This is the feeling you get that hooks you into being a mechanic. When you bring something everyone thought was dead back to life, it is very satisfying.
I worked for a small junkyard for a while back in '10 and '11. I was shocked at how many people were throwing cars away with "bad motors", and how often it was something simple and easily fixed. Many times, all we had to do was put gas in them.
🤣 motors are like dogs there are no bad motors only bad mechanics. Except for the motors and dogs that are ACTUALLY BAD i.e. any motor or dog I can't fix 😂
My dad had an xj. Didn't know how to take care of cars really but damn he drained the radiator one time and it was completely rust brown. He filled it back up with hose water and it ran and ran till he sold it again. The 4.0 is a tough engine
I bought a nice 78 cutlass cheap like that. They had swapped transmissions. Drove it for a bit it quit moving, and they thought the engine had developed a knock. I returned with the $200 and some new torque converter bolts. His expression when I drove off was priceless.
I love those stories. I bought a 65 Dart GT that had a 'seized motor'. I brought a trailer, paid $350, got the title, then decided to smack the starter with a rock. That 273 fired right up on 7 year old gas and drove on the trailer.
Love it! I bought a car from someone who was told from a shop that it was blown and wanted $2500 to fix it. I bought it for $400 and it needed a fuel pump.
I got a deal on a '93 Cherokee, a car dealer thought it had a rod knock. I cranked it up, it knocked for a couple seconds then stopped. I knew it was a loose catalytic converter, when it starts it'll rattle a couple seconds and stop rattling. I drove it daily for 12 years and it had over 400 thousand miles on it when I sold it with a blown transfer case.
It sounds like there are a lot of people calling themselves mechanics who aren't. When I was younger and working a cheap job, struggling, my beater broke down so I went to the parts store and misnamed a part I needed. The guy behind the counter gave me one of those "You poser" looks and it really pissed me off. I said, "Look man, I am not pretending to be a mechanic. I am here because I can't afford to pay somebody like you to fix it and I need it." Now it's even worse, so Tony, there are a lot of us who aren't mechanics and without your knowledge. You are the car wizard, and teaching the next generation is a favor to us all. Thank God you are teaching them ethics too.
Awesome! I love my 87! For me renix era Cherokees are the best. But any 4.0 will run forever if you treat it right, they're the EFI engines i never worry about converting to carb.
I've owned 2 Cherokees with the 4.0L and my first inclination when I saw the original video was something related to timing. Those engines just don't die like that, lose all compression without a damn good reason. So yeah, she's a runner all right! Well done!
Im sure ive told this story here before but i scored a Foxbody mustang back in the 90s from a man that said "it has a bad motor". . I bought it for $500 when mustangs were selling for $4000-$8000. Got it home and started it up, no smoke bu a horrible rattling that the previous owner said was a rod knocking. Long story short, it was a tin cover for the catalytic converter that had bolts worked loose. I tightened them up and it was my daily driver for years. 😁
Once had a 383 Chrysler and the mileage dropped in half. Still ran pretty much okay but that mileage! Took a look and here the distributor cap was split completely in two and the clips were holding it together.
I bought a 96 F350 crew cab from a junkyard for $750. They were unsure of the condition of the motor. I replaced the fuel pumps and fuel pressure regulator and she started and runs smoothly. 7.5 460 lol. Even drove it around the block and the transmission shifted smooth.
Im happy I was right. I still feel that the head gasket will be fine though. I would swap out the plugs and cables, and then see how she behaves. I really do think you scored big on that Jeep. I do like the XJ vids. One day, would love to do a video together, in the shop or at the track once I get a bit more healthier.
I dunno, the cranking right before it started it still sounded down a couple holes. The lifters should have been pumped up enough with a minute+ of cranking before hand.
Both super tough engines. Never actually saw a 300 fail, and I worked in Ford dealerships for a number of years. Also at a Jeep dealership....at that point in their long and rocky history, the trucks were pretty shaky, but the 4.0 was about as reliable as an anvil....
My first car was an Austin Mini the first of 5, my grandad taught me everything I needed to keep those cars on the road for almost no money. Tough little A series with point/coil ignition and a single SU. He always said ‘ If it’s not running right 95% it’s ignition 4% carb 1% the engine’ I miss the wonderful simplicity of running a car back then.
1999 is one of the best years! No coil rail and no 0331 head. My 1999 has 249,500 miles. Unfortunately mine has some rust (NY winters plowing my neighbors driveways). Mine is also Stone White and a Classic with painted fender flares.
Also first year of the thrust plate cam (no walking issues) and many other electrical and computer advancements (we can finally see misfire data!). Also the last year before they went high pinion. All around best year, agreed!
@@Hubjeep Yes. The '99 down had the hi pinion D30. Then in 00, it changed to the lo (standard) D30. Same as in the TJ. Probably because XJ was scheduleed to be discontinued, and TJ not til 06. Hi pinion stays mor clear of ground, and d shaft angle is less.
@@99jeepxjguy97 HA, I mis-read it as "piston", like there was some sort of piston skirt change, lol. Yes, that high-pinion makes sense! I had no idea they went to low in later years.
Awesome Uncle Tony , reminds me of when my oldest Son had troubles with his 1979 Australian CM 245ci HEMI6 sedan . One of his mates took the distributer out and never reset the engine to #1 TDS before refitting , OUCH , it bent 2 push rods that I found when I reset the ignition timing properly , took 1/2 an hour to sort out , when my Son and his mates played around with it for over a week , 3 batteries etc. then gave up . The best thing was teaching them all how to get it all set up from the very start , just like I was shown by my Dad when I was their age , sweet .
I have a challenge to you Tony, buy a late 80's IROC-Z Camaro that has overheating issues after a radiator, water pump and thermostat replacement. I have never owned a vehicle with so many issues and I'd like to see how you'd tackle these money pits.
I daily drive a 1989 BMW 750iL with the V12 engine that scares most people off from buying one. It had a "bad engine", bought it from a guy for $500 because it wouldn't run. He had literally called the junkyard to have them come pick it up right before I called about it, but I figured the cats were worth the entry fee plus the 210mm limited slip diff was worth a grand. I did some electrical troubleshooting, and determined it was a bad central ignition computer. For $27 from a junkyard I got the car running. The AC worked. It passed smog. The self leveling suspension worked. The single stage Glasso paint polished up perfectly. That was in 2017, I've put 50k miles on my $500 BMW now. It is a fantastic vehicle.
This reminds me when I was given a dead car for free with a bad motor, turned out the gear on the distributor broke it's roll pin, 20 cents at the hardware store and I had it running again.
