1998 Baby Blue XJ build, feedback appreciated
 

Hello,
I've always wanted an XJ, but being a teacher supporting a family with a Wife and 2 boys, I had to be careful to get the right XJ that had what my wife and I wanted that would last us a long time. I want to keep this XJ until it dies. After looking for a while, finally got a Baby blue XJ Limited.
It has 205,000 miles so been doing a lot of small jobs to make sure that the filters and fluids are up to date while I work my way around. My father is a 25 year retired mechanic so I have some help from him and my friends who work on cars etc. The head gasket has an oil leak but is not that bad, but plan to do this once school gets out and I have a week to do the work with friends and get more information on what I need to get to prepare for this job.
The check engine light came on when mornings were cold, 30-40 degrees without a long warm up, when tempatures are over 50 degrees with a warm up, the light does not come on, dad says it's just an imbalance of fuel and oxygen and needs to be warmed up before driving.

Work I have done so far;
- rear shock absorbers (bolts came out easily and did not break)
- rear differental fluid change w/rtv (it was leaking when I bought it)
- front differential fluid change w/rtv (this was not leaking)
Both smelled pretty bad and looked dirty
- transmission filter change/high mileage dexmerc - THis was a total BISH to do because apparently the headers are new/aftermarket and taking out the pan was a total pain for space. Think I might have stripped 3 bolts while putting this back, will look at them again soon to see if any leaks. I have tap and die set ready in case.
- 6 spark plugs, cap and rotor replaced.
- K & N oil filter with synthetic blend 10-30w oil

Plan to do;
- thermostat
- water pump
- coolant flush
- oxygen sensor - important?
- headlights - update harness and convert to H4 type...

I do have a 2 inch lift kit but lifting is not important to me, I want a daily driver and something that will pull a small aluminum trailer to go camping with the family. I am keeping this until it dies.

Suggestions, feedback, tips on how to maintain my jeep so that it lasts me another 100,000 miles is much appreciated. I am not very knowledgeable with car mechanic terms etc, but a quick learner and like to do things with my own hands.

Some problems I have with the jeep.
- the rear lights, when I signal left and apply the brakes, the emergency lights come on, no brakes - just the left light is on.
- stereo comes on and off sometimes and only the right side speakers work
- once in a while when I try to start the Jeep too fast, it will sound like electric grinding, I just shut it off and then try again and it starts up fine

looks good and its actually Steel Blue...and sounds like you might have some small electrical issues but dont sound to difficult to tackle

Electric grinding would be the starter. My advice is love your autozone for most things.

My Alt & starter are from autozone...they tend to not wanna work after they get wet for some odd reason:dunno:
So I got autozone parts there for free replacements for life:)


Headlight wise, grab yourself a upgraded harness..and get silverstar replacement headlights. They are bright as well and cost about 40 bucks at any parts store..


For your lift, I would toss it on..won't need much else to do it..


Maitenance wise...I know you just did your oil and such, but next time, grab 5W40 Reotella. Or 15W40 Delo. You need a 40 weight in these 4.0's.
If you have plans for the water pump & such, while your in there, I would pull the intake/exhaust & replace that gasket as well. Cost 13 bucks. Check your header for cracks while its off.

I saw you say you did the trans, but what about your transfer? Pull the drain/fill plug on it, drain it, grab some good ATF & flush it out till the fluids nice & clean..should only take 1 bottle/quart. Replace drain plug, fill it up & replace fill plug.
I use a little thread sealant on each to prevent leaks.


Next tackle your bushings/ball joints/tie rod ends.
Hope under it and check all the tie rod ends, ball joints & bushings on everything. Motor mounts & trans mount included. If they need replacing, autozone for the trans mount, Ironman andy4x4 or Browndog for the motor mounts. OEM replacments will fail again lol.

I live near a costless, which is way better than autozone... I did fear the grinding was the starter, I usually stop as soon as I know its the grinding which is 1-2 seconds.
What harness is suggested for the headlights?
Keep the feedback and suggestions coming...

well you dont have to upgrade your harness just buying a set of housings like Delta's or IPF's (i got IPF's) and a set of 55/60W Hella H4 bulbs is a vast improvement but if you want insane get the housings and harness and 90/100W bulbs and the harness is like Eautoworks or something and supposedly you can use one for an S10 in an lmc catalog for $10 less

Upgrading the lights without the harness is silly. First step to better lights is the harness itself.
Eautoworks is just fine, cost about 40 bucks last time I checked.

And you can keep your sealed beams and go with Sylvannia silverstar performance headlights.. super bright & white, or as mentioned go with the H4 conversion..personally unless you do the 90/100W upgrade, theres really no difference other than cost.
Sealed beams being cheaper.

