Thanks for the advice! I am familiar with Cruiser's tips and I will definitely be re-reading them. And thanks for the heads up on the fuel pump ground wire. I'll check that out.

 

I've been noticing a slow coolant leak under the front of my Jeep. At first I wondered if my lower radiator hose was loose or starting to crack. I've also noticed an occasional whining noise from the front of the engine that is loud and obnoxious. I finally put two and two together and realized it's my water pump. Sure enough, the coolant leak appears to be coming from the water pump weep hole.

So along with new radiator hoses, I ordered one of these:



It claims to pump more coolant at idle, so we'll see how it works.

As far as the '90 I6 goes, I'm still trying to finish up some other things first. I did pick up different wheels and tires for it though.



Nothing fancy, just some 235 A/Ts on aluminum wheels. They're pretty weather checked but they at least hold air, which is more than I can say about the tires that came with the Jeep, which are garbage. These are just temporary - they are for moving in and out of the garage and short test drives around the neighborhood only.

 

Lovin' those wheels!

 

I spent my 4th of July working on the Jeep.

I started with something easy that I copied off a post a saw on one of the XJ Facebook pages...



More cupholders! I picked these up out of the boating section at Walmart.









Beer is for demonstration purposes only... Don't drink and drive!

Then it was time to tackle that water pump job. I used a GMB "high performance" water pump and also installed new upper and lower radiatior hoses.

Old pump out.



Comparing the old vs. the new.



Comparing the radiator hoses.



I went ahead and reused the spring that was in the lower radiator hose.



Also, I noticed a while back that there was a bolt missing from the exhaust manifold.



I'm not sure if this allowed an exhaust leak or not, but I figured while I had the power steering pump and bracket out of the way that I might as well replace it.



After installing the new pump I did a quick flush of the cooling system.




I also changed the oil. Rotella T6 + Wix filter.

 

Some life updates as well as XJ updates...

My wife and I just relocated from South Dakota to Knoxville, Tennessee two weeks ago. The last six weeks or so has been absolutely crazy. Nonstop go go go...

We moved here because my wife had a career opportunity that we couldn't pass up. I also got a job that I'm really excited about; an automotive shop that specializes in restoring and customizing early Ford Broncos (1966 - '77) hired me on as a mechanic! I've bounced around from job to job these last few years so I'm blessed that the shop brought me on board.

Maybe now I'll actually know what I'm doing! Ha!

I've got a lot to learn and I'm trying to be a sponge and just soak everything in. This has been my first week and I'm pretty happy with how it has gone.

Here are a few pics from my job:







I've gotten a little teasing from the guys about driving a Jeep; Ford vs. Mopar and all that but it's all in good fun.

Speaking of the XJ, it is now on full-time daily driver duty for my 30 mile commute. I'm considering looking for a different daily once we get a few paychecks in the bank. Yesterday's events only strengthened that idea as it already broke down on me!

As I was driving, I went to shift and my clutch pedal went to the floor. Figuring that maybe the pin that holds the pedal connected to the clutch master cylinder popped off i coasted into a nearby parking lot.

It turns out that the slave cylinder failed! It popped off its mounting bracket and disconnected from the braided line. When I looked under the Jeep it was laying on the asphalt as fluid dripped out of the line.





The plunger is nowhere to be found so I can only assume it fell out on the road somewhere. Since I refused to call a tow truck (after all, I am a "real" mechanic now, so a tow truck would make me look bad LOL) I ended up forcing the transmission into first gear and driving home slowly with my emergency flashers on.

I picked up the new slave cylinder today and it seems more stout than the old one. You can see how the new one is made of metal while the one that failed is plastic/composite.





My plan is to get that installed this week. In the meantime my wife and I are carpooling.

This is the second part in the last six months that I have had seemingly vibrate apart, the other being a starter. Does anyone have any ideas as to what would cause excess engine vibration? My motor mounts are newer Brown Dog rubber mounts. Would leaky fuel injectors cause that much vibration? The vibrations seem to be the worst at idle; I don't notice them as much while moving.

Any and all ideas are appreciated...

 

To start,a fouled plug? Loose plug or wire? A misfire or bad coil?

 

Dude! Knoxville is my home town! Those Bronco guys are legends. Hope the town is treating you well. The car and 4x4 community is very strong.

When you get your Jeep squared away, you need to check out WindRock. Beautiful park that's only 30 mins away. My old club Titan Offroad wheels about once a month too. You should meet up with them.

 

The Brown Dog mounts are why it vibrates. The 2.5L has more harmonic vibrations then a 4.0 because of the two less cylinders.

 

I just changed my plugs and wires three months ago, but it never hurts to check 'em. Thanks!

Hey thanks! So far I've been really enjoying Knoxville. I've got to get used to city traffic again after being in South Dakota for a few years.

I've been looking forward to exploring WindRock and I will definitely look up that club. Think my little 4 cylinder with 31s can keep up with them?

Ahhhhhh, okay. Thank you for the info. Is there anything I can do about the vibrations? Or do I just put a little thread locker on the new slave cylinder bolts and call it good?

 

I've had my BD mounts (rubber) in for almost two years so, just got to get used to it. Lol.

As for the bolts, yes, threadlocker will help..

 

I'm used to it as well, I am just concerned about how the vibrations will effect the other components. But maybe I'm just overthinking it.

 

Totally. Windrock is very diverse - any stock 4x4 can enjoy it... or get very stuck and very broken. It's a choose your own adventure kind of place. I ran plenty of trails on 31s before switching to 33s on my last rig.

Check these photos out - they'll give you a better idea of the place: https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=67955471%40N07&sort=date-taken-desc&text=windrock&view_all=1

 

I love the photos, thanks for sharing!

 

I installed the new slave cylinder today. I put a little blue threadlocker on the bolts so hopefully they'll stay put.




After bleeding the line and a quick test drive, everything is working as it should.

 

Today's project was installing some brackets for a tow bar.

I took off the front hitch reciever and drilled some 1/2" holes for the brackets.






This way I have the option to flat tow the Jeep. The next time it breaks down I won't have to drive home in first gear lol.