Saw a nice late '60's Dart with 340. Ran great. The owner had picked it up for a song because the engine was "bad". Just wouldn't run. He knew from how it sounded while cranking what it was. Towed it home, and it was as he thought, the distributor was 180* off. Pulled the dist, rotated, dropped it back in, set the timing and Voila!
An even easier solution would have been to simply drop in a rotor from a Ford. The two rotors are identical EXCEPT for the indexing which is 180 degrees opposite.
The lifter issue you mentioned does not preclude doing a compression test, it merely means you need to take that into account. A leak-down test should accompany the compression test on any suspect cylinders.
?… hydraulic lifters require oil pressure to keep the valves closed, can’t build compression with valves partially open. Ideally to test pushrod engines with hydraulic lifters you should do a running compression test but you can only do that if the engine runs
@@LibertyOrD___hYour a little confused I think . Valves will close fine and completely with no oil as the valve springs are solely responsible for closing the valves on the base circle of the cam.Also the valves will still open just not as much as when there pumped up,.
@@LibertyOrD___h um, no…..that’s not how any of this works. Lifters don’t “keep valves closed” …quite the opposite actually. The problem would actually be that the valves *don’t open enough* to build compression….the exact opposite of what you said. Either way, if you listen to when he cranked the engine in the first video it clearly had at least some compression…engines don’t “lope” like that without some cylinders having compression. Either way my point stands, a compression test and leak-down test are still prudent to properly diagnose engine problems like this. What people don’t often realize about compression tests is that often what’s important isn’t the amount of compression, but the consistency of compression across all cylinders.
Yes you absolutely scored, the excellent body is worth a lot more than 750 bucks. Used engines are available for a decent price and that is if you even need one as it turns out. My old Laredo is also utterly free of rust. XJs are a perfect size, just enough room for most everything you normally do, visibility is excellent, can carry stuff on the roof plus they can tow. If you're happy with 2wd then that's great, a little lighter, quicker, ride and steer a little better and feel a bit more nimble than 4wd but all XJs are fun to drive. Doesn't hurt that XJ parts are cheap and they last forever.
I bought a wennebago for the motor for my 77 Volare. I bought it for $300. But here's the kicker it had a title and it ran just fine when they parked it, but someone broke in and vandalized and tore up the whole interior. They had canceled the insurance and let the registration run out because they were not going to use it that winter, a couple months after they canceled the insurance is when it was Vandalized.
Eric, and U Tony, if it doesn't have the factory shield around the exhaust manifold, the heat will kill the injectors, might be awhile but eventually will happen.
Thats how I picked up my 89 XJ. It was running on 5, and I bought it for $50. Unhooked the injectors, prayed the connectors, smacked the injectors, and It started running on all 6.
I once had the plastic key on the distributor rotor brake. Making it move and unable to get the timing down. Rebuilt the motor then finally discovered the real issue.
This reminds me of a 1974 Ford Mustang II that I acquired back in 1998, the owner tried to do their own maintenance on the car but never worked on cars before, so after they changed to oil, oil filter, air filter, starter, cap plugs & wires, but the engine would not restart, it took me a few days but I got it to start and run, by that time the owner decided to give me the car because they felt it wasn't a good buy for them, so basically I got a car for free because the owner and their friends could figure out why it wouldn't start, they pull the distributor out to replace the points & condenser and installed the distributor 120° out of TDC, I just moved the plug wires to the new position and it fired right but found out that they installed the starter without the spacer and the bendixen was dragging on the flywheel, pulled the starter and installed a new spacer, and it ran great until it hit a pothole and dented the oil pan up against the sump pick up and starved the engine it oil, sold it to a wrecking yard for $75.00 because the owner wanted it to fix their Cobra II.
I recently acquired a 59 Chevy 3100 truck. 235 straight 6, 3 speed Saginaw, straight forward common for its day. Previous owner said engine was done, locked up, couldn't be saved. They had it for a couple of years as an intended project after retirement, decided it was just too much of a project for them and gave it to me. Within a couple of hours had the engine rotating and cranking. They'd ask for my help a few times previously and of course I always affirmed I'd help if called on, they never called. It'd been a farm truck most of it's used life, he'd found it underneath a collapsed barn in a field. Score for me, rusted out in the usual spots, no big deal but all in all pretty good shape for its age. Just shows with a little work, unless they've had extra vent hole blown through the block or crank case, you can usually get them to run again.
I worked at a junkyard, a guy sold us his car that his mechanic couldn't get running after replacing the clutch, he didn't install the bellhousing bolt that held the ground cable, I had it running and driving in 15 minutes!
Reminds me of the time I got my Buddy Tony Peters 68 Fury 3 running. This was in the early 80’s. It was sitting in front of his Mum’s house for years. Ended up being a stuck starter solenoid. Love it when shit comes together!!
You said you wouldn't mess with it until later, but you just couldn't resist, could you? Gearheads. Just like cats, curiosity always gets the better of them. At least you can sleep now. 😋
He wants to place these AMC engines in Mopars that HAVE a slant, or are slant ready. But the AMC is considerably longer than the Mopar six. That is why he cut up the firewall of the white car. But, these all wheel drive cars are not easy to change engine brands like a two wheel drive might be.
That is a pretty damn good score for $750. It's amazing how many times a minor problem will lead the owner to believe the engine is toast when it's really not.
Back in the early 80's I found a spotless 69 f250 ranger camper special no rust and less than 50k miles. The owner has a breakdown and a tow over 150 miles and wanted $500. My friend and I had several trucks and know the quirky issues with them. After 30 minutes we worked out a price and with a rope and a Chevy low rider down the road we went and pulled into a Texaco where we put $5 gas and a jump start drive it for several years. Best $50 ever paid to me to get it out of his driveway and Its problem as all the Ford's had is gas gauge reads quarter tank when empty
I had a similar deal an age ago. Bought an '83 2WD F-150 with a "bad engine" for $300. It sat in my side yard for a year before I had a chance to fiddle with it. A new battery had it cranking over w'o a problem, but it wouldn't start at all. Tried, but couldn't quite make it. 351 Windsor had one of those godawful variable venturi 2bbl on it. Went to a scrap yard and give $5 for a Holly 2bbl. She fired right up and ran fine.
This was a great video, finding a misjudged engine, slap some knowledge and used parts on it. It's a good looking vehicle that you made a great deal on. I know I wouldn't have found these issues.
Had a similar experience yesterday. Car had failing head gasket symptoms. Did some research and it turned out the head-bolts on this specific engine come loose sometimes. Sure enough they were loose. Tightened them. No more issues
Hi Tony , You lucky bun of a stiche . You always find the most insane deals . Pretty soon you'll have enough vehicles to open , Uncle Tony's used and refurbished cars and trucks , motorcycles, mini bikes , go kart store in town . Whew .
