blistovmhz
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
Hey all. A bit embarrassed I have to ask such a simple question after beating and building my rig for 8 years, but the 4.0L short block is just one of those few things I've never had to delve into.
Picked up a 2000xj for the girl yesterday after she forgot to put oil in her civic. Took it for a short test drive, made sure it was up to temp. Drove good, pulled strong, no strange noises. Suspension was completely beat which I thought was a bit odd as the owner had clearly babied the shit outta it from the day he bought it (second owner, had it for 10 years).
Guy was asking a bit much for it considering the entire suspension needed to be replaced, and all the u-joints were done (bone stock), but the body/uni/interior all looked to be near mint. I told him I couldn't offer what he was asking and made him an offer. We shot the shit for a bit and he told me he'd had the same offer made by an older lady. I told him that even if he doesn't give it to me for what I'd offered him, he really shouldn't sell it to an old lady as it was a bit of a death trap until the suspension/steering and u-joints had been done (I certainly wouldn't have sold it to anyone who didn't know Jeeps). After a bit more discussion, he agreed to $100 more than I'd offered. I took it. Went to do the paperwork and came back and he decided to give it to me for the price I'd offered. All this together, I figure he's a good guy and honestly didn't know anything was wrong with it. As we were making the exchange, he mentioned that he'd seen the CEL come on once in a while recently when the Jeep came to a stop after driving for a bit. I asked if the oil pressure dropped to 0 at the same time, he didn't know, I pointed out the gauge and he confirmed that yes, it was always on the left when the CEL came on.
I just say all that because I usually find that history and backstory is very often helpful in diagnoses.
On to the problem. Took the Jeep home and noticed the OP dropping off once it was hot. No noise from the engine/valvetrain that I could hear and it was still making lots of power. Thing nearly keeps up with my v8 XJ once it gets going, which seems about right for a stocker with small shoes.
Had to pick up some stuff from across the border so I took the new XJ for a drive to get a feel for it, and found the following:
1. Steering wants to pull on every little bump or curve in the road. Feels like REALLY bad caster in combination with a bit of a tow out. As the guy clearly hadn't worked on the vehicle before, I figure this issue must have been present for a while, but the tires look like they're wearing normally. When we replaced the front coils and shocks with some 2" lift, the issue remains. Steering feels tight. Almost too tight (like a toe out would) but the toe is actually in 1/2". Can a toe in that severe cause it to pull like a toe out? Checked everything in the front end and aside from some real rough lower control arm bushings, everything is tight. Had to cut off the track bar on both ends because everything was seized and all the bolts broke.
2. I added a liter of 10w30 as it was a touch low on oil, as well as a quarter can of sea foam, thinking it may clean up an oil passage or maybe the low OP was just the sensor packed with gunk. After adding the oil and driving it this morning, it's ticking like a mofo. Got it nearly up to temp and the ticking was still there, but the OP seems (so far) to be staying up about normal.
The drive to the border was annoying because I'd have to keep the RPM's up every time I stopped to keep that OP gauge out of the red. At idle (500ish RPM) the OP would drop off and the cel would come on. At 1000RPM, the OP would be around 10psi or so, and at cruise it'd be about normal. After adding the 10w30 and sea foam, OP looks normal but really sounds like a LOT of lifter ticking. I've heard guys say this can happen when switching oils, but everyone of course has a different story. Some guys say a thinner oil fixes it while others say it makes it worse. The oil that was in there before looked like 5w30 and mostly clean.
I REALLY don't feel like doing a rebuild or swap right now. I went out of my way to find something with a decent motor/driveline so I would't have to work on it this week, but the girl needs a truck ASAP for work. I've got a spare i6 long block from my 98 (v8 swap), which always ran strong but seemed to be eating a bit of coolant, but I never figured out why. It has a nearly brand new head on it, but I'm not super confident that it doesn't have a cracked cylinder in the block.
Thoughts/idea's?
Picked up a 2000xj for the girl yesterday after she forgot to put oil in her civic. Took it for a short test drive, made sure it was up to temp. Drove good, pulled strong, no strange noises. Suspension was completely beat which I thought was a bit odd as the owner had clearly babied the shit outta it from the day he bought it (second owner, had it for 10 years).
