[ultrajeepsyj]

Hey Guys,

I own an 89 YJ 4.2/258. I bought her about two years ago with 196,000 miles. About last summer, I had the motor rebuilt cost me around 2500.00. Then I got a brand spanking new rebuilt AX-15 with newly done transfer case. Another 1700.00. Garage who did the motor, give me 3 years 36000 miles. Since all this work, I recently started to drive her around for about past month. I started to notice that on full tank, I only get from 140-165 miles. Before the engine was done, I was getting more than 200 miles.

Now my YJ runs very rough, she misfires, and when I come to a stop light or an intersection, RPM drops to zero and engine goes off. When it is wet outside, She runs even more rougher.

After doing whole lot research and reading up threads, I suspected perhaps vaccum lines need to be redone. By the way, before I had the motor done, I had put in a nice webber carb which cost me few hundred so carb is brand new.

The other day, I started her up in my driveway and warmed her up. After turning her off, I tried starting her up again but couldn't crank the engine at all. I get the ignition light but no crank at all. When I gave in the jeep for the motor, I had put in brand new starter and when I picked the jeep I had no issues. I drove her home, and then couldn't crank her so went back to the shop and they told me the starter was no good. I had feeling that I was being lied to but I just let it go and ended up having the shop put in a new starter and worked fine until yesterday.

Well, I needed to start her up so I started her up by pushing downhill (popping the clutch). She started fine, I let her run for about 10 minutes and then parker her. I tried cranking her but no show.

I like this jeep and have invested a good chunk of my savings in the hopes of having a worry free jeep but with all these on going issues with her, I am so discouraged and tired.

Now I am thinking about taking her to a JEEP dealer and having them fix her up mechanically in everyway n anyway. I know it is going to cost me another thousand dollars if I am lucky. For once, I would like to get this jeep running again without any issues.

I would highly appreciate any of your suggestions to help me get this YJ in shape again. I am located in central Jersey and would like to know if it would be a good idea for me to take her to a JEEP dealer? If you know any good mechanic in NJ who can really help me with her, I would highly appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

[sentinal02]

you need to spend all that money on tools and an FSM, not the mechanic seriously though, the jeep is one of the easiest vehicles out there to work on. a simple tool set (under $300) and a repair manual (get the FSM for about $100 since you're already considering 1000's on a dealer) will let you repair about 90% of the problems you encounter.

now, i'm no expert on the 4.2 or the weber, but from from your milage and idling problems, i'd say the shop didn't touch the carb after the rebuild, or like you said there's something hooked up wrong. also, did you follow the recommendation for the break in period? ie: oil change at 500 miles and again at say 1500? if you had the carb set prior to the rebuild, then it probably needs a little tweaking to adjust to the reconditioned engine. it could also be something in the spark path, ie plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil, ign module, etc. the fact that it runs rougher in the wet weather leads me to believe your plug wires are arcing out through the casing or the dist cap is letting moisture in. since you already mentioned that the shop may be less than reputable, who's to say that they changed all or any of these components during the rebuild. for 2500 you'd hope they would, but i can name a few shops around here that wouldn't. there is a manual for the weber as well, though if you can find a good shop i'd let them do the tuning, but the rest is very simple to do on your own and if you eliminate all of that then the shop (or you) should have no trouble taking care of your idle problems.

the starter may simply be a "bad part out of the box" thing. it's known to happen. or it could be something unrelated. a simple 12V test light and a continuity tester will go a long way in figuring out which it is. a $20 multimeter would be even better and is a good investment. check the battery and the battery cables to make sure that's not the problem. check for 12V at the starter relay coming from the ignition switch (usually the terminals are labeled, but if they're not, a wiring diagram will help you). if you have power, check to see if the relay is pulling in and sending power to the solenoid. if you have power there, jump the terminals on the solenoid with a screwdriver and see if the starter will turn over (make sure you're in neutral for this test). if it does, the solenoid is bad. if not and you have power coming in from the battery, then you starter was bad out of the box or the shop slapped a used one in there.

i can understand wanting to have a reliable, smooth running jeep, but you'll save yourself a lot of time, money and aggrevation if you can do the repairs or at least the diagnostics yourself without taking it to a shop. preventative maintenance goes a long way. besides the satisfaction of being able to fix it yourself, you'll be better equiped to figure out the problem the next time something does go wrong. if nothing else, get a haynes or a chilton's manual and just read up on what might be the cause of your problems. haynes has a pretty good trouble shooting guide that breaks each symptom down with its possible causes. armed with that you can at least have a better idea on whether or not a shop is ripping you off or not. and when all else fails, there's enough guys on the forum here that can point you in the right direction before taking it to the shop. start out small with a tune up and an oil change. then find a buddy to help you out with tracking down the starter problem (you'll need someone to turn the key while you work the tester). might want to check out this site for that last one.

http://tri-state4x4.tsrealm.com/forum/index.php

we've got a couple guys from north/central jersey that might be able to help you out. and i'm sure there's more than a few on here.