Got my first car many years ago because the distributor was loose and had spun around til it wouldn't run. My dad pulled it out of sight, pulled over, corrected the problem, started it up and drove it home. Got a '90 Ramcharger similarly for $500. The owner said it didn't run well and was a gas hog. The air filter was literally like a brick. The O2 sensor had obviously never been changed, and the u-joints were powder. Fixed those three things and it ran great, and mileage went from 7mpg to 15. Unreal. It was my daily driver for the next 5 years! Unreal.
this reminds me of the episode of Wheeler Dealers where a guy sold a Porsche Boxter cheap because the gearbox was stuffed, not shifting properly and all it needed was a transmission service - opportunities
Few years back my nephew bought a 93 s10 blazer for 500, Truck wouldn’t start previous owner had multiple mechanics look at it none could figure it out. I found the injector plug under the plenum bad fixed it for 15.00 and it ran perfect, 3 months later a truck backed into it totaled it and insurance gave him 3600.00.
Back in the early 90s. I bought an 81 Fiesta for a 100.00 that wouldn't stay running. Fixed it for 5.00 with 2 bottles of dry gas. Drove it for 2 years.
I loosen the ac bracket, the exhaust at the down pipe, Hoses, plugs etc etc. Then I use my engine hoist to lift the head intake and exhaust all together. Up and out. Takes me about 2-3hrs.
You will be hard pressed to find a V8 of similar displacement that has the same amount of low RPM torque as the 4.0 and it's predecessors . That's what makes these I6 engines so damned nice . The 258 I6 and the 304 V8 were usually optional in the same Jeep vehicles , and they made identical torque number . The I6 just made it's peak torque 1,000 RPM below that of the V8 . So unless you are going for serious high ROM usage and stupid amounts of power , the I6 is very nearly the perfect engine for these . The 4 bangers with manual transmissions are not great ( but tolerable .) and a 4 banger with the automatic is going to be an absolute DOG . Also , the 4 banger ones have specific mount locations different from the I6 XJs , so a 4 banger XJ ( or Wrangler ) is the better choice for a V8 swap , since the I6 is so good as is . You will have to cut the motor mounts off in most every case anyway , so better to cut the 4 banger up then butcher a factory 6 cylinder vehicle IMO . There were a few companies selling saddle mounts for 5.0 conversions that used the factory motor mount locations , but I don't know if they are still making them .
@kaboom4679 there's a video here on RUclips somewhere that has a 4.0 XJ hook bumpers with Hemi powered 4WD Ram. The XJ drug the RAM all over the parking lot with ease. Anyone who says to put a V8 in this is not a Jeep person.
@@kaboom4679that's why you put a 4200 L6 vortec from a trailblazer 100 hp more 50 more torque Entire engine 1" shorter 100 lbs lighter Use the 4l60e put jeep 231 transfer case on its easy
I bought a 1973 Plymouth Baracuda with what the owner told me needed a valve job. I took the car to work and put a scope on it to see what I was looking at. To my joy, the only problem with the engine was a bad spark plug wire causing a misfire. I could only assume that the mechanic who diagnosed the misfire wanted to buy the car and told the owner that it needed a valve job when it only need a new spark plug wire.
I’m looking for another one. I had a 95 and it was the best vehicle I’ve ever owned as far as quality and dependability is concerned. The only problem I had was that it has two straight axles and I almost rolled it when a hand cart fell off the truck in front of me at 65 on the freeway.
When you were probing cylinder 4 I believe, the probe was arcing as before you even touched the boot. I would not rule out bad cap and rotor, and wires. In my younger days, I worked at a Nissan, Jeep Eagle dealership, the cap and rotors and wires failed all of the time. One tech used to sprinkle water with a sponge over the cap and rotor, if any thing was failing, it would immediately cause the engine to run rough, and at that point it was time to replace all three!
Is Tony implying that if you have no spark in two cylinders that are not firing that antifreeze/water is entering those cylinders causing the spark plugs not to fire ?
So many 4.0 inline Jeep 6s got pulled for rod knocks that ended up being nothing more than a bad power steering pump. Only figured out on the second junkyard motor or third counting engine UNO
If thats a 00-01 the headgasket is blown because the cylinder head is most likely cracked. 00-02 4.0s with the 0311 Cylinder heads all crack there unless you got lucky and it has the replacement TUPY heads these things got when they failed under warranty. You can tell if its a TUPY head fairly easily since it will have TUPY stamped into the head completely visible through the oil fill hole in the valve cover.
So I found your page watching the Lucas oil thing then I saw the XJ video and the Mopars. Well had to subscribe as an XJ owner and a Mopar guy. Don't have any of my cool Mopars anymore but have built my XJ into a pretty capable rock crawler without completely destroying it's basic core. Looking forward to more XJ videos. Oh, it also helped that you seem to know what your talking about not like some other channels. 🙂
@@99jeepxjguy97 They're on the same chassis as the Javelin that was specifically designed to win Trans Am, and successfully did so. I think they're pretty cool. Light, short wheelbase, and fits just about any engine you'd like.
304. A smogged down dog. But they can be woken up. An 1/8th overbore, 360 heads for bigger valves and a cam is a start. The 304 was not used for TransAm racing. In 68 and 69 they used a 290 opened up .094". From 70 on the Javelins used a Special Service Block. Basically a 360* with 390/401 coolant passages and main webs for 4 bolt mains. The motor was destroked to get under the 305 CID engine limit. No, not an LA 360.
@@mpetersen6 I do now recall something about the 290, now that you said it. But the point I guess I was making, was, thhe Gremlin had a V8 available. So if a 290 or 360 fit , then way cool!
Back in the 70s in in Perth Western Australia I saw a Morris 1100 with a not for sale sign at a dealer literally in an alleyway out wth my wife grocery shopping. My wife drove one. They were sold in the US as Austin Americans btw. Anyhow I walked up and challenged the not for sale sign and they let me try to start it and the head was pouring water, obviously cracked as I recall. I said I’ll give you $200 for it and they took it. Getting it home involved putting water in it 3 or 4 times but we got it there. They were worth about $1000:at the time. I had a spare serviced head and a head gasket - it takes no more than 30 minutes to swap one. It ran for years.
Gotta LOVE those blown engine cars! I once bought local record holder, for a song, that not one, not two, but three "experts" had diagnosed as dead. It did take five hours just to undo the expets work, and get to the original problem. Which as it turned out, was the guy I brought it from being a deadbeat. Ended up he never finished paying for the car, got some Domino in the tank! Which ended up in the fuel pump, locked it solid, wiped the lobe off the cam. My fix? Clean all the crap out, electric pump, and happy motoring. Yep love them blown engines!
