Exactly.
When I was looking at a jeep, I decided to go the diesel way. (with our gas prices, the 4L is a luxury, and to convert to LPG, a good solution though, it comes with the necessity of a large gas bottle in the trunk. I needed the trunk for building material. So: diesel.
There were 2.5s, and 2.1s the older engine had better reviews in terms of reliability... though as we have it, the 4L in total even with it's thirst, probably would have been a better idea.

 

What is the price for gasoline, and the price for diesel where you live? On occasion, I hear from others who either where once stationed in Europe, or I've read an article about how many more diesel-powered vehicles other countries have compared to the United States. When I was in high school, diesel was less expensive than gasoline; my father used to fill his Cummins-powered '89 Dodge Ram 250 for less than my mother filled her '86 Dodge Ramcharger with its 318 (5.2L).

 

Petrol and diesel prices are about the same, at around 6$ per gallon where I live, a bit more to the south from him. LPG (Propane/Butane/Methane) is usually half of that, at circa 3$ per gallon. Prices vary, but not more than 0.5$/gal. It's usually cheper in the summer.

Hzoltan, 90hp straight five from Mercedes is 2.5L, not 3L. Really a great engine in terms of reliability and consumption. My W124 gets around 8L/100km in heavy city traffic, 4.8l/100km while cruising at 80km/h on open roads. Though, it needs to be floored all the time in traffic just in order not to make a traffic jam since it's as slow as it can possibly be.

There's a guy near me that dropped this engine in an XJ, but never quite finished the build. You can either mate Mercedes transmission to your transfer case, or make an adapter to mate OM602 engine to your AX5. It's going to take time and money, which ever way. Then there are engine mounts...and the oil pan is all wrong too, will need a complete re-doing in order to clear the front pumpkin.
At least the wiring is a piece of cake: Starter, alternator, switch for glow plugs or reuse Renault relay... Will need a normally closed solenoid wired to injection pump vacuum line in order to shut it off. Or just put it in 5th and lift your foot off the clutch, as Mercedes drivers do when their ignition barrels fail.

Hope you don't give up on the Jeep!

 

Hi guys, sorry for not replying for long.
First of all, the jeep quietly rusts on my driveway, every now and then i fire it up just to see what's what. I love the bastard's looks and the sheer power it emits, but driving it is a bit of problematic.
Coolant keep disappearing for one. No white smoke, but it goes somewhere i assume...??
Parking brake is shot, and without that it fails technical test of course, so it's sitting now. Got myself another car for daily drive, and the summer was mainly spent by fixing another hobby car and renovating my house, works in the garden so on.

About fuels:
petrol and diesel costs the same, LPG costing half of them per liter. The 4.0L petrol consumes about double of the 2.1td, so if I'd run it on LPG it would be similar cost, and a tiny bit more maintenance (LPG set) but a lot more oomph and reliability.

Sadly, converting to gasoline engine (2.5L 4 cyl would be my candidate) is not really an option, replacing the engine takes a lot of paperwork and the gearbox is also different.

Putting the Merc diesel. I think I have seen a full kit for about 1000 USD for OM6xx something engine, i guess, the 3.0L turbo. I was pretty sure there was a naturally aspirated version, but i might be wrong, or it might be a totally different engine and the kit would not work.
Anyway, the excessive paperwork involved in such a project is a bit of a turnoff.

I have an unholy idea though... getting a 2.1 naturally aspirated from a renault Traffic van. If the jeep diesel was weak and impotent, the traffic will just be a joke. But... that is a straight swap, all matches (same engine after all) very simple, and much available. While i can see 1 turbocharged engine on sale in the neighborhood, there are about 5-10 ex-van engines.

This way I coudl save the jeep, use it as before (hauling ****) just with even less power... (if i can use that word for describing what is being put on the road)

Frankly, I do not mind slow driving.
My everyday car is a 60Hp petrol, the bike i use to ride to work is about 10HP, a shaky 1987 Cezet, and there is a toy car i love to drive: 35HP kei van, Suzuki Carry.

So an 80Hp Jeep would just match...

But does it have any sense?

Sadly, with the want of a garage and pit, the project will be on hold for now (winter) but next week I'll drink with a diesel maniac friend, who might help out.

 

I thought I gonna test drive the jeep a bit... in it's present state it is a particularly well suited tool to carry construction rubble down to the waste disposal depo.

The last few hundred meters to the house is steep hil that usually makes the jeep sweat a bit. This time al through the trip the temps were ok, but then arriving to the gate it turned into a shy little steam engine.
A new and mysterious thing this time: Cooling system does not hold pressure. There was a cut (??!!) on the hose connecting the top of the cooler and the expansion tank. Where this one came from?? Posibly the only bit of small hoses I have not replaced, so I'm responsible.
The system now can't build up presure to kep the stuff from exiting through the pressure cap on the reservoire. The top hose is soft even while reving the engine when it's cherry hot. (just exxagerating)

Further thinking though made me (in some weird way) more sure that there is no issue with the engine after all. It's only the industrial waste reservoire (did I tel ya, that I bought it as a brand new part from a real Jeep parts store??) and the ****ty hoses.

