- Location
- Torrance, CA
Okay, this is going to be a long post that may be hard to read through, if you have any questions let me know, I’m going to outline out what problems I was having at what point during the repair attempt process.
Pertinent information:
1989 XJ – 4.0 – AW4 – 230,000
The original problem had to do with a no start situation, ended up being a bad constant 12V wire to the computer. Here is what I did to try to fix it before I pulled the head out of my ass and diagnosed it right.
Replaced the CPS with a new OEM unit.
Replaced the coil with new Borg Warner from Pep Boys.
Put in borrowed, known good distributor from another ‘89.
On the road to Moab and in Moab I was getting approximately 8 mpg, if I ran the Jeep for awhile at relatively high RPM (3000 – 4500) and let the throttle down it would stall in most cases. Under hard acceleration I would spew black smoke. My exhaust would gas you in five minutes. To try to take care of that I did the following at the campground.
Repaired O2, Knock, and CTS wiring, mine was burnt up.
Didn’t change the running condition of it at all, I drove home anyway. When I got home the problem changed slightly. While I still had the poor fuel consumption (even without towing a trailer), the stalling, and the general running like crap it was very, very hard to start it up when stone cold. It would take anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes of cranking to get it to fire. Here is what I did the other night to try to cure me.
Put my distributor back in with a new stator inside (aka pickup coil and camshaft sensor)
- My stator was aligned differently than Scott’s, when I put the new one in and aligned it how mine was supposed to be (there are two different ways to align it) the engine ran noticeably different, I believe this was half my problem.
New plugs and wires
New cap and rotor
Now it is slightly better. Cold starts haven’t been a problem the past three mornings, there is no black smoke, but at last check I was still only getting 11 mpg. To top it off my hard starting is now happening when warm, same situation, 5 – 20 minutes to get it to start. When it is about ready to start it will catch halfway and die, then eventually start. Today when I started it was missing pretty bad at idle, and at no-load when hitting the gas, but once I started driving it it would react fine.
I haven’t had the chance to have anybody help me so I could check spark, unfortunately I’m always alone when it freaks out.
What about the distributor, could it be one tooth off and that can cause my grief? How sensitive is the Renix system to that?
Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Sequoia
Pertinent information:
1989 XJ – 4.0 – AW4 – 230,000
The original problem had to do with a no start situation, ended up being a bad constant 12V wire to the computer. Here is what I did to try to fix it before I pulled the head out of my ass and diagnosed it right.
Replaced the CPS with a new OEM unit.
Replaced the coil with new Borg Warner from Pep Boys.
Put in borrowed, known good distributor from another ‘89.
On the road to Moab and in Moab I was getting approximately 8 mpg, if I ran the Jeep for awhile at relatively high RPM (3000 – 4500) and let the throttle down it would stall in most cases. Under hard acceleration I would spew black smoke. My exhaust would gas you in five minutes. To try to take care of that I did the following at the campground.
Repaired O2, Knock, and CTS wiring, mine was burnt up.
Didn’t change the running condition of it at all, I drove home anyway. When I got home the problem changed slightly. While I still had the poor fuel consumption (even without towing a trailer), the stalling, and the general running like crap it was very, very hard to start it up when stone cold. It would take anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes of cranking to get it to fire. Here is what I did the other night to try to cure me.
Put my distributor back in with a new stator inside (aka pickup coil and camshaft sensor)
- My stator was aligned differently than Scott’s, when I put the new one in and aligned it how mine was supposed to be (there are two different ways to align it) the engine ran noticeably different, I believe this was half my problem.
New plugs and wires
New cap and rotor
Now it is slightly better. Cold starts haven’t been a problem the past three mornings, there is no black smoke, but at last check I was still only getting 11 mpg. To top it off my hard starting is now happening when warm, same situation, 5 – 20 minutes to get it to start. When it is about ready to start it will catch halfway and die, then eventually start. Today when I started it was missing pretty bad at idle, and at no-load when hitting the gas, but once I started driving it it would react fine.
I haven’t had the chance to have anybody help me so I could check spark, unfortunately I’m always alone when it freaks out.
What about the distributor, could it be one tooth off and that can cause my grief? How sensitive is the Renix system to that?
Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Sequoia