Well I just bout a 1989 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4.0L with automatic and I love it Right now I am going through the vehicle to make sure it is road worthy for me.

So far I have replaced the cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires, air filter, and negative battery cable. In the very near future I will be replacing the valve cover gasket, positive battery cable, fuel filter, all the fluids, and I need to replace most of the emission hoses.

I know vehicles are straight forward but is there anything that I should really replace on my Jeep that was probably never changed? Now the person I bought it off of drove the thing everywhere but only had it a few years; he would drive from Northwest Ohio to Columbus then the Indianapolis and back every weekend and only replaced things when he really needed to. I am happy though that he only had 129,000 miles on the vehicle.

Also, it will take awhile to start the vehicle seems I need to crank it a bit longer than I should. What could cause that? I haven't been able to start since I just put the negative battery cable on but I don't know if that would give me cold start or even warm start problems it makes no difference.

The battery is newer but I don't know it it is big enough for the vehicle it has:

630 CA
525 CCA

Is that a powerful enough battery?

My dad went on a Jeep site not sure if it was this one and someone said that if all the tune up things have been done and it still takes a while to start that it could be fuel pump. Does the fuel pump sound like the problem?

Anyway thank everyone in advance for your help. I look forward to working on my Jeep and learning alot from everyone on this forum.

 

Well to find out how many cranking amps to need to start a car, you take the cubic inches of the engine and multiply it by 2. So for a 4.0 Jeep it would be 242 x 2 = 484 CCA to start the engine. I'm pretty sure the battery I have in my Jeep has around 650 CCA and it starts it pretty good.

To test the fuel pump, have somebody turn on the ignition while you keep your ear near the gas tank and if you hear it humm, it works.

This may sound stupid, but make sure you put all the plug wires in the right position when you changed the cap, rotor, plugs, and wires. If they aren't in the right positions, the engine will not want to run because the cylinders will be firing at the wrong time.

 

First thing that comes to mind, that you already listed as planning on, was the fuel filter and fluids. I wouldn't forget to check and/or grease all the fittings and u-joints as well while you're under there, and don't forget yoru differentials. If you haven't checked them out or heard of them yet, go look at jeepersandcreepers.com as they have a great set of battery cables there at a decent price. Both my brother and I got a set, and as you'll notice they are Heavy Duty (2/0GA welding cable!). If you go with them, I do recommend the optional quick release for the battery clamps.

You may want to check underneath for signs of rust as well, I think in particular in and under the cargo area. Mine is a SoCal Jeep, but I've heard that it can be an issue in places with winter salt. Hope it helps, and enjoy yours!

 

Yea you should see the underside of mine. The floor is dang near falling off! I have to weld up some sheet metal soon and spray down some undercoat and/or POR15, which is supposed to stop rust in it's tracks.

 

Yeah, I checked on here before I decided to purchase and read about checking the floorboards and stuff. I did a quick check when I first looked at the Jeep but before buying my dad and I went out with a ramp and crawled all over the freezing cold pavement in ice and snow and found that the floor boards were perfect.

Anyway if the fuelpump is bad I can replace myself but I checked and they are expensive and you know the pain in dropping the fuel tank.

Thank you for the help with the battery. I will just change out the positive cable and should be good.

How about O2 sensor I'm sure tha thas never been changed is that something that I should just go ahead and do too.

 

I believe that there is a one-way valve somewhere in the fuel line or pump that is supposed to keep pressure up in the fuel rail after the engine has been turned off...it is fairly common for that to go bad and cause long cranking issues. It's not a big problem, so unless you really don't like the long crank, I would advise leaving it alone.

 

The long starting is probably due to the fuel check valve. My 90 has been doing this for as long as I can remember. I actually think it sounds cool when its trying to start. If it wont start quick enough punch the gas to the floor and let go after about a half of a second. Should start right up. Also the floorboards may look pristine from the outside but on mine they actually started rusting from the inside and the rust was concentrated around where the frame was so you couldnt see it from the bottom. Just FYI.