Sadly hoses are a ***** to get and I'm still looking half assedly for a workshop which makes hoses. So the bottom and top main hoses are also old. Also the S shaped thing between the termo housing and waterpump. That I got from a bin (truly) at a used french part guru's shop. (He keeps all kinda hoses in 2 big 240L wastebins next to the shop.)

So the next idea is to get an Opel reservoire (as I have an Opel which seem to have very similar system and every 5 old car around is an Opel... parts are no issue at all.) hook that up, see what it does, than think about somehow fastening it to it's place. (that tank is slightly taller and has a funny shape)

That's all realy for now. Winter is coming, so the construction works around the house will be on hold or at least the bit requiring cement and the like will be. So there wil be more time for the jeep and who knows? It might get back on the road soon.


If it does: I'm kinda between two ideas:
- leave it as it is and probably sell.
- turn it into a rubberboot-redneck tractor (of which I have no use at all, but hel I love the idea)
This latter would make me throw away most of the electric gizmo (amazingly **** wiring and a ton of old busted switches.. sorry, but this electrical system compared to an 80-ies French or German car is just plain disgusting. That's a personal opinion of course.) - where can i get a manual window mechanism???
I'd throw out the carpets, sound isolation (no use at all with that racket from the engine anyway), probably replace the door trims and get plain rubber mats all around. (Land rover series I-III had that and they advertised that you could wash the mud out with a watering hose. So using the truck with muddy boots was not a problem.. rather a feature.) And when all that is done and I still wanna keep it I'd re-do the whole electric system. I mean to take all the wiring out frum underneath the dash and make it do with 10 wires like my 1985 Suzuki Carry or that '76 Skoda I owned as a kis did. They had lights, even such extras and wipers and window wash... And only like 5 fuses, and maybe a handful of wires. And they worked.

Sure, no central lock and electric windows, nicely timed wipers, welcome-home light, adjustable dash lights, but I'm kinda tired of mending 30 years old connections and worn out switches. The jeep being a SUV it's cool (as new) but the Jeep turned into a farm truck it's probably something I can happily do without.


OFF: As a replacement for everyday mobility I got myself a car made in 2002. Amazingly it has got nothing in the realm of electric extras. Not even the standard safety stuff I'd have expected in 2002... no Airbags, no ABS, top of that no aircon, no electric windows, or locks, power steering or whatever... The car is delightfuly simple. 10 fuses perhaps?? And while I struggled replacing a generator on a 2000 Citroen Xsara, (power steering, aircon, abs) doing that in this car would be a doodle. I do not fathom how this were allowed to be sold in 2002, but I guess it has something to do with the fact that Poland entered the EU only a few years later.

I'm the kinda driver who drives slowly in bad weather and does not mind going slow with windows down in the summer (on those few days when temperatures exceed 30 here) so not having ESP, ABS, or aircon is no problem. and as 10years old airbags are not exactly good anyway, probably better not to have them in a car of that age. If I can keep that Opel from rusting away (surprisingly good condition for now) it wil be a good tool for years.

but for petrolhead fun I'll need to keep the smal carry van or the jeep or both.


(also wanna raise the Opel, paint it black and put knobby tires underneath. After that I'd not struggle finding it in a carpark! Hahahahhahaa) I wonder if a decent 3-5 inch raise would allow me to put 195/R15 al-terrain tyres on...?

 

the jeep is still sitting quietly, waiting for better days to come.

Last time I fired it up I have noticed, that the upper radiator hose does not go hard at all, there is no pressure in the system. The liquid level does raise in the expansion tank though.

Added to this is my last night's found. Started up the old bugger before pulling a tarp on it for the winter. It started happily, surprisingly well in the -5C cold. 3 cylinders were happily rattling away, the 4th occasionally misfiring for the first few seconds.

I ran it only a few minutes just to heat it running. Letting it warm up is almost impossible, in cold like that it never reaches operational temps on idle. I guess thanks to the drilled thermostate (read on the forum that this can help diagnosing trapped air issues... drilled a 2mm hole in the upper part of the thermostate: drastically lenghtening the warmup period)


Anyway. The heater remained stone cold. I have the cyl head hooked on the heater straight, no valve or anything. Pipes remained cold.
So even though the coolant in the tank is raised to like half the bottle, there is a created air bubble somewhere in the secondary loop.

As the system is unable to hold pressure I'm guessing the expansion bottle, some of the pipes around it and so on are fubar'd. Will check later after i finish some works on the house.
Planning to buy and install a tank from an Opel and some new hoses.

Could someone tell me or direct me to a good description of how pressurised cooling systems work? What makes the pressure? What displaces the cold coolant into the expansion tank?
Thanks.

 

I have an 86 XJ 2.1 td too. Do you (or anyone on this forum) have a turbo boost pressure specification? The pressure gauge on the instrument cluster is RED at 10 psi. I only ever see the gauge indicate 8 psi.