Beware the "Idles" of March

So far I have changed the Muffler and now I feel good about myself...Unfortunately, there is more learning to do...I noticed while driving that the engine Idles very high when in neutral...I begin to trouble shoot in my repair guide and using common sense start to check the simple things like the air filter....come to find out, the old air filter was black with oil...I thought it was weird that oil would get into the air box the way it did and through some more research learned that the PCV Valve is probably clogged with gunk... What I learned is that these little pieces on top of the valve cover, pushes blow by air into the intake box...When they get all grimy and clogged, it apparently shoots some of the gunk along with the air, causing some oil on the filter...This thing was nasty...I had purchased a new PCV valve from the auto parts store...but it was the wrong one...So I used some degreaser and soaked it for a while, then used a handgun bore brush and cleaned it out...The end result was this:

A little tip I learned is to remove the hosing from the valve before twisting it on the valve cover casing...I broke the 18 year old plastic hosing, which was full of oil and needed to be replaced anyway...

I noticed when I was playing with the PCV valve that the inside of the valve cover was disgustingly filled with gunk and grime...as sign along with the clogged valve that the oil hasn't been changed in quite some time...That will be done on my next day off...before I put all this stuff back on....

I also swapped out the old air filter for a brand new one...I then removed the intake house that connects to the throttle body to see how the throttle body looked and if it needed to be cleaned...The throttle body was surprisingly clean...certainly not what I expected to see after seeing how gunky everything else was...
Here are some photos of what I am talking about....

To make a short story long...After all this and placing in a new air filter, cleaning out the PCV valve, changing the PCV hose and cleaning out the air box and the intake hose...I hook everything back up and turn the Jeep on and guess what! IT IDLES PERFECT NOW!!!!

I still want to get the engine cleaned up some more...Next on the project is an oil change with some synthetic oil, differential and transfer case fluid changes along with fuel injector cleaning or replacement depending on the level of dirtyness and difficulty...

Just a quick note...If it sounds at all like I know what I am talking about...good for me for fooling you...I have no idea what I am doing...I have been reading forums and repair manuals on this stuff and it is my first attempt at any of this...WITH THAT SAID, IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT...PLEASE OFFER ADVICE....Thanks and take care....

Stay tuned for another episode of Logan's project Jeep!!!