Restore power....but how?
 

hey guys, me again... still got my 85 jeep. it just doesnt have as much power as id like... cant really climb anything unless its in LO
unknown amount of miles (but high)
-vac lines taken care of
-new oil (just sayin)
-alternator almost completly gone
-32's ( i know this dont help, but i KNOW it should have more power)
sometimes when i get to the crest of a steep incline it doesnt have the power to shred tires to make it up... just labors the engine and rolls back or dies

anything?:(
thanks guys

Have you thought about a throttle-body spacer? One of those ones that spin the air/create a vortex...? Or at least the products claim. It's supposed to increase power, reaction time, and gas mileage by misting your gas better. I had one on my F-bird, but couldn't really give you an estimate if it worked well because it was there when I bought the car. The other good thing, it should be reasonably cheap and easy. Even if it only gives you a 5 or 10% gain.

Good Luck.

Also... what about getting rid of the AC? Is it possible to just skip the pully in the serpentine rotation? I'm new to this Jeep thing, but when the AC went on my Bird I just pulled it and got a different length serpentine belt. Increased the gas mileage a little, might have increased the power over-all, but it was hard to tell because it was a daily driver.

Again, Good Luck.

You might try an ignition tune up and some seafoam. Maybe remove the piece of cone shaped plastic from the airbox to increase airflow, a aftermarket muffler to decrease exhaust restriction... just a few ideas not sure how much it'll help ya

Start with the basics. Do a full tune-up first (plugs, wires, rotor, cap, etc.) then you can start throwing power adders at it.

Might want to do a compression check to make sure your block is good.

i did the seafoam-nada
no exhaust-so no restrictions
carburated-no air box
comp good
rotors cap plugs ok wires not to shabby
:/

What gears are you running? You should have at least 4.10's if you've got 32's.

well first you're running a 2.5l 4 cylinder, they dont have alot of power anyways your best bet to add power would be the (cheaper) biggest size spacer for your carb and change your fuel filter so you can flow more gas to the floats, or (expensive) get a better carb one with a higher flow rate than the one you have, or do an engine swap to a 4.0l I6

yea the 2.5 is weak but i know its more powerful than this... im hinting there might be a problem :/

um.. find 4.0 and an AX15 from another XJ and do a swap, or just go the distance and throw a small block in there, since your running a carb already it a little easier.

or install some new gears, 4.56 would do the trick

yeah but with lower gears he would not be able to dive a highway speeds without blowing up his motor first, if you know it has more power and you think there is a problem check everything, if its not the engine then it could be the cat is pluged up thats if your running one, if not that could be your problem not enough back pressure= less torque so adding an exhaust could help regain torque

imo it would help as well on the high way plus get back some mpg and ease the burden on his tranns.

85on32+4 what gears are you running on now and what transmission do you have? The Peugeot?

That's what I'm say'n. If he's running stock gears with bigger tires, its bogging down his motor and stressing the trans.

how much of the exhaust did you take off.... if you took of a lot you might not have enough back pressure.. i guy i work with did that on his car saying it would give him more power... but it diden't. it rob the engine so bad of it's power it would barely move.. it whent from 0 to 60 in 7 sec to 0 to 60 in 15-17 sec.....

stock on 3.73, i know about the tires size issue but it used to have more spunk

try putting some more pipe in the exhaust and just put a cheap verion of a flowmaster and a turn down, i think youll get the back pressure you need and it would probably sound better too.

allright ill maybe get a y-pipe from the cat and have 2 outward facing Purple Hornies

a 4 cylinder running 32's.

NO, it probably shouldn't have more power than it does.

if it's a 5 speed, you probably have 4.10's. with 32's on a 4 cyl 5 speed, you need 4.88 gears to get around anywhere. 4.10's are hardly acceptable with 23" tires.


regear it, and do a tune-up. otherwise, bail on the 4 cyl and upgrade to a better motor, trans, and t-case.

sorry, your wrong.

nope. I'm seeing now that you have 3.73 gears. you don't know what your transfercase is, and you can't give a straight answer on what transmission you have. you have a carbeurated 2.5 liter 5 speed, which puts out less hp than a fuel injected 2.5. given that it's 24 years old, I'm going to guess that you have miles on it, so I'm going to say your engine has 100hp or less to the rear wheels by now.


your 5 speed is an ax5. your t-case will likely be an np207. I'm going to say your axles are a dana 30 front and dana 35 rear, unless you swapped to a new rear axle that's heavier duty.


3.73 gears with 32's and a 4 cylinder mean that you probably hardly ever use 5th gear as it's effectively brought your (theoretic) ratio to something like 1.92...meaning your engine has to work harder to get the wheels spinning, and you just DON'T HAVE THE POWER to turn them properly.


the only upgrade that is going to help you is gears, or going back to stock size tires. anything else is you trying to slap a band-aid on your jeep to *try* to make it work. good luck with that.

x2
it HAD power... now it lost a little...
anyone ELSE?

*sigh*

it never had power, not enough. at least not since you put the tires on it.

what has changed between when it "had power" and now?

i could climb anything in two but now it has faded to where i HAVE to use 4lo to do any climbing
'fading' is as best i can describe it

the motor's tired, you've over-worked it.

do a compression test. I'm betting bad rings/scored cylinders.

safe your money on throttle body spacers you ll be lucky to get even 1 horse power off those junks and that has been proven for jeeps. as far as too little power i think maybe a motor rebuild is in order cause even a four banger should be fine ,just take a look in the 4x4 mags good luck and happy traling

high mileage i would go straight to a compression test.
add an exhaust too that would help a bit in power. nothing too crazy over the top. its a 2.5
as for the los in power,
comp test is your best bet.