Bad Ground?

[SLAYER]

Well this is what it looks like. The ground on the block is saturated in oil. Most likey due to the valve cover.
Would this explain poopoo starts and battery drain?
Alternators working at specs and the starter is kicking over prety fast, but it takes 2 times to start and then it stumbles for a second. Whenever i rev the motor when im parked it stumbles then almost dies. Hmmmmmmm.....:tears:

 

[SLAYER]

Well maybe the valve cover is not leaking but the spherical things on the top of the valve cover with the tubes sticking out of them sure are. What are they called and what do they do? How do i stop this leak, new ones?
:roll:

 

[POSXJGuy]

man that is sure a mess! clean that crap up, sand down the paint in that area and screw those wires back in BOY!

sand it with a dremel down to the metal, screw the wires back down and spray some epoxy paint over it all so it wont get crusty.

How the heck do those "spherical" things atop the valve cover get oil that far to the ground? I think you have a crack or some splitting on the hose that runs from the "spherical" thingy on the valve cover to your airbox. Patch that up and you'll be good to go with the gunk.

 

[SLAYER]

Awesome!! I will do it right away.
Im not too sure why they leak.
#1--Is there alot of pressure in the hoses?
#2--Could they be clogged?
Action---I will check and prob brake one in the process/hahaha.
#3--Would they leak from the grommet?
2 be continued.........

 

[POSXJGuy]

i have some leaking around my ccv's, its not bad enough for me to do anything yet. i think they just get to a certain level and stay that way. i have grown to like em actually!

 

[5-90]

man that is sure a mess! clean that crap up, sand down the paint in that area and screw those wires back in BOY!

sand it with a dremel down to the metal, screw the wires back down and spray some epoxy paint over it all so it wont get crusty.

How the heck do those "spherical" things atop the valve cover get oil that far to the ground? I think you have a crack or some splitting on the hose that runs from the "spherical" thingy on the valve cover to your airbox. Patch that up and you'll be good to go with the gunk.

Half marks - DO NOT PAINT! Clean down to bare metal, and coat with corrosion inhibitor of some variety (I prefer Gardner-Bender Ox-Gard,) and recoat either every year, OR after deep-water fording, OR after cleaning the engine bay.

Painting grounds can raise all kinds of Hell - why do you think I typically suggest stripping them down to bare metal in the first place?

As far as cleaning? Dremel with sanding drum, Dremel with wire brush (for light work,) drill motor with brass brush (my favourite,) or drill motor with steel brush (for heavy work...) all work well.

5-90

 

[SLAYER]

I was kinda wondering about painting it.Where can i pick up some of that Ox gard?

 

[JEEPTUBE]

I used permatex battery protector sealer on mine a while back when i upgraded my wiring. Do NOT paint your ground to block point, 5-90 is right, it can lead to strangness down the road.
With any leak, always start from top to bottom.
Find what u think might be leaking.
Clean everything off so that u can see how bad it leaks.
Confirm the bastard leak.
Fix it.
If i were u i would do all this.
Valve cover gasket
Replace CCV/PCV valves
New grommets
Check hoses for blockage.
check starter and clean wires from evil oil.
After that do a meter check on your battery and alternator.
Not to sure how to check a starter, 5-90 prob knows-he know ALL. And the BOOKWURM

 

[5-90]

I was kinda wondering about painting it.Where can i pick up some of that Ox gard?

You're here in NorCal - OSH should carry the stuff. Little tube in the electrical section.

Testing the starter is fairly easy, unless you want detail. Take the thing out, use jumper leads to power the thing (negative to case, obviously,) and jump the solenoid contact.

Put it on a bench with an ammeter, and I'm thinking you should see 150-185ADC draw when it runs, and it should settle down right away (electric motors tend to "surge" when you start them.)

Also, you can put a voltmeter on your battery, disable the igniton, and crank. The battery voltage should "dip" to about 10VDC (9.6 MINIMUM!) but it doesn't do much to isolate whether it's the battery or the starter, so do it with a known good battery. Make sure all the connexions are clean!

"Book Wyrm?" I guess so - I found the pic and liked it (I've been collecting dragons for about 30 years. Odd, because I'm a Rat...) and I guess it's true, since I'm going through my FSMs to gather torque specs for the next Tech Archive updates...

Oh, and I don't "know all" - if I did, I wouldn't get these headaches! I just know an awful lot, and know where to find the book with the rest... I think I've made my reputation by being correct more often than not, and if I'm guessing, I'll usually say so. If I'm wrong - convince me. It won't take as much as you think, but I will expect you to be able to cite sources if I am wrong (so I can update my own information...)

5-90

 

[SLAYER]

#1 Well, ok-the first thing i did was to clean the whole engine bay and underneath, i think she liked that.

#2 Then i performed operation ground it. Took the ground wires off the block and cleaned the crap out of it, sanded the block a little to bare metal and reattached the wires coating them with OX-GARD.

#3 The safety nuetral switch. Now it starts everytime without having to do the old back and forth tranny shift crap. Man o man i didnt take pics of what it looked like when i opened it up, it was nasty. The spring loaded contacts were stuck in the muck.

#4 Since i was in there i performed a tune-up. New plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Stuck with the champion plattinum. 0.35 gap Accell gold cap & rotor, and borg nascar wires. Runs smoother now.

#5 Took the throttle body off. Cleaned it, took all sensors off inspected and cleaned them. They all seem to be working in good order but still have to test them electronically.

#6 2 new 02 sensors. on header and on cat.

#7 Not going to worry about the grommetts. Ill just wipe em down every few days so they dont drip and make a mess again.

OOOHHHH LOOK!! NICE AND SHINY!!

AAHHH!! She likes it, nice and clean.

OUCH!! Wires not lookin too good.

I definitely need to get these replaced.

Well its startin everytime now. And idling nice and smooth.
But i just have 2 more problems.

#1 When i step on the gas pedal quickly it seems to hesitate. Like its trying to get air. And almost dies. Lets say u were sitting in the XJ and u had it in park. And u gave it a quick kick to the gas pedal, it sputters revs up and then when the rpm's come back down it goes below 500 rpm's almost dies and then comes back up to normal rpm and idles normal. Very wierd. Maybe someone has had same prob? Sensor taking a dump on me? Choked up cat converter?

#2 Battery still gets drained when door left open or stereo left on for more than 15 minutes. Not cool, i ve ran my stereo all nite while sitting around the campfire drinkin whiskey listening to Pantera or watchin people at big sluce with my other XJ.

Im working from the motor back in process of elimination.
If any one has any info please throw it in to the mix.
:skull2:
peace sells but whos buying?

 

[5-90]

Battery issue might be due to internal corrosion on those shonky cables - I'm seeing a lot of open copper there. Internal corrosion would have the effect of increasing conductor resistance - do your mains leads get hot after a while of running your stereo only? Try it and see (don't run your engine first - just your stereo and other electrics. If you run your engine, you won't be able to tell...)

Check your TPS - you might be developing a flat spot. This tends to happen with carbon path pots, and the only thing you can really do about it is change the damn thing.

If you're interested in replacing and upgrading your mains leads, you might want to have a look at my site, and see what other people here have said about my cables. I shan't "toot my own horn" here... Be advised I'm heading out to Tuscon this week-end (for a wedding - not mine!) and should be back on Monday, so there may be a delay in responding to your enquiries (depending on whether or not I land somewhere with Internet access...)

5-90

 

[SLAYER]

I will check the cables for hottness and doublecheck my TPS.
Get back to ya asap.

 

[Saudade]

Dem cables got to go!!

 

[streetpirate]

peace sells, but whos buying?

Can you put a price on peace?