Hi guys. Ok so i got around to doing stuff today. Pulled out the crappy cork gasket which i found was halfway mushed inside but not quite getting chewed up by the springs. I saw plenty of oils in all the wells which was a concern due to my engine sludge issues (pics of that as well)

Put the new valve cover gasket on the nice felpro rubber with metal core one and i put about half gallon of water into the tank with about 1 and a half gallons of anti freeze. I may still have a leak BUT i test drove it. Temp didnt go much above 210 and there was no oil or anti freeze dripping after i parked. Progress!

Is it possible that having straight anti freeze caused overheating and the pressure from that caused it to seep somewhere?

Ok so what is left! Its running pretty rough. Since cleaning the IAC the idle went from being damn near stalling every 20-30 seconds down to just sounding rough almost like a misfire. I cant get the hose off the throttle body cover off. The torx bolt holding the hose on stripped out. Could throttle body cause this? Id immagine the idle would be stable if throttle body was sticky not just rough.

I plan on replacing the fuel filter just because the stock one is still there.

I need to get it aligned and straighten the steering wheel. I need to put a new ignition switch in. I saw on the newer cherokees 94+ you need security torx bits to get the ignition switch out. Does this appl to the 89's?

And my electric fan isnt kicking on. I know i need to rule things out and work down the circuit. It was suggested to me to run a set of wires from the battery to the fan is this safe while the battery is still hooked up? I need to also replace the battery terminals because if i take them off they will most likely break.

Thanks guys. And here is some pics of the golden heap!


Here is the condition of the oil when i first got it.

Here is the engine sludge after 3 days of chiseling and scraping carefully at it and then sucking it down with a shop vac. Running marvel mystery oil and synthetic to try and help clean it up. I dont trust lube shops engine flush services. Seen too many vehicles die from it.



A closer view of the sludge issues. And the ice thawed finally in the water pump area! I had a dryer running pretty much all night with the hose under the engine to thaw it out. Some people...

A much cleaner valve cover.


A piece of the sludge i was cleaning up.

 

Nice Jeep, man! I actually kinda dig the tan color....Reminds me of desert tan. Whoever owned that thing before obviously did not take good care of it. Glad it's out of their hands and into yours! I've actually never seen an XJ with a moonroof before, so that's a pretty cool thing!

 

Grab the screw with a good pair of pliers.
You're making great progress.

Have you made sure your intake manifold bolts are snug?

New plugs, wires, cap and rotor?

Get a coolant bottle cap from Napa, part number 703-1396.

Refresh me. How many of my Renix Tips have you done?

 

I can try to remove it with pliers. I wanted to avoid slotting it as everytime in the past i usually shear the head off. My tauruses water pump is currently held on with 2 out of 3 bolts and i miss having heat! Doesnt leak thanks to RTV but its basicly like not having a tstat at all. =P

I did not check the intake manifold bolts but thats a good idea. The valve cover bolts were darn near finger tight only.

Im not going to be able to afford wires. They want nearly 60 bucks for a set of wires but i will be picking up rotor, distributor cap, and plugs tomorrow. Scary...last time i did this on my 92 i stripped out a plug hole on the head. Was my first vehicle and i had no idea what i was doing. Hand tighten first!

My bottle cap for the time being is retaining pressure damn well. When i was refilling with antifreeze when i started this i was running the engine and then opening the cap and it sucked in the anti freeze. I added about half a gallon of water today to the tank it is a little above the max line and i almost burned myself stupidly. When i opened the cap steam and antifreeze sputtered out. Leaving the cap as is for now just due to money.

Ive got 50 dollars left til next month to throw at this project.

As far as your tips. I think the only thing ive done is clean the IAC and replacing all of the vaccum lines.

The connector refreshing i can definitely do that i have a can of crc switch cleaner i got for fixing the neutral safety switch on my last xj that should work well for that. Non flammable and leaves no residue.

I hate hwen i have to ask these things. Tip 4 the icu coil contact. What is an icu/coil contact and where is it?

The biggest difficulty i have with your tips is they lack pictures. Im a visual learner. I scour youtube for my fixes most the time but i love having you on our team cruiser. I saw you had more pictures on the wrangler forum where your tips are also posted. Can you add more pics to your tips for people like me?

 

Oh! My jeep was stolen at some point in its life. The door lock on the front passenger side is punched out. And it can be started without a key... I have a new ignition switch but i only found a guide on youtube for a 94 that calls for security torx bits. Does this apply to an 89 as well?

 

No security bits on mine all Phillips head....

 

Keep going on my FREE tips. All they cost you is a bit of time and the gains can be substantial, as well as the gain in familiarity.

Coil wire connects to the coil. Coil is bolted on top of ICM.

 

I wish you were doing the wires at the same time because if they are marginal they will get pushed over the edge by handling them while changing plugs and cap. If I had my druthers, I'd replace plugs and wires and clean the cap and rotor for now.

 

X2 On the intake mani bolts. I chased an inconsistent high idle for a couple of days and ran across this tip, turns out they were all loose and sucking air. Problem solved.

 

Your steering column is a GM column, they are pretty easy to work on and the ignition switch is pretty easy to replace. Just look up GM steering columns from 80's to early 90's and you should find what you need. Heck my old 93' full size blazer used the same column.

This should work: