Third Times the Charm-My Red 96 XJ-AKA ROXANNE
 

Okay so I bought another XJ. First one is rusted out beyond repair, 2nd one I am still waiting for a title, hopefully the 3rd times the charm and this one will work out.

Septemper 12th I traded my beloved 89 Corolla (had it since like 2000, loved that car and the motor blew) and cash to buy my latest project.

When I got this one (pictures will follow in next post) I was told that it's just had an engine put in it but it's not running right. This kinda worked in my favor cuz I have 2 others of same year I can pull parts from and the price was about half what it was posted for because of the problems.

The body looks great and the interior is in great shape too. It's not flawless, but its great for its year. Plus I love the color. Red is my favorite color.

I don't know much about it's spec's cuz I am still learning all about that, but it's got a 3" lift and it's on 31s and came with a full sized spare that matches the set. :)

Here she is

lol. thats funny I named a build thread "third time charm" also. it didnt end up being too lucky actually I think I put a jinx on it
that's a clean jeep though. first thing you're gonna do is cut the front of the fender so it sits flush with the grill right?

First thing I am gonna go is get it running right and have to get emissions and inspection on it then later I will worry about the looks lol

I may rename the build thread once I name the Jeep. Don't know what to call her yet

Picking up a '96 myself soon. Keep the '92 company lol

They do get lonely if they don't have friends lol

Okay Status update. I have taken her for a couple road tests and if I give her a lot of gas (to speed up to pass someone or maybe to try to get up a hill for example) her RPMs drop. A few ppl have recommended that I check the TPS.

She also makes a very loud metal noise. Its definitely coming from wheel. I am guessing this has something to do with noise.

Oh and a little background according to the PO. He said that when he bought this Jeep that the engine had a spun bearing and I am guessing sometime this summer he put a 97 Wrangler motor in it. I don't know if that makes any difference, but if that has any effect on how it runs or what parts I should buy please let me know.

I think when he posted it for sale it was running okay and he said it just recently started not running right, I don't know all of what he tried, but I do remember he said he put a new coil in it and it was still misfiring. Well upon double checking all plug wires, one was loose and I tightened it up. That improved the idle some (of course), but she still will try to stall out if you give it too much gas.

Oh and about 2 days ago I also put a new fuel filter and ran a can of Seafoam in the tank. The filter I took off looked new, but I figured if it was sitting without being driven new filter (I had already was gonna put it on the green one but never did) couldn't hurt, same with Seafoam. I bought new plugs too, but haven't put them on yet. I haven't decided whether or not I am gonna put new wires and distributor on her yet or not. I have no money for that yet. But I want to do it all. (I really need a sugar daddy to help support my Jeep habit lol)

Oh and I was looking up info in my Haynes guide, learning a little more about the TPS and stuff and I was getting help from my Bear Bear.

Todays update:

I started poking around under the hood, was gonna try to take the TPS off my black XJ and put it on this one, but I couldn't get the screws to budge on either. :(

I also decided to check the air filter, found out it's got a K & N filter in it. (I hear everyone talk about those so I reckon it's the one to have) But I noticed it was full of all kinds of crap. I knocked all the debris out of it. I put the clean filter from my green XJ in the red one to see if that fixed my problem. Well it didn't fix my problem but it definitely liked the clean filter much better. Check engine light still coming on and it did try to stall on me at one point but I was able to accelerate quickly without the RPMs dropping.

So now I need to really clean the air filter well and I should be able to drive it further distances than before so I may be able to get to like Autozone to check the code for check engine light.

Oh and after driving it, it's still not idling evenly but doesn't stall out anymore when idling in park like when I first got it.

Okay so I was able to get the TPS off my black XJ and install it on the red one. Took her for a test drive and she stalled on me twice. Both times I was going uphill in 3rd gear would be my guess. Since the Check Engine light was coming on I rode out to borrow a code reader. The code reader gave me the error code P1391 so I guess next step is to check out the CPS. I found it (I am pretty sure it the CPS I found) doesn't look too hard to remove, just not gonna be super simple to get my hands and tools up there. I am hoping I won't need a jack to take it off the black XJ, cuz at this point I don't have a jack or stands :(

Oh and when I was under it looking for the CPS I noticed a cover/guard thing is missing from my Transmission. Is this bad? I know my pic is kinda hard to see but to left you can see the gear exposed. I am thinking that is bad.

your right, your trans is missing this inspection cover, if it were mine i would go to the junk yard and grab one, that gear you mentioned is your flywheel ( what your starter grabs to turn over your motor).

your crank posistion sensor (CPS) is on top of the trans on the drivers side. i use a bounch of extensions on my ratchet to get to it. you can see from the top, right behind the intake or exhaust manifolds.

any time i change sensors i unhook the battery before i do, some guys dont, its just something i've always done.

GOODLUCK

Thanks for the info. I found it. Did you go at yours from under it?

Looks like you picked up a winner here. Is it lifted already? If so what lift is it?