'87 Red Bessy Cheapo Build
 

Hey what up my fellow Jeep lovers!

Well this is my first post on here so here we go. I have had a 99 XJ for about 7 years in which I have been tinkering with, but it is my nice and clean baby that I dont want to beat on too much (its my daily also). So I have been searching craigslist for a cheapie XJ for me to do some more tinkering with and beat the s**t out of. Well I found this 1987 XJ laredo on craigslist with 260k miles, 4.0l with a 5 speed and couldn't pass it up for $300. The guy said he had it for a while and one day it just stopped running while in line at the gas station, had it towed home. A week went by so he went out, started it up drove it to the end of the driveway and it died again. He said this happened a few times. He replaced the distributor cap, ignition coil, and CPS and still nothing. I figured it couldn't be anything too major so I towed it on home. Once back at my place I started checking it all out, slapped a new battery in it. Oh also the guy forgot to tell me that it had been sitting for about 1 year since it last ran and the clutch master had siezed up. Anyway, sprayed some NAPA carb cleaner in the intake and she fired right up..well sorta. It sounds like its running on about 3 cylinders..I cleaned the IAC hoping that might do something, but still nothing. Soo back to the drawing board I go. Im thinking the fuel pump might be dumping out on me and just barely pushing fuel into the injectors. If you guys got any tips, feel free to share your opinion, this is gonna be quite the learning experience. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated! Overall the plans are to cut the fenders, throw a lift together, get decent tires, and have some fun. Trying to do things as cheap as possible and see what happens.

Here's the video of the startup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQkc...ature=youtu.be

Also, one other problem is that I found a connector next to the IAC but I have no idea where it goes. I attached a picture so let me know if any of you know where this thing goes.

I'm fairly new to mechanical work myself so this may be a dumb question/thought. Have you checked for codes on the computer?

I got myself one of these off ebay for a couple bucks then spent $5 on the app. The thing will perform just as good as any scanner and give you any readings.
Attachment 407628

This jeep far predates OBD2, there is no onboard diagnostic port to plug that into let alone read the codes.


This link may help you out

http://cruiser54.com/

If it's OBD1 you can use this method to check for codes:

http://www.fixjeeps.com/jeep-check-engine-codes.html

Definitely go through Cruiser's tips as well.

Pretty sure I don't have a check engine light and there is no way for me to check any codes..but I could be wrong. I've been going through all of cruisers tips and am gonna do the distributor indexing tomorrow. The previous owner said he replaced the distributor so I'm hoping he messed it up and put it 180 degrees off or put the spark plug wires on in the wrong order. It's got an intake backfire which would make sense if that was the case. I'll tinker around some more and keep ya updated with some pics. Thanks for the tips!

Also I think that mystery plug is the transmission throttle position sensor. But I have a manual so why would it be there?

Well for those of you that are still a little curious about the crazy problems I have been having. I did a few of the improvements that cruiser suggests however nothing fixed it. I went to my local pick a part and snagged a computer from a 88 cherokee, plugged that bad boy in and now she runs like a champ!! I opened up the old computer and there was no visual damage that I could see, I guess at 30 yrs, old age finally started hitting the control center of the jeep. But she is all good now! I also snagged a 3 inch lift from that same 88 cherokee. All in all computer and lift cost me $100..not too shabby. Time to go break her in! Ill post up some pics when its all installed, been pretty slammed with work the past few days