I'm not an SUV guy, an offroad guy, a Jeepster...but i still recognize the potential in these XJ's, they're still cheap buy-in hot rods (yes, i'll use that term). and i remember someone doing a cheap-o Trackhawk V8 swap on one of these--probably easier than finding an old 401 Grand Cherokee and trying to find AMC speed parts. Did have to laugh at the comment about the seller taking it to a "discount chain repair garage". A month back i was scoping out a 1955 Ford-door in a carport at an estate sale...trunk LOADED with Sears parts, even the old Sears cardboard oil cans. Back in the Malaise Era, it wasn't the worst idea to bring your daily driver to the big mall and have Sears do the basic repairs--so long as you already had an idea of what was wrong. After all, they did have good parts like DieHard batteries and didn't seem to screw up a brake job all that bad--and you could wander the mall while you waited and snacked at the food court. I guess WalMart has taken over that role now.
I've had at least 3 cars bought with misdiagnosed issues, 65 t-bird with cracked block that turned out to be rusted freeze/casting plugs, 96 chevy van with rod knock that was a bolt on converter backed off and hitting bellhousing and a 80-81 Honda Accord that wouldn't idle but ran good at 3500 rpm and up, bushing in distributor worn out that centrifugal force straightened it out at high rpm, $50 junkyard distributor along with the $100 for the car made about $1500 profit.
How did you diagnose a bad headgasket from simply probing the sparkplug cables? I'm amazed. A video on how to generally diagnose the ignition system would be great.
I know with my xj, sometimes if i let it sit for a while without running, itll have a miss until i put it under a load for a minute or so going down the road. She needs an italian tune up hahaha. FULL SEND TONY!!!
Your second theory is unlikely because rotating the distributor won't change the timing at all. Worst case it might start jumping spark to the wrong cylinder. The timing is controlled entirely by the crank sensor, and the cam sensor is only used to sync onto the correct stroke.
I picked up a low mileage car worth mid teens for 2k because the dealership told the PO it skipped timing. Knowing this isn’t a common problem I diagnosed it. Alternator was seized and they burnt out the starter trying to crank it. $100 used alternator, and I had a started kicking around. She was back up and running like new. Timing checked good, compression good, I sold the car for 15k
Friend of mine in early 2000s bought a mustang 2 fer 250 I think supposedly had a locked up engine. Went to pull it and a torque converter bolt was holdin the engine solid. He put it back like it was supposed to be and drove it fer 4 years
I've popped out a distributor once, but thankfully nothing broke because it did not run a long time after the oil light went on I had forgotten to put the hold down fork completely, and it was dark, so I missed that, but when the idiot light came on, I instantly stopped it and checked to see what was wrong and realized that I had partially ejected the distributor tower, but not entirely. The car proceeded to run for many more years after I put the distributor back in place [with the oil pump re-aligned] and the hold-down fork properly in place.
SCORE!!! I knew that engine wasn't toast. My money was on timing, but man that's a good eye on that distributor! Can't believe no one had thought to check that. They probably heard the compression and figured it was junk. Check and see what the head casting it is though, Tony. A lot of people don't know this, but the 2nd half of the production run in 1999 got the dreaded 0331 head. Shared compression between 3 and 4 could be a cracked head - which is exactly where the 0331 are are famous for doing so. In fact, my '99 had an 0630 head on it and the previous owner beat that thing so hard it cracked between 3 and 4 from water jacket to a little past the other water jacket. I had never seen an 0630 do that (and I've NEVER seen an 0720 crack at all).
On jeep 4.0 engines when you install a distributor you do not install it straight up like you did . There is a hole on the reluctor in the distributor and the distributor body you put a drill bit through the hole to time the distributor and install it so the distributor body lines up with the hold down bolt. Set up like you have it it will tend to cross fire in the cap .
"I'm not going to touch it until I get to the new shop" That's what you said yesterday LOL
😂
Here is your present but do not open it until Xmas. Glad you did though. Keep that L6 alive. Hard to beat that “tractor engine”.
Tomorrows vid will be how to replace a jeep Head gasket;)
This is the feeling you get that hooks you into being a mechanic. When you bring something everyone thought was dead back to life, it is very satisfying.
Plus it's a always fun to drive it by the guy you bought it from five hours earlier and wave :)
@@sometimesleela5947 That would be my brother who does that. He had no tact in those days.
I agree 100 percent 💯
I worked for a small junkyard for a while back in '10 and '11. I was shocked at how many people were throwing cars away with "bad motors", and how often it was something simple and easily fixed. Many times, all we had to do was put gas in them.
🤣 motors are like dogs there are no bad motors only bad mechanics. Except for the motors and dogs that are ACTUALLY BAD i.e. any motor or dog I can't fix 😂
How many times was a customer told that the car needed an engine when it just needed a spark plug wire.
I spent much of my teen and early adult years diving vehicles others had written off! Hell, I still have some of them in my fleet 30 years later! Lol
💯🤙🏻😎
Anyone who junks a car when all it needs is some fuel is probably better off not having a car to begin with.
Well maybe the mechanics plugged it in and there maybe wasn't a code that tells you that somebody lost the clamp to the distributer or something.
"mechanics" 😉
The "lost distributor shaft shelf" code? 😆🤯😲🤣😂😃
I had a bad motor . It kept sneaking out at night and Robbing Banks ! 😅😂😊
😅😅😅😅😅😂😂😂😂
You'll get that on those big blocks ..
Robbing banks or sneaking money out of your wallet? 😂
@@valvejob4215 Oh ! , you had one too ! Hopefully it wasn't the same same one 😔.
Found out by the sudden appearance of bundles of money in console, trunk, under seats?...I call that good car!
Got your answer. 4.0 unless it's hurt really bad, will run forever despite itself.
My dad had an xj. Didn't know how to take care of cars really but damn he drained the radiator one time and it was completely rust brown. He filled it back up with hose water and it ran and ran till he sold it again. The 4.0 is a tough engine
The AMC 6 is an almost criminally stubborn design.
I bought a nice 78 cutlass cheap like that. They had swapped transmissions. Drove it for a bit it quit moving, and they thought the engine had developed a knock. I returned with the $200 and some new torque converter bolts. His expression when I drove off was priceless.
I love those stories. I bought a 65 Dart GT that had a 'seized motor'. I brought a trailer, paid $350, got the title, then decided to smack the starter with a rock. That 273 fired right up on 7 year old gas and drove on the trailer.
Love it! I bought a car from someone who was told from a shop that it was blown and wanted $2500 to fix it. I bought it for $400 and it needed a fuel pump.