Excellent help there... will go this week and see if the harness is there and get the silverstar lights. Thanks!

Also if 2-3 transmission bolts are stripped but are "tight in", should I worry about this and get this taken care of asap or am I fine for a while until I can get back to this project?

If theres no leak, I'd say its fine for a while.

I would jump on the Tcase flush so the fluids will all have about the same mileage. That way next time you do the trans you can do the tcase at the same time. Just grab 4 qrts of a good ATF and go to work.



You know I'll be honest as well...I did to the Silverstars..now I have a Wagyy front clip with the 4 small headlights. And those lights suck, and the only upgrade for them cost 100 for the lows, another 100 for the highs. No way I'm dropping that!
So I grabbed a set of Hella 500's..I should of got the 700's..same light just slightly bigger/more light output. But adding those lights made a 100% difference. they are legal to be ran 100% of the time and only cost around 60 for 2..they are great lights. May consider that vs upgrading your headlights right away.
My point was do harness & some AUX lights, as you would have more output all together that way.

I am tempted to add AUX lights but I think I want to stick to just upgrading harness, headlights, and also fog lights as those suck and are half filled with water I believe. What would be a good upgrade for the foglights that will go where the current foglights are now? I think that is the way I want to go for now, I am not into changing the way things look on the outside of the jeep too much...
so harness, silverstar lights, now what fog lights are good?

Do you want square or round?

Round I would get Hella 500FF or Hella 700ff...difference is the 500's = 5" the 700= 7".
If you want square I would look into the IP868's

I want the rectangular ones to replace the ones that are currently in the stock space or whatever you call it.. or is it that easy to put in round ones in the middle on top of the stock bumper?

SUper easy..basically you have a hole, the like sits on the bumper/bolt through whole. And a nut & washer go on the inside of the bumper..very very simple to install.


Personally I like rectangle lights better on jeeps. I would get IPF868's but they cost about 150 for a pair. So I went with hella 500's instead, which cost me 42 bucks.

You can unbolt your stock lights, and then bolt on the hellas in their place in a matter of an hour or so.

Wow, I am way more ignorant than I thought... the manual says 5-30 or 10-30 but you say should do a 40 weight?
Will try to do the intake/exhaust this week and hopefully I can figure out what I'm looking at and such.
The rest of the stuff like the tcase, joints, bushing, rod ends... I have no idea what those are :( but am learning one by one since I have the manual, haynes book, and the internet...

What work must be done when doing coolant/water pump/thermostat jobs? WHat else should be done when doing these?

Honestly I don't know why the rec. a 10-30 for us..Run Rotella or Delo, both better than Mobil1 and about 10 bucks cheaper to.

Hoses should/could be done while doing the cooling system.


Tcase drain & refill. It uses ATF, so grab your favorite brand and go to work. Also see the circle silver tag, look what it says on it, either 231J or 242J, the write is for both..but that way you know what your working with.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/b...hange-1009078/


Bushings..your lower control arms have bushings on either end, they mount to the axle & to the body..you should be able to grab a light and look at them fairly easy.
Check the bushings on the axle..obviously you can't see the whole thing, but you can get an idea if they need replacing or not.


Click this link here, theres a picture showing you what everything under the jeep is:)
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/tig...8/#post1218013



My question now is, do you plan to stay at 2" of lift for some time or do you plan to go higher?
If you plan to stay at 2", and be honest, no shame here. But I fyou plan to stay there, then I'll give you a few ideas.

Got the water pump, intake/exhaust gasket, thermostat, thermo gasket, new hoses and clamps, gonna do 150k extended life AF mix with water.

Will get the ATF and look at the tcase number to get the right size plugs since the shop said they didnt know which size until they could see it up close?

Great link for the Tcase

Headlight Harness have to order online since the stores dont have them.

As for lift, there is no lift yet, I have the 2 inch kit from the previous owner. Lifting is not a priority to me and if I ever get around to it, the 2 inch kit will be the extent of my lift. I just need a long living Daily driver that looks cool and will be reliable for many years to come, have 2 boys, 6 and 1, and we love camping, so does the wife so she is supportive. I play alot of disc golf and softball so those take up more of the money :)
But sure I want ideas... Just know I'm focused on Daily driving mechanics first...

What are you talking about plugs? Are you saying the drain & fill plugs? Those don't need replacing, although I would add a small amount of thread sealant to ensure you don't get leaks.

If you are talking spark plugs then Champion copper plugs are what works best..they cheap to..don't get wrapped up in the iridium crap.