Guy was asking a bit much for it considering the entire suspension needed to be replaced, and all the u-joints were done (bone stock), but the body/uni/interior all looked to be near mint. I told him I couldn't offer what he was asking and made him an offer. We shot the shit for a bit and he told me he'd had the same offer made by an older lady. I told him that even if he doesn't give it to me for what I'd offered him, he really shouldn't sell it to an old lady as it was a bit of a death trap until the suspension/steering and u-joints had been done (I certainly wouldn't have sold it to anyone who didn't know Jeeps). After a bit more discussion, he agreed to $100 more than I'd offered. I took it. Went to do the paperwork and came back and he decided to give it to me for the price I'd offered. All this together, I figure he's a good guy and honestly didn't know anything was wrong with it. As we were making the exchange, he mentioned that he'd seen the CEL come on once in a while recently when the Jeep came to a stop after driving for a bit. I asked if the oil pressure dropped to 0 at the same time, he didn't know, I pointed out the gauge and he confirmed that yes, it was always on the left when the CEL came on.
I just say all that because I usually find that history and backstory is very often helpful in diagnoses.
On to the problem. Took the Jeep home and noticed the OP dropping off once it was hot. No noise from the engine/valvetrain that I could hear and it was still making lots of power. Thing nearly keeps up with my v8 XJ once it gets going, which seems about right for a stocker with small shoes.
Had to pick up some stuff from across the border so I took the new XJ for a drive to get a feel for it, and found the following:
1. Steering wants to pull on every little bump or curve in the road. Feels like REALLY bad caster in combination with a bit of a tow out. As the guy clearly hadn't worked on the vehicle before, I figure this issue must have been present for a while, but the tires look like they're wearing normally. When we replaced the front coils and shocks with some 2" lift, the issue remains. Steering feels tight. Almost too tight (like a toe out would) but the toe is actually in 1/2". Can a toe in that severe cause it to pull like a toe out? Checked everything in the front end and aside from some real rough lower control arm bushings, everything is tight. Had to cut off the track bar on both ends because everything was seized and all the bolts broke.
2. I added a liter of 10w30 as it was a touch low on oil, as well as a quarter can of sea foam, thinking it may clean up an oil passage or maybe the low OP was just the sensor packed with gunk. After adding the oil and driving it this morning, it's ticking like a mofo. Got it nearly up to temp and the ticking was still there, but the OP seems (so far) to be staying up about normal.
The drive to the border was annoying because I'd have to keep the RPM's up every time I stopped to keep that OP gauge out of the red. At idle (500ish RPM) the OP would drop off and the cel would come on. At 1000RPM, the OP would be around 10psi or so, and at cruise it'd be about normal. After adding the 10w30 and sea foam, OP looks normal but really sounds like a LOT of lifter ticking. I've heard guys say this can happen when switching oils, but everyone of course has a different story. Some guys say a thinner oil fixes it while others say it makes it worse. The oil that was in there before looked like 5w30 and mostly clean.
I REALLY don't feel like doing a rebuild or swap right now. I went out of my way to find something with a decent motor/driveline so I would't have to work on it this week, but the girl needs a truck ASAP for work. I've got a spare i6 long block from my 98 (v8 swap), which always ran strong but seemed to be eating a bit of coolant, but I never figured out why. It has a nearly brand new head on it, but I'm not super confident that it doesn't have a cracked cylinder in the block.
Thoughts/idea's?
. Trying to figure out what. I'm usually of the mind that when you have an unknown problem and have KNOWN broken parts, fix those parts first to rule them out. The lower control arm bushings are an obvious one, but when I measure the caster, it looks pretty bang on. I've certainly run MUCH MORE and MUCH LESS caster without any issues. Also, it does self center pretty well for most of the range. It's just within' a few degrees from centre that the steering starts getting tight, and wanders all over the place. The previous owner said they'd recently had the pitman arm replaced, which has me a bit suspicious. I'd hazard to guess that he paid a shop to troubleshoot and fix something, and up here, shops are worse than useless. They're all dodgy/scammy. The pitman is definitely not new.