I got a deal on a '93 Cherokee, a car dealer thought it had a rod knock. I cranked it up, it knocked for a couple seconds then stopped. I knew it was a loose catalytic converter, when it starts it'll rattle a couple seconds and stop rattling. I drove it daily for 12 years and it had over 400 thousand miles on it when I sold it with a blown transfer case.
It sounds like there are a lot of people calling themselves mechanics who aren't. When I was younger and working a cheap job, struggling, my beater broke down so I went to the parts store and misnamed a part I needed. The guy behind the counter gave me one of those "You poser" looks and it really pissed me off. I said, "Look man, I am not pretending to be a mechanic. I am here because I can't afford to pay somebody like you to fix it and I need it." Now it's even worse, so Tony, there are a lot of us who aren't mechanics and without your knowledge. You are the car wizard, and teaching the next generation is a favor to us all. Thank God you are teaching them ethics too.
Awesome!
I love my 87!
For me renix era Cherokees are the best.
But any 4.0 will run forever if you treat it right, they're the EFI engines i never worry about converting to carb.
I've owned 2 Cherokees with the 4.0L and my first inclination when I saw the original video was something related to timing. Those engines just don't die like that, lose all compression without a damn good reason. So yeah, she's a runner all right! Well done!
Im sure ive told this story here before but i scored a Foxbody mustang back in the 90s from a man that said "it has a bad motor". . I bought it for $500 when mustangs were selling for $4000-$8000. Got it home and started it up, no smoke bu a horrible rattling that the previous owner said was a rod knocking.
Long story short, it was a tin cover for the catalytic converter that had bolts worked loose.
I tightened them up and it was my daily driver for years. 😁
Once had a 383 Chrysler and the mileage dropped in half. Still ran pretty much okay but that mileage! Took a look and here the distributor cap was split completely in two and the clips were holding it together.
I bought a 96 F350 crew cab from a junkyard for $750. They were unsure of the condition of the motor. I replaced the fuel pumps and fuel pressure regulator and she started and runs smoothly. 7.5 460 lol. Even drove it around the block and the transmission shifted smooth.
Im happy I was right. I still feel that the head gasket will be fine though. I would swap out the plugs and cables, and then see how she behaves. I really do think you scored big on that Jeep.
I do like the XJ vids. One day, would love to do a video together, in the shop or at the track once I get a bit more healthier.
I dunno, the cranking right before it started it still sounded down a couple holes. The lifters should have been pumped up enough with a minute+ of cranking before hand.
4.0 is damn near immortal.
So is the Ford 300 6 cyl.
Both super tough engines. Never actually saw a 300 fail, and I worked in Ford dealerships for a number of years. Also at a Jeep dealership....at that point in their long and rocky history, the trucks were pretty shaky, but the 4.0 was about as reliable as an anvil....
I bought a 97 Grand Cherokee for a $1000 6 years ago. It finally gave out when the transmission stopped shifting after 2nd gear. I loved that car.
My first car was an Austin Mini the first of 5, my grandad taught me everything I needed to keep those cars on the road for almost no money. Tough little A series with point/coil ignition and a single SU. He always said ‘ If it’s not running right 95% it’s ignition 4% carb 1% the engine’ I miss the wonderful simplicity of running a car back then.
1999 is one of the best years! No coil rail and no 0331 head. My 1999 has 249,500 miles. Unfortunately mine has some rust (NY winters plowing my neighbors driveways). Mine is also Stone White and a Classic with painted fender flares.
Also first year of the thrust plate cam (no walking issues) and many other electrical and computer advancements (we can finally see misfire data!). Also the last year before they went high pinion. All around best year, agreed!
Last hi pinion year. Then 00 went to lo pinion, same as TJ. But yes. I agree with the rest
@@99jeepxjguy97 Interesting! I had no idea there was a piston change. High is better than low?
@@Hubjeep Yes. The '99 down had the hi pinion D30. Then in 00, it changed to the lo (standard) D30. Same as in the TJ. Probably because XJ was scheduleed to be discontinued, and TJ not til 06. Hi pinion stays mor clear of ground, and d shaft angle is less.
@@99jeepxjguy97 HA, I mis-read it as "piston", like there was some sort of piston skirt change, lol. Yes, that high-pinion makes sense! I had no idea they went to low in later years.
Awesome Uncle Tony , reminds me of when my oldest Son had troubles with his 1979 Australian CM 245ci HEMI6 sedan .
One of his mates took the distributer out and never reset the engine to #1 TDS before refitting , OUCH , it bent 2 push rods that I found when I reset the ignition timing properly , took 1/2 an hour to sort out , when my Son and his mates played around with it for over a week , 3 batteries etc. then gave up .
The best thing was teaching them all how to get it all set up from the very start , just like I was shown by my Dad when I was their age , sweet .
I have a challenge to you Tony, buy a late 80's IROC-Z Camaro that has overheating issues after a radiator, water pump and thermostat replacement. I have never owned a vehicle with so many issues and I'd like to see how you'd tackle these money pits.
I’d bet the cooling passages in the block on that IROC are full of rust.
when Uncle Tony said "we're gonna save this thing" i was
so excited i subscribed again :)
I daily drive a 1989 BMW 750iL with the V12 engine that scares most people off from buying one. It had a "bad engine", bought it from a guy for $500 because it wouldn't run. He had literally called the junkyard to have them come pick it up right before I called about it, but I figured the cats were worth the entry fee plus the 210mm limited slip diff was worth a grand. I did some electrical troubleshooting, and determined it was a bad central ignition computer. For $27 from a junkyard I got the car running. The AC worked. It passed smog. The self leveling suspension worked. The single stage Glasso paint polished up perfectly. That was in 2017, I've put 50k miles on my $500 BMW now. It is a fantastic vehicle.
This reminds me when I was given a dead car for free with a bad motor, turned out the gear on the distributor broke it's roll pin, 20 cents at the hardware store and I had it running again.
💯🤙🏻😎🤷🏿♂️😊
Saw a nice late '60's Dart with 340. Ran great. The owner had picked it up for a song because the engine was "bad". Just wouldn't run. He knew from how it sounded while cranking what it was. Towed it home, and it was as he thought, the distributor was 180* off. Pulled the dist, rotated, dropped it back in, set the timing and Voila!
An even easier solution would have been to simply drop in a rotor from a Ford. The two rotors are identical EXCEPT for the indexing which is 180
degrees opposite.
The lifter issue you mentioned does not preclude doing a compression test, it merely means you need to take that into account. A leak-down test should accompany the compression test on any suspect cylinders.
Yes ..uncle tony is wrong in this
?… hydraulic lifters require oil pressure to keep the valves closed, can’t build compression with valves partially open.
