well i was on my way to work the other day. i was sitting at a stop light and the light turned green. i drove through the intersection and then my XJ sputtered and the motor died. i had enough momentum to pull into a parking lot. i tried to start it back up. it would rotate but not catch. figured there was either a spark or fuel issue. i took a quick look under the hood and saw nothing that stood out as the problem. i got a ride to work and i had a busy work schedule so my jeep sat there for a few days.
i finally had a day off and called AAA to give me a tow. i dont know if anyone else has had this problem but some tow companies have issues with towing vehicles that sit different from stock height. the XJ in question has a 6 inch lift and the bridal chain of the winch on the flat bed tow truck was hitting my front drive shaft when we tried to pull her on the flat bed. he called AAA and they told him not to tow. i told him to hold on a second and i called AAA. they told me it was up to him. i convinced the driver to hook the bridal up to the passenger side unirail instead of both sides cause the drive shaft is offset to the driver side. AAA made me sign a damage waiver to even touch it. we finally got it on the flat bed.
towed it to my shop and i was finally able to start diagnosing the problem. had a buddy spray starting fluid into the intake, still no start. so i figured it was an ignition problem. i checked all the fuses. no prob there. then i discovered the real issue. i almost crapped my pants. apparently the block side motor mount bracket has pulled free from the block and the motor has turned enough for the distributor to land on the motor mount and pull it out from the block about 1 and a half inches. the bracket holding the dist. down in the block was broken. 2 bolts from the motor mount bracket were broken off into the block one was stripped out. i almost gave up hope right there. so i went to Lowes to get a spiral screw extractor of the correct size to hopefully remove the broken bolts that remain in my block.
the next day i return and begin to drill the pilot holes for the spiral screw extractor. after 4 hours of drilling into the hardened steel bolts i was able to get the extractor to bite into one of the bolts and was able to reverse it out. finally some encouragement but it was short lived as i wasnt able to get the other one out. thinking i might be able to get by using only 2 of the 3 mount bolts i started tapping the thread for the stripped bolt hole. then when i got to fasten the bracket back onto the block the first hole seems stripped and go to find out that after all that the top of the first bolt hole cracks off and all my hopes of salvaging the block crack with it.
i now have 2 Cherokees that work. the other has a hole in the number one piston. sorry for the long post just needed to get it off my chest. thanks for reading.
i finally had a day off and called AAA to give me a tow. i dont know if anyone else has had this problem but some tow companies have issues with towing vehicles that sit different from stock height. the XJ in question has a 6 inch lift and the bridal chain of the winch on the flat bed tow truck was hitting my front drive shaft when we tried to pull her on the flat bed. he called AAA and they told him not to tow. i told him to hold on a second and i called AAA. they told me it was up to him. i convinced the driver to hook the bridal up to the passenger side unirail instead of both sides cause the drive shaft is offset to the driver side. AAA made me sign a damage waiver to even touch it. we finally got it on the flat bed.
towed it to my shop and i was finally able to start diagnosing the problem. had a buddy spray starting fluid into the intake, still no start. so i figured it was an ignition problem. i checked all the fuses. no prob there. then i discovered the real issue. i almost crapped my pants. apparently the block side motor mount bracket has pulled free from the block and the motor has turned enough for the distributor to land on the motor mount and pull it out from the block about 1 and a half inches. the bracket holding the dist. down in the block was broken. 2 bolts from the motor mount bracket were broken off into the block one was stripped out. i almost gave up hope right there. so i went to Lowes to get a spiral screw extractor of the correct size to hopefully remove the broken bolts that remain in my block.
the next day i return and begin to drill the pilot holes for the spiral screw extractor. after 4 hours of drilling into the hardened steel bolts i was able to get the extractor to bite into one of the bolts and was able to reverse it out. finally some encouragement but it was short lived as i wasnt able to get the other one out. thinking i might be able to get by using only 2 of the 3 mount bolts i started tapping the thread for the stripped bolt hole. then when i got to fasten the bracket back onto the block the first hole seems stripped and go to find out that after all that the top of the first bolt hole cracks off and all my hopes of salvaging the block crack with it.
i now have 2 Cherokees that work. the other has a hole in the number one piston. sorry for the long post just needed to get it off my chest. thanks for reading.
