Hey guys!

Thanks for having me on the forum! I just bought my first XJ on Wednesday of last week. It's a 1989 with 142k on the clock. It's got the Renix 4.0 & the AW4 automatic. I'm pretty familiar with Jeeps but never had an XJ. I've been DDing my Wrangler and I finally realized it was time to get something more comfortable, practical, and has a little more room. I originally was dead set on a 4Runner but I just fell in love with this XJ. It's in really good shape and the guy who owned it took GREAT care of it. He was the 2nd owner, and had it for 16 years. He even kept records on everything he did to it. And I got it for a great price - $3,800!

This thing won't be seeing much trail use since I still have my YJ. It'll be mainly used for work and back and I want to take care of it and keep it as clean as I can. That being said - there are a couple things that need to be done.

I've already replaced the alternator (in the emissions parking lot!), stereo, spark plugs and the oil. I also greased up the window tracks and WOW what a difference that made! Some upcoming projects are:

-Unibody stiffeners
-Drivers side door hinge repair
-Passenger side rear power window replaced
-Fix front fog lights
-Grease/replace windshield wiper bushings
-Get rear windshield wiper working again
-Power locks relay mod
-Volvo injectors
-Convert to open cooling system
-Change tranny fluid & differentials/transfer case oil
-Go through the car and just get everything up to speed

I'm sure there will be more to come, but I'll document everything I'm doing here!

Here's some pictures of my newest addition!

 

Real clean jeep, i do not know if your years pertain to it. But try and do Cruiser54 tips and tricks... they will help

 

Thank you Batman!

I've definitely looked into his posts and there is a good amount of stuff I can do! The PO already the C101 removed before I got it so that was also a HUGE selling point to me!

 

Very nice ! You'll love Cruisers tips !!!

 

Very nice! Check out my build if you want some Renix era build ideas. Still running the closed system here no issues. Volvo injectors are a great upgrade.

 

That's awesome I'll definitely check it out!

And good to know! Did you notice a big difference when you swapped them in?

 

No, I guess idle improved but mostly no more worrying when the injectors were going to start leaking from the originals. Plus cleaning the ports of all the built up carbon.

 

Why do Arizonians get all the good stuff!?! I'm really jealous - that's a 242 transfer case, isn't it? Looks like it's slightly lifted too - what's the setup?

 

Haha well thank you Battle! It's in good shape I really couldn't pass it up. And yup its the 242 with the part time 4x4 or AWD. And it's got a RE 3" lift or 3.5" I can't remember but it's sitting on 31" tires. Open diffs and all that but it's pretty capable as is. I'm just trying to get all the kinks worked out but it's been an awesome little rig so far. Much nicer to drive than my YJ on 33's...except some how my YJ is getting MUCH better MPG than this one I'm not sure what's going on with it.

 

is your speedo correct? maybe its not as bad as you think it is if it is off

 

I have thought of that! I know on my older rigs to calculate the difference on the speedo it is: new tire size/original tire size. In this case I'm running a 31" tire. The original on my car was a 215 which is roughly a 27.5" tire. So 31/27.5 = 1.127. So even getting 180 miles a tank (the best I've gotten so far) 180 x 1.127 and then divided by 15 = 13.5 mpg.

I would think that I could get atleast 16 or 17 MPG out of this thing...my Wrangler on 33's gets 16 in town regularly.

 

13.5 mpg every day all around driving mix of highway and city does not seem that bad for a very capable daily driver to me , I run 34s with 4.10 and have my speedo right and I net a solid 10 mpg every time I check it lol

 

So a quick update. I haven't taken any pictures yet but I've done quite a bit of work to the XJ since getting it. So far I've done:

-Oil change & filter
-New spark plugs (wires still looked great)
-New ignition switch
-New fuel filter
-New transmission mount
-New stereo
-Cleaned TB & IAC
-New alternator

Seems to be running better but I'm still having a problem with the surging on startup. I'm starting to think it could be the TPS? Anyone have any ideas? Basically when you start it it will hold at 2K RPMS consistently and doesn't go down.

 

Fixed the surging issue - turned out to be a bad IAC. Replaced it last week and haven't had any issues yet!

 

Glad to hear you fixed the surging! I was having problems with it too in my 1990, even with the new IAC it was doing it. Fiddled with the TPS( no idea what I was doing) and it stopped doing it! Gotta love Jeeps