Ideally to test pushrod engines with hydraulic lifters you should do a running compression test but you can only do that if the engine runs
@@LibertyOrD___hYour a little confused I think . Valves will close fine and completely with no oil as the valve springs are solely responsible for closing the valves on the base circle of the cam.Also the valves will still open just not as much as when there pumped up,.
@@LibertyOrD___hdon’t smoke any more of that stuff.
@@LibertyOrD___h um, no…..that’s not how any of this works. Lifters don’t “keep valves closed” …quite the opposite actually. The problem would actually be that the valves *don’t open enough* to build compression….the exact opposite of what you said. Either way, if you listen to when he cranked the engine in the first video it clearly had at least some compression…engines don’t “lope” like that without some cylinders having compression. Either way my point stands, a compression test and leak-down test are still prudent to properly diagnose engine problems like this. What people don’t often realize about compression tests is that often what’s important isn’t the amount of compression, but the consistency of compression across all cylinders.
Nice score Uncle Tony, i'm sure you can make that thing road worthy again..
Yes you absolutely scored, the excellent body is worth a lot more than 750 bucks. Used engines are available for a decent price and that is if you even need one as it turns out. My old Laredo is also utterly free of rust. XJs are a perfect size, just enough room for most everything you normally do, visibility is excellent, can carry stuff on the roof plus they can tow. If you're happy with 2wd then that's great, a little lighter, quicker, ride and steer a little better and feel a bit more nimble than 4wd but all XJs are fun to drive. Doesn't hurt that XJ parts are cheap and they last forever.
I'd say gasket blew first, then dizzy broke from vibrations of running on 4cyl.
I bought a wennebago for the motor for my 77 Volare. I bought it for $300. But here's the kicker it had a title and it ran just fine when they parked it, but someone broke in and vandalized and tore up the whole interior. They had canceled the insurance and let the registration run out because they were not going to use it that winter, a couple months after they canceled the insurance is when it was Vandalized.
Try tapping the injectors with a screwdriver or something. Fixed my dads 4.0 that way.
Eric, and U Tony, if it doesn't have the factory shield around the exhaust manifold, the heat will kill the injectors, might be awhile but eventually will happen.
Thats how I picked up my 89 XJ. It was running on 5, and I bought it for $50. Unhooked the injectors, prayed the connectors, smacked the injectors, and It started running on all 6.
@Sleepy_Js_Garage Always amazing how violence can solve an issue!
Knowing how to fix things can lead to great finds like this Jeep. I'm envious.
I once had the plastic key on the distributor rotor brake. Making it move and unable to get the timing down. Rebuilt the motor then finally discovered the real issue.
Ouch.
This reminds me of a 1974 Ford Mustang II that I acquired back in 1998, the owner tried to do their own maintenance on the car but never worked on cars before, so after they changed to oil, oil filter, air filter, starter, cap plugs & wires, but the engine would not restart, it took me a few days but I got it to start and run, by that time the owner decided to give me the car because they felt it wasn't a good buy for them, so basically I got a car for free because the owner and their friends could figure out why it wouldn't start, they pull the distributor out to replace the points & condenser and installed the distributor 120° out of TDC, I just moved the plug wires to the new position and it fired right but found out that they installed the starter without the spacer and the bendixen was dragging on the flywheel, pulled the starter and installed a new spacer, and it ran great until it hit a pothole and dented the oil pan up against the sump pick up and starved the engine it oil, sold it to a wrecking yard for $75.00 because the owner wanted it to fix their Cobra II.
Top tier automotive content!!
LOVING the XJ stuff!!! Keep it coming!!!
I recently acquired a 59 Chevy 3100 truck. 235 straight 6, 3 speed Saginaw, straight forward common for its day. Previous owner said engine was done, locked up, couldn't be saved. They had it for a couple of years as an intended project after retirement, decided it was just too much of a project for them and gave it to me. Within a couple of hours had the engine rotating and cranking. They'd ask for my help a few times previously and of course I always affirmed I'd help if called on, they never called. It'd been a farm truck most of it's used life, he'd found it underneath a collapsed barn in a field. Score for me, rusted out in the usual spots, no big deal but all in all pretty good shape for its age. Just shows with a little work, unless they've had extra vent hole blown through the block or crank case, you can usually get them to run again.
Thanks great video.
I worked at a junkyard, a guy sold us his car that his mechanic couldn't get running after replacing the clutch, he didn't install the bellhousing bolt that held the ground cable, I had it running and driving in 15 minutes!
Reminds me of the time I got my Buddy Tony Peters 68 Fury 3 running.
This was in the early 80’s. It was sitting in front of his Mum’s house for years.
Ended up being a stuck starter solenoid.
Love it when shit comes together!!
Well done Tony! (but for God's sake change those fugly headlights!)
You said you wouldn't mess with it until later, but you just couldn't resist, could you? Gearheads. Just like cats, curiosity always gets the better of them. At least you can sleep now. 😋
Awesome troubleshooting Uncle Tony!
Hey, at least it moves under its own power. That is a HUGE thing with junkers.
More things to check before pulling the head.
This is the kind of video the average guy can relate to. Much more interesting than vehicle builds with unlimited budgets.
I started watching you when you were throwing a slant6 at everything... this could use a slant if you ask me.
He wants to place these AMC engines in Mopars that HAVE a slant, or are slant ready. But the AMC is considerably longer than the Mopar six. That is why he cut up the firewall of the white car.
But, these all wheel drive cars are not easy to change engine brands like a two wheel drive might be.
Sweet man. A bona fide utg revival. I dig it
That is a pretty damn good score for $750. It's amazing how many times a minor problem will lead the owner to believe the engine is toast when it's really not.
and sometimes, the "shiny and new" crowd use a problem as a reason to get into debt over a "new to them" vehicle. they're sick of the warm AC, etc.
@@albertgaspar627 Yeah, that's true, and the dealers pushing the "shiny and new" are only too happy to help them with that.
@@clembob8004 and the thing is, both these folks are keeping the economy going :) but it's really not for me. i pay wholesale not retail.
Nice find! Well done, brother!
Back in the early 80's I found a spotless 69 f250 ranger camper special no rust and less than 50k miles. The owner has a breakdown and a tow over 150 miles and wanted $500. My friend and I had several trucks and know the quirky issues with them. After 30 minutes we worked out a price and with a rope and a Chevy low rider down the road we went and pulled into a Texaco where we put $5 gas and a jump start drive it for several years. Best $50 ever paid to me to get it out of his driveway and Its problem as all the Ford's had is gas gauge reads quarter tank when empty
I had a similar deal an age ago. Bought an '83 2WD F-150 with a "bad engine" for $300. It sat in my side yard for a year before I had a chance to fiddle with it. A new battery had it cranking over w'o a problem, but it wouldn't start at all. Tried, but couldn't quite make it. 351 Windsor had one of those godawful variable venturi 2bbl on it. Went to a scrap yard and give $5 for a Holly 2bbl. She fired right up and ran fine.
