didn't come out of a Viper at all.
To do the mod, you have to rig up a bracket to hold the Dodge coil pack, install plug wires and extend the connector from the back of the engine bay to the new coil location. Doing that makes it marginally easier to check a single spark plug, but unless you're pulling your plugs every weekend, that's really a non-issue. I've had my coil rail off twice in the entire time I've had my 2000, and one of those times was for an engine swap.
But after you do the conversion you have plug wires, which are wear parts that need to be replaced periodically. And you have a spliced wire extension to get the computer's commands to the coil pack. You're introducing more places for failure, which doesn't make a lot of sense when there is absolutely zero increase in performance. Why make the system more complicated for no gain?
If you're having arcing issues around the plug boots, you can replace them without replacing the entire coil rail. They're about $2 each. So that's not an excuse to do away with the rail.
The Dodge coil pack is $30-$40 cheaper than the XJ coil rail. But you don't really save that much money, because you also have to buy plug wires and parts to make your bracket. If the coil rail were something that you replaced often, it might make it worth it. But my coil pack was still sparking fine at 160K miles when I did my engine swap. I went ahead and replaced it with the new motor, but I kept the old one around as a backup just in case I ever have spark problems. If there's nothing wrong with your existing pack, there's no reason to throw out a $70 part just to replace it with a $30 part. You haven't saved any money.
Maybe someone has another legitimate reason to do this, but the only one I can think of is that you decide to replace your 0331 head with an 0630. Then it might be easier and cleaner to install the Dodge coil pack rather than try to rig up a bracket to hold your coil rail on the head that wasn't designed for it. Personally I would rather go with an aftermarket 0331 head made for the 2000 so as not to have to bother with any extra brackets or potential exhaust issues, but it might make sense if you could get an 0630 for cheap or free.
Any other benefits people claim are probably going to just be smoke.
The Dodge V10 engine used in the Viper and the trucks has two coil packs. One is a six cylinder coil pack for the front six cylinders. The other is a four cylinder coil pack for the rear cylinders. The six cylinder coil pack is the same thing you find in other Dodge six cylinder vehicles and in Dodge trucks. There's nothing really "performance" about it. The coils function identically to the coils on the Jeep coil rail. Most of the so-called "Viper" coils people put in Jeeps didn't come out of a Viper at all.
To do the mod, you have to rig up a bracket to hold the Dodge coil pack, install plug wires and extend the connector from the back of the engine bay to the new coil location. Doing that makes it marginally easier to check a single spark plug, but unless you're pulling your plugs every weekend, that's really a non-issue. I've had my coil rail off twice in the entire time I've had my 2000, and one of those times was for an engine swap.
But after you do the conversion you have plug wires, which are wear parts that need to be replaced periodically. And you have a spliced wire extension to get the computer's commands to the coil pack. You're introducing more places for failure, which doesn't make a lot of sense when there is absolutely zero increase in performance. Why make the system more complicated for no gain?
If you're having arcing issues around the plug boots, you can replace them without replacing the entire coil rail. They're about $2 each. So that's not an excuse to do away with the rail.
The Dodge coil pack is $30-$40 cheaper than the XJ coil rail. But you don't really save that much money, because you also have to buy plug wires and parts to make your bracket. If the coil rail were something that you replaced often, it might make it worth it. But my coil pack was still sparking fine at 160K miles when I did my engine swap. I went ahead and replaced it with the new motor, but I kept the old one around as a backup just in case I ever have spark problems. If there's nothing wrong with your existing pack, there's no reason to throw out a $70 part just to replace it with a $30 part. You haven't saved any money.
Maybe someone has another legitimate reason to do this, but the only one I can think of is that you decide to replace your 0331 head with an 0630. Then it might be easier and cleaner to install the Dodge coil pack rather than try to rig up a bracket to hold your coil rail on the head that wasn't designed for it. Personally I would rather go with an aftermarket 0331 head made for the 2000 so as not to have to bother with any extra brackets or potential exhaust issues, but it might make sense if you could get an 0630 for cheap or free.
Any other benefits people claim are probably going to just be smoke.