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It appears that cleaning the IAC has helped clear up my rough idle. I'm still experiencing a slight surge thinking maybe a small vacuum leak somewhere, perhaps something to do with my cracked ccv hose
Update: Doesn't have anything to do with either...
Last edited by ixanay_on-the_exjay; 01-18-2019 at 01:16 PM.
Not sure if you finished the shocks at this point, but I just did mine ! All four broke. I just punched them all thru, fished em out with a magnet. I used the wire trick to get the bolts in. Take some 20 gauge wire, just cheap utility wire. Wrap it around the bolt threads starting at the head. Cut yourself a pc about a foot long, so that you'll have a long pc sticking out from the end of the bolt. Then fish the long pc of wire thru the hole and just pull the wire and bolt down thru ! I went with heavier grade 8 flange bolts with matching nuts and one lock washer on each. I went up a size too, 3/8" dia. I used 1", but 1.5" would be better. Something I thought of later,,, you could get some thin push/speed nuts to install on the bolts before you install the shocks. It would have helped to keep the bolts from pushing up thru when you install the shocks. Make it easier next time ! Also, I saved some money, bought used dealer take-off JK/JKU shocks from a Rubicon. I bought the black ones. I wanted a little better ride. If you want more stiffer shocks, get the red ones. Another thing, if you remove the rear swaybar, the mounting brackets on the spring plates can be repurposed for upper shock mount bar pin eliminators. That is if you have enough travel with your shocks. Man, I been feeling for you ! You've had a time with it !!! I didn't know what to look out for when I bought my 99XJ. Luckily, it was a one owner that was never wheeled in a non-rustbelt area. I still have had a time with mine ! Just keep pluggin at it, you'll get there! I'm not there yet either !!! LOL subbing to ya !
Yes I resolved the shock issue already. I drilled from the bottom but ultimately did not drill straight. As you can see from the pics the dude put an all thread up thru and literally welded the all threads in place. Anyhow... I ended up cutting down thru the floor bc there was no way I could stand a bolt up to get thru the hole, it was too long I tried =[. It could have been the way that they rigged the fix but who knows. I ultimately used grade 8 3/8" as well. Since I had already cut up the floor I had access to get a socket in from the top making it a little easier. BPE's were out of the question for me at the time and with the way these have been messed with it would have been questionable if the installation would go smoothly.
Here are some pics of how it looks right now
You can see where the original allthread and nut were... I cut them from the top. Bolt enters right next to that...
Tight fit, I had to open up the bar pin a little to accomodate the 3/8 bolt.
Any plans on an access panel for where you cut or just going to seal it back up? Love the build so far.
Thanks! I'm actually working this out in my head. It's kind of in an awkward spot to do anything considering the edge of the cut is right where two sheets overlap. You can see it in the image above. I was pretty content with something like a combo of silicon and pop rivets (no welding for me... yet). Upon further contemplation I'm thinking it might be worth doing an access door tho seeing that if I need to remove that bolt I will definitely need to get back in there. I'll have to look into it, if you have any recs or links feel free to leave them and I'll definitely consider. Glad you like it, I have plenty more cleanup to get to both existing issues and those that I create as I make my way thru them. 2 steps forward 1 step back, keeping it together tho thanks for the support =]
Last edited by ixanay_on-the_exjay; 07-23-2018 at 05:23 PM.
Just a quick update... had a chance to do some work on BB yesterday and address a few things that have been on my mind
1. Track down exhaust leak
No holes thankfully but I have a leak at this junction. These bolts just took the cake for rustiest thing on my jeep... Don't feel like attacking these so I'm going to see what my local shop wants to do about it. I did pick up a gasket in case they want to use it.
2. Pull valve cover and readjust rocker arm torque
I had some valve train noise and I just wanted to make sure I torqued everything correctly and all my bridges/rocker arms were straight. I never ran it with the cover off before so I did this time to settle my pessimistic mind. Best to see for myself that they are working as one (sorry for the shaky camera, I was watching the oil fly everywhere so had to cut it off)
3. New Spark Plugs (should have done when I installed head)
My #1 cylinder had a different brand spark plug... weird. It was also improperly gapped, as were many of these. Good riddance, new champion plugs in and the 4.0 seems to like these.
Last edited by ixanay_on-the_exjay; 07-30-2018 at 12:11 PM.
Rented a fuel pressure gauge from local parts store and finally shelled out the $$ for a line disconnect tool so I can swap injectors with the rail on the bench.
Right in the sweet spot
So I've been chasing my tail on this idle issue. People who hear it from the bay or on the lift all say it's idling fine but when I'm sitting there I feel it and it almost feels like it's missing. The tac bounces slighting like ~100RPM Anyways... I digress, the fuel injectors are just another line item to cross out trying to smooth out idle. Surprise! It hasn't worked.
Putting the rail in time out on the pavement after a struggle to release it from the rusty claws of the fuel line.