Tony, I don't know anybody that does what you do for the general public on automobiles.
This was a great video, finding a misjudged engine, slap some knowledge and used parts on it. It's a good looking vehicle that you made a great deal on. I know I wouldn't have found these issues.
For the purpose of a tow vehicle, I would blueprint and port match the head. The torque increase will make a very nice power band.
Had a similar experience yesterday. Car had failing head gasket symptoms. Did some research and it turned out the head-bolts on this specific engine come loose sometimes. Sure enough they were loose. Tightened them. No more issues
Hi Tony , You lucky bun of a stiche . You always find the most insane deals . Pretty soon you'll have enough vehicles to open , Uncle Tony's used and refurbished cars and trucks , motorcycles, mini bikes , go kart store in town . Whew .
Got my first car many years ago because the distributor was loose and had spun around til it wouldn't run. My dad pulled it out of sight, pulled over, corrected the problem, started it up and drove it home. Got a '90 Ramcharger similarly for $500. The owner said it didn't run well and was a gas hog. The air filter was literally like a brick. The O2 sensor had obviously never been changed, and the u-joints were powder. Fixed those three things and it ran great, and mileage went from 7mpg to 15. Unreal. It was my daily driver for the next 5 years! Unreal.
this reminds me of the episode of Wheeler Dealers where a guy sold a Porsche Boxter cheap because the gearbox was stuffed, not shifting properly and all it needed was a transmission service - opportunities
Few years back my nephew bought a 93 s10 blazer for 500, Truck wouldn’t start previous owner had multiple mechanics look at it none could figure it out. I found the injector plug under the plenum bad fixed it for 15.00 and it ran perfect, 3 months later a truck backed into it totaled it and insurance gave him 3600.00.
uncle tony is cool , regular human
Tony, you make me re-learn all the old corps shit I forgot when I was a teenager.
It's exactly what you thought when it wouldn't start. Two cylinders.
Great info. Easy to understand. Nice clear pics. Thank you .God bless
Back in the early 90s. I bought an 81 Fiesta for a 100.00 that wouldn't stay running. Fixed it for 5.00 with 2 bottles of dry gas. Drove it for 2 years.
I loosen the ac bracket, the exhaust at the down pipe,
Hoses, plugs etc etc. Then I use my engine hoist to lift the head intake and exhaust all together. Up and out. Takes me about 2-3hrs.
The heart of an XJ is the inline six, if you put in an 8 it's not an XJ any more.
Agreed. Especially if desiring a reliable tow rig
Yeah, then it's an XJ+
You will be hard pressed to find a V8 of similar displacement that has the same amount of low RPM torque as the 4.0 and it's predecessors .
That's what makes these I6 engines so damned nice .
The 258 I6 and the 304 V8 were usually optional in the same Jeep vehicles , and they made identical torque number .
The I6 just made it's peak torque 1,000 RPM below that of the V8 .
So unless you are going for serious high ROM usage and stupid amounts of power , the I6 is very nearly the perfect engine for these .
The 4 bangers with manual transmissions are not great ( but tolerable .) and a 4 banger with the automatic is going to be an absolute DOG .
Also , the 4 banger ones have specific mount locations different from the I6 XJs , so a 4 banger XJ ( or Wrangler ) is the better choice for a V8 swap , since the I6 is so good as is .
You will have to cut the motor mounts off in most every case anyway , so better to cut the 4 banger up then butcher a factory 6 cylinder vehicle IMO .
There were a few companies selling saddle mounts for 5.0 conversions that used the factory motor mount locations , but I don't know if they are still making them .
@kaboom4679 there's a video here on RUclips somewhere that has a 4.0 XJ hook bumpers with Hemi powered 4WD Ram. The XJ drug the RAM all over the parking lot with ease. Anyone who says to put a V8 in this is not a Jeep person.
@@kaboom4679that's why you put a 4200 L6 vortec from a trailblazer
100 hp more
50 more torque
Entire engine 1" shorter
100 lbs lighter
Use the 4l60e put jeep 231 transfer case on its easy
Could be the head gasket but did you check to see if the fireing order is correct? Might be those 2 wires 4 and 3 are swapped !
I bought a 1973 Plymouth Baracuda with what the owner told me needed a valve job. I took the car to work and put a scope on it to see what I was looking at. To my joy, the only problem with the engine was a bad spark plug wire causing a misfire. I could only assume that the mechanic who diagnosed the misfire wanted to buy the car and told the owner that it needed a valve job when it only need a new spark plug wire.
I’m looking for another one. I had a 95 and it was the best vehicle I’ve ever owned as far as quality and dependability is concerned. The only problem I had was that it has two straight axles and I almost rolled it when a hand cart fell off the truck in front of me at 65 on the freeway.
Glad to see that you don't need to pull the motor and swap it out. Nice to show people how to troubleshoot. Great as always UTG !!
When you were probing cylinder 4 I believe, the probe was arcing as before you even touched the boot. I would not rule out bad cap and rotor, and wires. In my younger days, I worked at a Nissan, Jeep Eagle dealership, the cap and rotors and wires failed all of the time. One tech used to sprinkle water with a sponge over the cap and rotor, if any thing was failing, it would immediately cause the engine to run rough, and at that point it was time to replace all three!
Is Tony implying that if you have no spark in two cylinders that are not firing that antifreeze/water is entering those cylinders causing the spark plugs not to fire ?
So much for all these "professional mechanics" that looked at it and the motor is totalled .
So many 4.0 inline Jeep 6s got pulled for rod knocks that ended up being nothing more than a bad power steering pump. Only figured out on the second junkyard motor or third counting engine UNO
If thats a 00-01 the headgasket is blown because the cylinder head is most likely cracked. 00-02 4.0s with the 0311 Cylinder heads all crack there unless you got lucky and it has the replacement TUPY heads these things got when they failed under warranty. You can tell if its a TUPY head fairly easily since it will have TUPY stamped into the head completely visible through the oil fill hole in the valve cover.
So I found your page watching the Lucas oil thing then I saw the XJ video and the Mopars. Well had to subscribe as an XJ owner and a Mopar guy. Don't have any of my cool Mopars anymore but have built my XJ into a pretty capable rock crawler without completely destroying it's basic core. Looking forward to more XJ videos. Oh, it also helped that you seem to know what your talking about not like some other channels. 🙂
I pulled the e-fan out of my XJ and my MJ, and never looked back. Good fan clutch, clean radiator? No worries.
Next thing you know Tony is gonna get a Gremlin and become a full on AMC guy. 4.0l bolts right in!
