Was given an XJ last night.....What to check?

[mateoruiziii]

Update
made sure the battery held charge. Spray started fluid. Started like like a champ. Cloud of smoke from the exhaust came out.

Let it run for a minute then turned it off.

Then change the oil and filter. Thick as mud. Also added marvel to the oil. Pour some fuel injection cleaner to the tank. Change plugs and wires. Added coolant.

Started it again. Cloud of smoke still. Let it run for about 10 minutes. Engine sound really smooth. I give it some gas it hesitates and wants to stall. There is no temp gauge so I do not know if it is over heating. So I shut it off. I think the exhaust is clog of something. Why is there no radiator cap? Im a going to change the cap and rotor next. Check the braking fluid. Then I am going to drive it around the block in the morning. AAA card ready.

 

[sherman08]

Your 89 has a closed loop coolant system. The only cap is in the overflow bottle on your top left. Make sure that cap seats tightly or you'll have issues with your coolant system.

 

[joe_peters]

If original, your 89 has a "closed" cooling system. Instead of a radiator cap and overflow flow (expansion) bottle, you have a pressure bottle on the passenger side of the firewall with a complicated spaghetti hose arrangement with the coolant control valve for the heater core. The cap is on the coolant pressure bottle, which should never be more than 1/2 full when cold.

The closed coolant system, after being "serviced", needs to be "burped" or purged of all trapped air.

Any thermostat being installed should have two small holes drilled in it, far enough in on the flange that the head/housing mating surfaces will not cover them when installed. Position one hole at 12 and the other at 6 o'clock.

When refilling the system park nose down and pull the temp sender from the driver's side rear of the head and then add coolant to the pressure bottle until just coolant comes out of the head, then replace the sender and make sure the pressure bottle is 1/2 full.

BTW--what color smoke are you getting??

 

[mateoruiziii]

White smoke. How about my hesitation?

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

lol its sooooo ez. long 1/4" extention with a swivel 8 or 10 mm. and get under ur jeep on the drivers side, look up at the bell housing....its right there

total time to replace one is 5 min tops.

call me a noob, but the first time i did one it took me 3 hours, the second time took me 45 minutes.

I did one on my 5.9 zj and it took me 9.... yes 9 hours. had to drop the tranny and the exhaust:badpc:

 

[sherman08]

Could be rough fuel flow, bad spark, or TPS? maybe a vacuum leak as well, tough to say with limited history of the engine.

 

[poorboy_616]

White smoke. How about my hesitation?

Oil from what you put in the cylinders, plus any condensation in the exhaust. Let it run and the hesitation should go away. Just some of the old gas working it's way thru.

 

[mateoruiziii]

I clean out the fuel injection. New Fuel filter, cap and rotor. No more smoke. After it warms up does not hesitate anymore. I drove it around the block. Idles good. Steering is really stiff. No fluid. Also low tire pressure. Maybe I should have also check the brakes 1st before I drove it. But brakes are ok. Stalls a little bit. Check that out this weekend. So far so good.

 

[ruinator]

As someone stated earlier. I would seafoam the baby. Walamrt, autopart stores all cary it. Just follow directions on the can, excellent way to clean up that engine.

What plans do you have for it? (got lift it some!!)aperwork

 

[mateoruiziii]

I seafoam it already. Lifting is the easy part. Getting it to run smooth is the hard part.

 

[mateoruiziii]

Change the fuel filter. runs perfect now. Took it on the freeway. went 7o with no problem. safe to say the built is ready to start.

 

[colby44]

so a bad fuel filter was leading to hesitation? hmmm

 

[SandySteve]

At the risk of chiming in late, after 2 years in a garage I would do the minimum it takes to see if it runs. That means new fuel and a good, charged battery. If the tank was less than one-half, add to it. If it was full, you may need to drain some and then add new. The suggestion of tapping at the fuel rail would not be my first choice. I would pull the line at the fuel pump outlet, connect a line to a reservoir and then turn on the ignition. If you are really concerned about dry cylinders and piston wall scoring on initial start-up, go to a marine store and get a can of fogging oil which is used when boat engines are stored. You can spray this into each cylinder and get a much better coverage of the cylinder walls than just squirting oil into the spark plug hole. Or, you can do like a certain crusty old editor of "Petersons 4-Wheel Magazine" does (who is not me) when he reincarnates one of his from the back forty. Charge it and fire that mother up. He has said that vehicles stored (abandoned) for years usually start up with minimal or no problems.