Injector grab bag. This bothers me...
New 4-hole injectors in from K Suspension
I reset the ECU after installation. I also broke out the multimeter and did some testing on my MAP and TPS just to see how things were going. I've had a couple TPS codes but more than likely they are coming from me messing with it! All appears normal from my tests. Keeping my eye out for vacuum leaks or any other clues. MPG was 14 pre injector swap, maybe see a difference maybe not!
Gotta throw in an extra photo. Got the center caps in finally. Any strong opinions on trim? Leaning towards removing it completely.
I’m a fan of the no trim look. The trim itself should just pull right off but just be warned the adhesive underneath can be a ***** to clean off. I used a 3M eraser wheel on my drill. If you go that route be easy with it as to not dig into the paint and wear through any clear coat. Pick up two wheels because one MIGHT wear out before you’re done.
Glad you're getting something out of it. Thanks for the tip on the eraser wheel, I've stumbled across that method in other threads and it certainly sounds the easiest keep an eye out for the update, probably in a few weeks.
This weekend I'll be taking BB on her first long(er) drive. Heading up to the White Mountains for some hiking and it's about 150 miles away. Hopefully it goes smoothly with all her new organs and jewelry. I'll also be keeping an eye on MPGs since the injector swap, I don't expect to see much if any difference.
Managed to fix two things that have been bugging me. First was my passenger side door wouldn't lock. I physically couldn't push the button over to lock so the door was forever unlocked. Sucks to not be able to leave anything in it like tools. It turned out that someone had bent the rod that goes from the handle lock to the actuator. A little man handling it back into a better position and bingo! Then I found out why the door panels were off in the first place... to poorly install speakers in the doors! Up until now none of my speakers have worked past a certain volume they just sounded awful. Turns out that some of the screws had fallen out and were in the speaker stuck to the magnet... On both sides... Long story short the speakers somehow weren't damaged and it sounds great!
I then moved on to install my new sway bar bushings and finished off the job by snapping a bolt on reinstallation with my impact drill... I'm dumb =[
So of course after that I'm pissed. Do any of you ever feel like once one thing goes wrong other things just start popping up all at once? Well of course there was nothing I could do about the bolt. I really have no faith in an extractor and I don't have the confidence to drill and tap this myself. I prefer to let my local spring guys do anything like this (did my crossmember bolts earlier). Anyway, after that I noticed it looks like my oil pan gasket has begun to fail and perhaps even my RMS. In my engine bay I then see that one of my injectors had a wet spot at the top where it sits in the rail... great. I must have tore up an o-ring or worse... I pulled it off and luckily it was just an o-ring.
I replaced it and it appears to no longer be leaking. I plan to see what my mechanic wants to do about the sway bar bracket bolt this week so I can still bring her up to NH this weekend. Can't stay mad at her long tho.. knowing that the lock works and the speakers are jamming makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Last edited by ixanay_on-the_exjay; 08-07-2018 at 07:49 PM.
I know you've all been biting your nails on this one so here's an update : I didn't make it to NH because of inclement weather BUT I got the broken bolt knocked out and dropped one in from the top.
I've also been chasing my tail on a couple of front end noises.
1. I get a popping sound intermittently when steering (such as when it's been sitting for a while) as well as driving about. If I make a hard right turn and lean into the drives side I am getting some pop pops. I suspect the track bar bracket, Gods gift to the XJ... Ball Joints were checked when it was aligned but I plan on giving them another check soon. Nothing moves around under there but then again I haven't been able to watch while it pops since it's random.
2. When I go over a large bump the coil does a bit of a boing as the axle is returning down to normal ride height. I'm running no spring retainers merely because they didn't fit the new coils but I don't think it's that. Perhaps something is hitting it... or it's hitting something. Picture below shows the proximity of my sway bar links. Not enough marring going on there tho. The coil is also about 1/8 an inch from the frame.
It's been a while but managed to do a couple small things. I've had a minor leak from an injectory o-ring at the rail since my swap. Sanding out the input at the rail and a new o-ring fixed that up nice and smooth. I also found these bad larry's lying around on craigslist for $100 for the pair.
I really was only looking for the HP D30 to replace my rotting LP but the C8.25 looks like it's coming along for the ride. I'm a little torn bc I was about to pull the trigger on an SYE and new driveshaft. So if i'm going to swap rear ends I'll need different length shafts for each. I'm already in a pickle bc my rear output shaft is leaking all over the place so I either bite the bullet and install the SYE and just throw a JY front shaft in there until I do the rear end swap or just replace the seal and wait until spring to do this. Anyway, step one is to pick these up tomorrow and go from there.
I've also got my oil pan gasket and rear main seal to attack this weekend. Wish me luck!
07-20-2018, 07:41 AM
: I didn't make it to NH because of inclement weather BUT I got the broken bolt knocked out and dropped one in from the top.