Gremlins are actually a pretty cool car. But, again, AMC, so . . .
@@99jeepxjguy97 They're on the same chassis as the Javelin that was specifically designed to win Trans Am, and successfully did so. I think they're pretty cool. Light, short wheelbase, and fits just about any engine you'd like.
Thank you
I didn't know they shared the Javelin chassis. Another cool thing I like about Gremlins, is that a 304 V8 was also an option.👍
304. A smogged down dog. But they can be woken up. An 1/8th overbore, 360 heads for bigger valves and a cam is a start. The 304 was not used for TransAm racing. In 68 and 69 they used a 290 opened up .094". From 70 on the Javelins used a Special Service Block. Basically a 360* with 390/401 coolant passages and main webs for 4 bolt mains. The motor was destroked to get under the 305 CID engine limit.
No, not an LA 360.
@@mpetersen6 I do now recall something about the 290, now that you said it. But the point I guess I was making, was, thhe Gremlin had a V8 available. So if a 290 or 360 fit , then way cool!
Back in the 70s in in Perth Western Australia I saw a Morris 1100 with a not for sale sign at a dealer literally in an alleyway out wth my wife grocery shopping. My wife drove one. They were sold in the US as Austin Americans btw. Anyhow I walked up and challenged the not for sale sign and they let me try to start it and the head was pouring water, obviously cracked as I recall. I said I’ll give you $200 for it and they took it. Getting it home involved putting water in it 3 or 4 times but we got it there. They were worth about $1000:at the time. I had a spare serviced head and a head gasket - it takes no more than 30 minutes to swap one. It ran for years.
Love those 4.0’s
I did a partial restoration on a 96' XJ(red/gray int), it has over 240k orig build miles-
Fun video, love rolling the dice on stuff like this. "Just don't be scared!" great motto on this one
Gotta LOVE those blown engine cars! I once bought local record holder, for a song, that not one, not two, but three "experts" had diagnosed as dead. It did take five hours just to undo the expets work, and get to the original problem. Which as it turned out, was the guy I brought it from being a deadbeat. Ended up he never finished paying for the car, got some Domino in the tank! Which ended up in the fuel pump, locked it solid, wiped the lobe off the cam. My fix? Clean all the crap out, electric pump, and happy motoring. Yep love them blown engines!
I'm not an SUV guy, an offroad guy, a Jeepster...but i still recognize the potential in these XJ's, they're still cheap buy-in hot rods (yes, i'll use that term). and i remember someone doing a cheap-o Trackhawk V8 swap on one of these--probably easier than finding an old 401 Grand Cherokee and trying to find AMC speed parts.
Did have to laugh at the comment about the seller taking it to a "discount chain repair garage". A month back i was scoping out a 1955 Ford-door in a carport at an estate sale...trunk LOADED with Sears parts, even the old Sears cardboard oil cans. Back in the Malaise Era, it wasn't the worst idea to bring your daily driver to the big mall and have Sears do the basic repairs--so long as you already had an idea of what was wrong. After all, they did have good parts like DieHard batteries and didn't seem to screw up a brake job all that bad--and you could wander the mall while you waited and snacked at the food court. I guess WalMart has taken over that role now.
I must have missed why you were moving the shop. I thought that shop had everything and studio space?
Too far out of town and the house, new shop closer to home and parts stores.
I've had at least 3 cars bought with misdiagnosed issues, 65 t-bird with cracked block that turned out to be rusted freeze/casting plugs, 96 chevy van with rod knock that was a bolt on converter backed off and hitting bellhousing and a 80-81 Honda Accord that wouldn't idle but ran good at 3500 rpm and up, bushing in distributor worn out that centrifugal force straightened it out at high rpm, $50 junkyard distributor along with the $100 for the car made about $1500 profit.
6:40 I’ve seen the Neutral Drop guys drive one of these 4L’s with 2 rods fired through the block, it’ll run 😂
put an amc 304, 360 or 401 in it Tony!! it bolts up to the aw4 auto trans its got the same bellhousing pattern.
How did you diagnose a bad headgasket from simply probing the sparkplug cables? I'm amazed. A video on how to generally diagnose the ignition system would be great.
Man Tony what a deal you got a great jeep for under a thousand bucks with a little bit of work definitely going be a great vehicle 👏 👌
I know with my xj, sometimes if i let it sit for a while without running, itll have a miss until i put it under a load for a minute or so going down the road. She needs an italian tune up hahaha. FULL SEND TONY!!!
Your second theory is unlikely because rotating the distributor won't change the timing at all. Worst case it might start jumping spark to the wrong cylinder. The timing is controlled entirely by the crank sensor, and the cam sensor is only used to sync onto the correct stroke.
I picked up a low mileage car worth mid teens for 2k because the dealership told the PO it skipped timing. Knowing this isn’t a common problem I diagnosed it. Alternator was seized and they burnt out the starter trying to crank it. $100 used alternator, and I had a started kicking around. She was back up and running like new. Timing checked good, compression good, I sold the car for 15k
hey uncle tony its time to do a comparison of that head gasket in a can stuff theres many that claim it works
Friend of mine in early 2000s bought a mustang 2 fer 250 I think supposedly had a locked up engine. Went to pull it and a torque converter bolt was holdin the engine solid. He put it back like it was supposed to be and drove it fer 4 years
Happy to hear it worked out for you for the most part.
I've popped out a distributor once, but thankfully nothing broke because it did not run a long time after the oil light went on
I had forgotten to put the hold down fork completely, and it was dark, so I missed that, but when the idiot light came on, I instantly stopped it and checked to see what was wrong and realized that I had partially ejected the distributor tower, but not entirely.
The car proceeded to run for many more years after I put the distributor back in place [with the oil pump re-aligned] and the hold-down fork properly in place.
SCORE!!! I knew that engine wasn't toast. My money was on timing, but man that's a good eye on that distributor! Can't believe no one had thought to check that. They probably heard the compression and figured it was junk.
Check and see what the head casting it is though, Tony. A lot of people don't know this, but the 2nd half of the production run in 1999 got the dreaded 0331 head. Shared compression between 3 and 4 could be a cracked head - which is exactly where the 0331 are are famous for doing so.
In fact, my '99 had an 0630 head on it and the previous owner beat that thing so hard it cracked between 3 and 4 from water jacket to a little past the other water jacket. I had never seen an 0630 do that (and I've NEVER seen an 0720 crack at all).
Definitely a score! Even with needing a head gasket
On jeep 4.0 engines when you install a distributor you do not install it straight up like you did . There is a hole on the reluctor in the distributor and the distributor body you put a drill bit through the hole to time the distributor and install it so the distributor body lines up with the hold down bolt. Set up like you have it it will tend to cross fire in the cap .