jorgemonkey

I recently just inherited my grandmothers 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, and I'm in the process of getting it up and running. It has been sitting in a garage for the last 6 years, and up until it sat it was given tuneups and fluid changes religiously. 98,000 miles on it and the interior/exterior/engine look almost new.

My question is, I've done the oil change, checked the spark plugs including putting some fogging oil in there, and I want to hand crank the engine to make sure everything is loosened up in there. I've heard I can just take a wrench and put it on the main pulley and turn it. What is the best way to get the wrench in there?

Once I know it turns, I'll be draining the gas, replacing coolant, and replacing the brake fluid/checking brake hoses & pads.

caged

just pull the coil wire and give it a couple cranks.

you could pull the plugs and squirt a bit of oil in each cylinder if you wanna go that far. crank it with plugs out or put them back in and leave coil wire off and crank a couple turns.

but first, open the air box and see if there's a mouse nest in there.

jorgemonkey

Will do. Once I get a battery hooked up. I think she got a new battery and within 6 months stopped driving. I know its old, but I plan on taking the battery in to see if it'll hold a charge. I did open the air filter, and it was brand new. No mouse nests (or other animal nests).

Jimbo Slice

Make sure the tires aren't checked from sitting. Expect lots of bad rubber bits... sitting is awful on seals and the like.

Be prepared to get your hands dirty and your wallet empty... the tech gurus here are a wealth of knowledge.

Welcome to the addiction.

jorgemonkey

The tires are unfortunate. They are pretty close to being new (TONS of tread) but they have cracks in the sidewalls from not being moved. Tires are also on the list of "If this gets running nicely, replace them!" category

What I'm really stoked about is it has the towing package already installed, so I'll be able to pull my buddies 1955-or-so *****'s jeep to go four wheeling.

dave1123

My major concern would be the condition of the fuel tank. If it sat for 6 years with fuel in it, I'd expect it to have turned to gum and varnish. You DON'T want to pump that crap thru the injectors! I know guys with the classic barn finds who pulled the tank off, solvent washed it, then steam cleaned it before doing anything else, OR finding a new tank. I think yours is plastic so you don't have to worry about rust.

You can probably get a breaker bar on the crank from underneath. As stated before, anything rubber is probably cracked, especially vacuum hoses, possibly fuel line connections.

IDK your location, but if it's been in a cold climate in an unheated garage, let's hope it was antifreeze protected.

jorgemonkey

The jeep was kept in San Jose, so temps only ranged from 40's -> 100 degrees or so. When I was checking out the engine yesterday is I noticed that it looks like the spark plugs, hoses, and belt was replaced at the last tuneup, shortly before she stopped driving it. I compared the spark plug that I pulled from the engine with one from the store and I couldn't tell the difference.

Took the battery in yesterday and it was dead. I ended up buying a new one and now the jeep is doing weird things (only drivers window rolls down, no auto door unlock) but it didn't do those when we hooked my dads truck battery up to the jeep to get the odometer reading. At that point all electrical components I tested worked fine.

I'll be under the car tomorrow draining the fuel tank, so I'll check the hoses there and see what the fuel looks like as it comes out.
This will be the 2nd jeep I've owned. When I got married, my wife and I had a 96 Grand Cherokee Limited. Sold it to my friend, and it recently just passed the 300,000 mile mark.

jorgemonkey

Got the oil gas drained and added about 5 gallons of new gas to the tank plus changed the fuel filter. The old gas came out clear with a slight tint of yellow. Primed the fuel lines, twisted the key and said a little prayer. The jeep started up after a second or two. It idled roughly for a couple seconds and then started running perfectly. Except I had no oil pressure.

My dad came over to help troubleshoot, and as we were discussing how to check the sending unit or the oil pump he noticed a plastic thing connected to a cable and nothing else. Turns out in my quest to remove the stuck oil filter, I broke the oil pressure sensor. $26 and 10 mins later, we were driving it up and down the street.

Now looking forward to many years of using this jeep!

dave1123

Yeah! About that sensor. Years ago, I worked part time at Valvoline Instant Oil Change. My manager kept half a dozen of those in inventory. The first time a technician broke one, it was considered a learning experience. After that, the tech paid for them out of his pocket! Records were kept and 3 times, you're gone! Everyone was told beforehand to be careful with jeeps!

A bit of history. Everybody wondered why the old CJs had a weird oil drain plug thread. It seems the Army specified the drain plug thread match a spark plug thread so one could be used in the field if the drain plug got lost! Leave it to the Army to think about that! I didn't think jeeps used in combat EVER got their oil changed!