Headlight harness
http://www.eautoworks.com/Putco-H4--...s-PRD7540.aspx


I would toss your lift on..take about a day to do for the first timer.
My advice since you staying at only 2", is to upgrade to WJ lower control arms. They have better bushings & are boxed in completely..so better bushings & stronger. Do that vs replacing your control arm bushings.
I may be able to get you a set cheap to, we were parting a blown up WJ and the arms may still be there!


I basically did the same as you but bigger...redid the whole inside, bedlined floors, reinstalled brand new carpet, rebuilt motor, rebuilt trans/transfer lol. Rebuild axles and a 3" & 31's to finish it off.

Alright, thought it was mentioned earlier I needed new plugs, since I had to get a new one for the rear differential a few weeks ago. Spark plugs been done...

Ordering Headlight harness this week.

the lower control arms sounds interesting, let me know.

Lift be done after all motor work is finished. Will take me a while since my buddy is leaving this week for vacation for a month!

To Do list
Thermo, coolant, water pump
intake, exhaust gasket
valve gasket (have it from previous owner, easy to do this?)
tcase fluid change
lighting harness and headlight change
Find out where all the oil is coming from

Correct me if I am wrong, lower control arms helps the axle stay in place and the stock ones can bend under duress causing steering and alignment issues while a better stronger one keeps me straighter longer?

As for the fog light issue, I wanna do Hella 500's, but obviously that wont fit in that small rectangular area where the stock foglights are now and I dont see holes in the front bumper, does that mean we drill into it? Is that what everyone else with the front aux lights does?

Today did Water Pump, thermostat, new heater hoses, radiator hoses, coolant. Cleaned out throttle body. 25+ year mechanic looked underneath and said wow that is so tight, looks like a new car, not a 205k mile car. All the parts we replaced today were all original. Drove my wife out for a date and wowwwww, I can feel a HUGE difference! And yes I know about the air pockets and will be watching the coolant levels for the next few days.
Didn't do the gaskets but will get around to the valve, intake/exhaust gaskets when I have a few days since will want to machine the parts etc.
Radiator seemed to have a small leak or so, put in bars leak in the radiator as well.
Did not flush the coolant since it is obvious that the system was original and all the rust anywhere would be still holding everything together and a flush would have loosened things up. Also tightened the bolts on the valve cover, that helped a bit too...

Correct, and I will have some new Hella 500's for sale shortly. THey are Hella 500 black magics with a 100W bulb upgrade.
But ya, get your lights FIRST! Then place them where ever on the bumper you like and drill said hole..then they just bolt right on. Jeeps came that way from the factory.
Some people perfer the lights directly next to each other, I think its best to spread them out a bit and get more coverage out of them.



And correct the arms are stronger with better bushings..the bushings would last longer & ride better/smoother.

Those are definitely things I want to do soon...

Which are the best front shock absorbers to get for a low budget... $80 for both or less...

You gotta think you will have a 2" lift as well.

I would say JK shocks honestly..they are budget friendly & are good for 2-3" of lift..but they are also valved very nicely for the XJ's.
I have a set of front JK shocks that are litterally brand new..I could deffinetly get them to you for less than 80.


I'd do 40 + shipping for them.

Alright... now call me a dummy, I am wanting to learn more about what it takes to do a 2 inch lift since i have the parts, because when the mechanic looked at my front and rear ends, he was amazed how all the bushings and bolts and everything was so tight and there was no play anywhere. Now if I take a bunch of stuff apart to do a cheap 2 inch lift, I might lose all that tightness and security and some parts will actually fall apart when taken off?

86-chief, you seem to want to sell me control arms, shocks and what else ;)

Haha I get alot of parts often, so I sell alot of stuff. And I'll be honest, I'm probably offering it cheaper than you can get it elsewhere:D

No you won't lose anything or have stuff fall off...I'm guessing you have a shackle in the rear right? If so, you may look into the junkyard and get a S10 main leaf and use it instead..would be alot better & hold weight way better!

Key is when you get everything on your jeep, snug it up, but not tightened all the way, set it down on its own weight, then tighten it up. That way everything is wearing correctly and your not buggering the bushings up & such.

wish i had money for all of that right now heh.. but excellent suggestions.
one by one..

check engine comes on when the tempature is less than 40 degrees outside and the code is a small evap leak. Does it everytime the tempature is below 40, regardless of warm up.
also sometimes when hit a pothole, feels like i lose total control of the jeep for a second...

After yesterday, I realize my leafs are shot to shet... I need new leafs, now going to a junkyard for S-10 leafs sounds interesting, I would prefer to stay with something newer and made for Jeep XJ's... suggestions?