NEITHER of my 89's have ANY timing marks on the balancers so HTF am i supposed to know where TDC is for sure? The manual shows a scored line in the side of the balancer or something else on the inside but OOPS! there is a timing belt covering the mark on MY engines, so THAT pic is useless. HTF can they build vehicles w/o any timing marks, and if so, WTF did they put the degree marks on the block for?? Esp since you can't move the dist. anyway? I dont have anybody to spin the stupid motor for me while i hold my finger in the plug hole either.

 

they have marks and get a starter button remove the coil wire and bump it around yourself

 

AMC liked to eye ball things lol

 

Yep. Ya ain't lookin' hard enough or it's a POS off-shore balancer on there. I've seen marks on every balancer I've encountered.

 

Pull #1 plug,
Pull the coil wire.
Put your finger over the plug hole and bump it til you feel the compression
stroke start.
Now get a socket and turn it by hand use a screw driver or wooden dowel
and feel the piston as you turn the engine slowly, till the piston reaches
top of stroke.
Now keep turning to just past TDC and you feel the piston start down.
Now turn it back the other way till it just starts to move noting how far
it moved on the damper and split the two and you now have TDC.

 

old school

 

I'll bet the mark is there.......

 

This works evertime for any motor as my grandfather showed me this 17 years ago teaching me about the good old 350.

 

i used a piece of yellow spark plug wire to find it and NO MARKS on either my jeep or the other.


BTW STARTED MY CHEROKEE FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE MANUAL SAID CHECK THE COIL, I DID AND IT WAS OK. SO I CHECKED THE BENDIX PART IT MOUNTS TO AND SAW OPEN PINS. CLOSED THEM UP WITH A DENTAL PICK, REINSTALLED AND VERRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOM, FIRST TIME SINCE THE TWO OR THREE MONTHS I HAVE HAD IT HERE. YIPPPIE! $400 CHEROKEE!!!! (PAID $300 FOR MY COMANCHE AND ALL IT NEEDED WAS VACUUM LINES IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

 

That's why I wrote this but few people ever pay attention to it:
Renix Jeep ICU/Coil contact refreshing
　
　
The contacts between the coil and the ICU on your Renix Jeep can become corroded and loose causing a complete or intermittent no-start condition. I recommend the following procedure as a maintenance precaution to insure this is eliminated as a possible cause now and in the future.
The coil is attached to the ICU by two T20 Torx bolts. Remove these two bolts and lift the coil up off the ICU. You will see 2 pins and 2 sets of contacts. Clean both the pins and springy contact pieces with a good electronics cleaner.
Squeeze the springy contacts closer together with some needlenose pliers. Apply some dielectric grease to the contacts and bolt the coil back on to the ICU.
While you’re right there unplug the connectors from the ICU and inspect the pins in the harness connector. Make sure the pins are not retracted into the connector. Spray out the connector and the receptacle of the ICU with the same good electronics cleaner you used earlier. Apply dielectric grease to the connectors and plug them back in.
I feel this procedure should be performed at least once in the lifetime of a Renix Jeep.
　
Revised 11-29-2011

 

i didnt even know what a ICU was and now i are one.

i still dont know what renix means, so since you are here cruiser, fill in the noob. (see below)

 

Ugh... Usually I write a long paragraph on renix, but Im not in the mood right now.
Its usually called an ICM, btw.

 

Renix was the fuel injection/igniton system used on 4.0 Jeeps from 87 to 90. It was a joint venture of RENault and BendIX. Renault owned 46% of Jeep at that time before selling to Chrysler.

 

RENIX = RENault + bendIX.

Renault specified the system, Bendix/King built it. AMC was partnered with Renault at the time, which is how they got involved.

Save for the TPS and HEGO, most of the sensors are GM parts of the vintage, making them easy to fine (I've replaced a number of them by giving a Chevvy app when the ersatz counterman gave me a blank look for the Jeep app - no trouble.

RENIX was used with AMC engines 1984-1990 - the 4-150 for the full span, and the 6-242 1987-1990. The system was modified on the 4-150 to include control of fuel delivery, while the 6-242 has always featured MPFI.

RENIX is considered "pre-OBD," the lense for the CEL/MIL in the cluster is a holdover from the old GM V6 (which was purchased along with its own OBD-I control system, 1984-1986.) I've had no end of trouble with "smog techs" out here over that, I usually take in my FSM to show that the vehicle is not OBD-compliant, and that the CEL/MIL is not supposed to illuminate at any time.

Given a choice, I tend to prefer the RENIX setup - but I cut my teeth a long time ago, and I'm used to doing my own thinking. Fully 99% of the troubleshooting required on RENIX can be done with a decent DMM - there are a couple of tests that requre the use of an analogue voltmeter or ohmmeter. Second choice would be OBD-II (since SAE mandated it, not CA, it actually makes sense and follows standards...) and OBD-I should be avoided (it's a pain - but it was California's idea. Blame CARB & CalEPA for the foolishment that went in from about 1984 to 1995 in most vehicles...)