'88 STRAIGHT
 

I finally decided to buy an XJ and start a project ......... After weeks of searching on CL with no luck... I drove an hour out east (L.I.) to look at a '90 being sold by the original owner and was very disappointed with what I was told compared to what I saw. I drove away thinking I wasted my time... 5 minutes away I saw tucked behind a bush on someones lawn with a FOR SALE sign the '88 I ended up buying for $700. It has 107k and hardly any rust underneath, started right up with a jump and sounded great. I got a ride back later that night and I drove it home with no problems, however it did drive like it needed a tune-up. The next day I pulled the plugs and couldn't believe I actually made it home because the plugs were worn down worse than any I have ever seen.

This is where my story begins....... but before I continue let me inform you that I am not a mechanic and if it wasn't for bad luck I would have none at all.... the only thing I have going for me at this point is determination to GET R DONE !!!!!!!

Honestly i think you got a good deal $700 for a cherokee. I paid $1000 for my 1997 jeep cheroke 4.0L 4x4 with 140k on it. Now it has 150k miles and is in need of work due to me being an idiot.

I have a little catching up to do to get to the current status of my project but first I would like to thank CherokeeForum.com, since I started it's been one thing after the other but with this site and google advanced search I found all the answers that I needed to keep it movin'.......

So I did the tune-up (cap/rotor, wires, plugs, air & fuel filter, oil and filter change) I drove it around the block and WOW what a difference.....

Next I insured and registered it..... if I knew then what I know now :wallbash:

A few days later I purchased a '90 with a blown tranny (no 4 wheel drive or reverse) for $450. I planned on pulling the lift, motor and exhaust then scrapping it to get some money back.

nice find, luck is what we make it.
we are alive
free
and can own jeeps.
we are lucky.

not preaching just saying you do have good luck my friend :)

Good find where on ling island do you live cause i live in west islip and are always looking for more people to wheel with

Here's where the bad luck begins....

The belt starts squealing like a pig with no warning, after investigating I found some hammer marks on the PS pulley, hey wait... I do have good luck, I'll just pull it off the scrap XJ on the other side of the driveway. (done- thanks to my uncles pully puller) but this one is plastic....

I removed the belt on the '88, what's all this belt dressing on my hands :icon_redface: no big deal I cleaned all the pullys with alcohol and an old toothbrush after the gunk didn't remove it. Then I put the old belt back on. No more squealing :D now I can start stripping my junker......

2 Days later it overheats..... the water pump looked like it came out of a boat so lets change that and the thermostat. (purchased) Why is there no thermostat in this Jeep? What do you mean the electric fan isn't supposed to run constant.. who ran it direct? uuugh I smell a cover up. Waterpump replaced and thermostat installed.... start it up. Still no squealing... 3 minutes later overheating (electric fan still out but shouldn't be needed yet from what I read)

Not liking this closed cooling system.... I removed the top hose from thermostat housing and pured in antifreeze from there. It took a lot more.

Start it up !!!! 15 minutes without electric fan and no overheating. I'm on E so let me go get some gas. Now I'm stuck at the gas station it won't start... nothing when I turn the key. I put it in neutral to push it out of the way and it started up. What's this NSS thing everyone is talking about?

I'm in Bellport......

Moving the shifter to start it up finally stopped working, but thanks to CherokeeForum.com I found a thread on how to remove it and clean it. So I broke the one on my junker trying to pry it off using the big nut, uggh. Hmmm, maybe I can use this wiring harness to make a bypass for the time being instead of splicing the one on my keeper.(done) Starts right up, I'm gonna have to keep this by-pass in my XJ survival kit once I'm done with it, but why won't it stay running now? I cleaned the terminals on that little ceramic thing on the wheel well and it stays running until it overheats 10 minutes later....... this is where I am at today.

neutral safty switch sencor

usually moving the stick from park throuht the gears and back to neuteral will work, other wise a replacment might be needed.

they gum up sometimes, there is a thread about cleaning them on here somewhere

ah you replied before i posted this lol

overheat
 

over heating, is probably your plastic filler bottle (35 bucks ) i got an 89 and changed everything except that just because it looked like it was doing its job. the prev owner prob took off thermostat in hopes of fixing the over heating same with mine. i put a latex glove over filler hole then cap and the heater came on for the first time since i had it. but do not keep glove on as a fix , just 10 min or so to see if it is the res and cap.

I changed the overflow bottle yesterday with the one on my junker before it bubbled over, the red light didn't come on though. Today I removed some antifreeze from the bottle and left it at 3/4 full, cap off and ran it for 30min parked. When I shut it off the antifreeze rose to the top and spilled over but no bubbling. Then I put the cap on it with a hose clamp to keep it snug, I ran it again for another 15 min with no problems. I shut it off and didnt here bubbling but I can here it returning. I think I might still have more air. Considering an upgrade to a '92 system in the near future.

when i got mine it had a different one one it than orig one . it looked new but the threads of cap and bottle were worn. so i called fisher auto and they had the next day for 35 bucks . i waisted a lot of time trying to burp the system. and the bottle was the prob the whole time. if you have a fisher auto in your area they carry alot of old parts like that. not sure what the dealer charges. dont count on that donor bottle. i noticed a lot of people give these year jeeps away specificly becouse of that fantom overheating prob.

I drove around for awhile yesterday with no overheating but when I shut it off I can slightly hear the pressure releasing from the cap. A new bottle and cap should fix that until I switch to a '92 system and it turns out the NSS just needed to be adjusted...... now I'm back on track and it's time to catch up.

Hey another renix owner :icon_biggrin: sorry to hear about the cooling system issues
You could also try this mod:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/ren...uestion-13745/

http://208.101.10.250/~naxjaor1/foru...ad.php?t=93918

I did, and had some success.
Another good site:
http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/...BurpAirMod.htm

Good luck with your new XJ!

The leaf springs I removed from the junker were messed up, the eye on one was stretched open and the bushings were dry rotted... I took them over to SD Springs and they fixed the eye, replaced all 4 bushings and reshaped the springs before they did a quick paint job on them.