Just cuz it's lat here doesn't mean you can pop in and stone cold punk my @$$...

Snootchie to the hizzle-bizzle noochies!!! BONG!

 

The spares should start her right up. I have a 98, and they are not coded. In fact, all I have are 2 sets of spares. Lost the remaining original key last year.

Now the auto-lock fob, that's a whole other issue... If you need one, you can order the part online but you'll need to have a dealer program it.

 

ummmmm where do i start with this??

 

Friday night it had warmed up and stopped snowing long enough to get out and pull the plugs. I didn't try cranking it around mainly because I wanted the penetrating oil to work a bit but also b/c there was about two inches of water on the ground from the rain...
Anyways, I pulled all the plugs from back to front uneventfully until I got to #1 (#1 is the one under the A/C compressor right?). When she finally came out this is what I found. That thing was completely melted down. I happened to run into a friend of friend who has a shop that said he'd seen it before 'but it was on a Jeep', when I told where it came from he said that he remembered being a bad O2 sensor.
I'm headed out tomorrow to do some cranking, just thought I'd show you guys my slow progress and see if there are any more words wisdom.

Cheers eh!

 

hmmmmm, thats different. did the rest look ok? could be a couple things, some major some minor. try turning her over by hand and keep us up to date.

 

Yeah, besides a little bit of carbon build up, nothing out of the ordinary (especially for a non running XJ).
I tried turning her over today and moved it very little. I didn't lift it up and crank it over, there is way too much snow, just got underneath and pulled. Couldn't help thinking I'd get more leverage if I set her on stands but also kinda wonder if she isn't turning over easy now, she won't later either.

Where do I go from here?

 

I think I've made up my mind to just replace the engine as I originally planned. I did some trouble shooting and would love to dive in even more and bring her back to life. But with my work schedule (gone 10 days to two weeks a month and work a full week when I'm not) and my schedule with my kids and shipping costs on getting parts up here. Nevermind that every time I do any real work on her I'll have to tow it to a shop. In the long run it'll be cheaper and far less of a pain in the hind quarter to swap out.
I've already started looking for decent (condition and cost) salvage engines. There is a amount in the WA & OR area.
Thanks for all the help so far though.

 

WELL thats sucks, i was hoping you get the time and take her around the block once or twice. well if ya qot questions we're here man. let us know...

 

I know, I feel like I've been beaten already. I was really hoping to be able to pull it apart a bit, I just don't have the space or time to do it.
I'm always lurking around though, so I'm sure I'll have more questions.