'99 XJ sat for over a decade - thoughts on restarting

Hey, all. Just picked up a 4.0 '99 XJ from my neighbor, was sitting in their garage for over a decade (I think 11 years). Body is beautiful, but before I start it up, I want to run the prep process by y'all. Please let me know if I'm missing anything, or if I should do anything differently.

-Drain oil, change filter and refill
-Drain transmission, change filter and refill.
-Remove all plugs, spritz cylinders with AeroKroil and let sit
-Drop gas tank, drain, open up and clean out, reinstall. Add new gasoline
-Connect hose to fuel rail, jump out fuel pump relay, pray the pump pushes the old fuel out and up through the rail into a mason jar. Run until clear.
-Hand turn engine via crankshaft bolt a few times
-'start' the car with the starter motor, turning it over about 10 seconds, stop for 15, crank again for 10, off for 15, etc., for about five cycles to low-RPM it and let the oil pump push 'some' oil through the engine
-install plugs, and start for real.

After all this, I do the usual - let it run for a few minutes then shut off, change out the oil and oil filter (again). Drop the pan, and change the rear main seal, remove old serp belt, coolant drain, change coolant hoses/water pump/thermostat, new coolant items install.

I have a feeling I'm overlooking something. I'd hate to screw this up, though. It's as close to a 'barn find' as this dumb basterd is ever going to get.

Thanks, all, for sure!

Sounds like you have done your homework.

The only thing I could think of to try to do any better would be to try to come up with a tool such that you could remove the distributor and use a drill to prime the oil system. Those tools are readily available for engines such as big and small block Chevys, but I haven't seen one offered for a Jeep 4.0L.

Anak said:

The only thing I could think of to try to do any better would be to try to come up with a tool such that you could remove the distributor and use a drill to prime the oil system.

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That is absolutely brilliant, I never thought of that, but a long flat-blade screwdriver shank, and an electric drill, may do the job nicely. Putting that on my list, for sure. Thank you!

(as an aside, love the nickname 'scope creep')

On the distributor ones, I pull the coil wire. Then crank over till I see oil pressure. Attach coil wire and start. I think the proper way is to ground the coil wire to the block.

I'd note the color of the coolant. You might need to do a flush. I am doing this presently. I used the Prestone Flush, then the Blue Devil, then the EvapoRust flush and finally the MACs from NAPA. Depends how dirty. I'd do an initial flush of any of the others. Then use Evaporust for the final one. I'd flush with tap water a few times. When clean a flush or two with distilled water. If you use concentrated mix with distilled. I'd also encourage you to flush brake fluid and check the hard lines. The one to the rear especially. Also, inspect and or replace the harmonic balancer.

When I replaced my distributor last year, I took out the shaft to keep for this purpose.

If you have access to a compression tester, I'd check them before trying to light it up. Also, check all of your grounds.

To make a priming tool all you have to do is knock the roll pin out of the timing gear and remove it. A half inch drive drill will fit on the rotor shaft of the distributor.

You have an excellent plan and have received excellent advice.

My main concern would be stuck rings in the pistons and/or rusted rings to the cylinders. Your "Kroil oil soak" should work nicely and manually turning the crankshaft, with plugs removed, should tell you if the rings are free to move. You don't want to break a ring or two, so use plenty of Kroil and give it sufficient time to work its "magic".

Best regards,

CJR

I'd add -Remove all plugs, spritz cylinders with AeroKroil and let sit to the top and bottom of your list before proceeding with -Hand turn engine via crankshaft bolt a few times. If you have trouble moving the crankshaft you have a hint that you have some work ahead...
Hope it goes well!

Every single one of y'all are appreciated. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Going to make a run to the u-pull it this weekend and get a new front seat (the fella had something (?) stored on the driver seat and it leaked through), and while I'm at it, pull an old distributor for my new 'priming tool.' Also, the extra few days of AeroKroil applications won't hurt It's been sitting for a while, what's a few more days, right?

Thank you all, again!

One of the things I've found is critters in places you wouldn't expect. Up the exhaust pipe, in the airbox, in the heater intake, most anyplace they can get into. Also not a bad idea to inspect the wiring really well.

8Mud said:

One of the things I've found is critters in places you wouldn't expect. Up the exhaust pipe, in the airbox, in the heater intake, most anyplace they can get into. Also not a bad idea to inspect the wiring really well.

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The rear frame rails on my '00 were packed with nuts and stuff. Rusted them out on the bottom. So, I had frame stiffeners welded in on a 2" lift.

8Mud said:

One of the things I've found is critters in places you wouldn't expect. Up the exhaust pipe, in the airbox, in the heater intake, most anyplace they can get into. Also not a bad idea to inspect the wiring really well.

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I didn't think of the wiring and heater box. Thanks!

And +1 on the nuts and acorns. I remember cleaning out the frame rails on my old yj - good lord. Gotta get on that too.

Solid approach. Hope it goes smoothly

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After flushing the fuel system and cleaning the lines I would make sure to add some injector cleaner into the new gas and would have someone watching the fuel rail while I cranked it to make sure none of the injector seals are leaking. If I didn't have someone who knew what to look for, I would at least put a fuel pressure gauge on it and check it between cranks to see if I was losing pressure (this would indicate a leak somewhere that I would track down before trying to start it). It would be a damn shame to get it to start and then have to fight a gasoline fire. After cleaning the tank I would also change out the fuel filter.



Once you get it running, I would immediately dive in to cycle some new brake fluid through the lines and check the brakes before I took it on the road.

'Once you get it running, I would immediately dive in to cycle some new brake fluid through the lines and check the brakes before I took it on the road.'

I would add to replace the rubber brake hoses. Even if they look good on the outside. Sometimes the inner liner delaminates. It can act like a one way valve. So, the brakes may lock up. I haven't experienced it directly. I was walking my neighborhood some years back. On of my neighbors was working on an old Chevy truck. The front left brake was locked up. I didn't have much suggestions at the time. Another neighbor worked on it and told me the line had delaminated.