Finally Fixed

I finally got the Jeep back...After almost three weeks of repair work on the transmission, exhaust, manifold, clutch, and shocks, my beast is back in working order. It drives awesome now...With a new catalytic converter and welded pipes, the sound is very throaty and there is no more rattle in the pipes...There is also no leakage of fumes into the cabin...Although the Jeep is open all the time, the fumes from the exhaust were creeping up in the cabin and it stunk like exhaust all the time while driving, now its nothing but fresh air!

All the idling problems are gone now as well...The exhaust/manifold gasket exchange and elimination of the O2 sensor on the catalytic converter has put the idle right back where it needed to be...Now I can hear music and have a conversation with someone without having to yell.

The shifter is nice and smooth and everything works like a champ...The shock bushings have eliminated the clanking sounds when I go over a bump; however, the leaf springs are a little squeaky...nothing a little WD40 can't fix!

Now that my yearly budget has been exhausted on this unfortunate circumstance, I must come up with creative ways to continue my progression, so now I am going to rip out all the carpet and start on the floorboards...There is a lot of filth under those carpets along with a carpet pad that is most likely affecting the drain plugs ability to flush out water intrusion...After the carpet is out, a lite sanding and maybe a primer coat before moving on to a spray on poly based liner....

LIKE A GLOVE

Reference the last post, for those of you who are curious to the more specific location of the temperature gauge sensor....You can see the valve cover (has the stripes running down the top on the left side of the picture....The hose you see attached to the plastic valve is the PCV hose and valve (which is just behind the oil filler cap)...You can see the sensor and the red wire running to it just at the base of the valve cover....The other striped metal piece under the PCV hose at the bottom right, is the back of the fuel rail....Check that fitting first if your temp gauge stops working....SAVE YOU LOTS OF MONEY $$$

A Wonderful Surprise

In the course of messing around with an 18 year old vehicle you more often than not run into other issues that are usually bad ones, this case is an exception to that rule...

When I first purchased the Jeep, I noticed that the temperature gauge was not working on the dash cluster...When I brought the Jeep to Goodyear, they assumed it was that the cooling system was clogged and needed to be flushed...After realizing the cooling system was fine, they then told me that it was a wiring issue and would cost all kinds of money to find the problem...

I can;t imagine how much $$$$ I would have paid to figure out this little issue...The picture you see to the right is a yellowish colored fitting that sticks out just to the right of the valve cover at the rear...I didn't much pay attention to it during the course of my project, but then I noticed a little rubber cap connected to the wiring that was hanging out like a lost child looking for his home...I fitted the rubber cap over the exposed fitting and it fit like a glove....I started to wonder.....WHAT COULD THAT BE FOR????!!!!

I referred to the $30 Haynes Repair Manual and looked over all kinds of photos and things that I thought it could be and then I thought----It is obviously partly electrical, but connected to the main engine block....What the HELL?!!! Then I rememberd the Temp. gauge on the dash didn't work....Holy Crap! Did I just fix that....I looked it up in the manual and sure enough, that is what it was!...

I couldn't wait to crank it up and find out if it worked, but I was still searching for those damn botls...After finding them, putting the valve cover back on, I cranked that beast up...I waited in exhausting anticipation for the gauge to move....Here was the result:

IT WORKED!!!!!!!

The engine ran all the way up to operating temperature...This phot was taken before it reached normal temp...The bottom line; however, was that it worked!!! YEAH ME!!!!

Easter Gaskets! Finale

So here is the finale...

Multiple Beers, frustrations, and a search for valve cover bolts that was equal to an episode of "24" culminated in a successful replacement of a valve cover gasket...

If you notice the nice new shiny bolts that are on the valve cover gasket, those are the new ones!

Speaking for a moment on the issue of locating valve cover bolt replacements: Don't bother doing a search online for these...No one thought to offer this part...If you call the dealership, they will tell you that it will take a week and they will be in on Tuesday...I went to the dealership to order them and the guy in the parts department gave me the same bolt for free...I went to put them on the valve cover and needed washers because the bolt was not capped....SOOOOOOOOOO!!! I called in a chopper and flew over to Advanced Auto parts to get some bolts...In the search for an appropriate washer, guess what I found?! The actual same friggin bolt as the original one, except it was a stronger version...

Note to those with the same or similar Jeep as mine...If the valve cover bolts have slashes on the top, that means its the USA version of measurement not the metric system...The bolts for my valve cover are 1/4-20 and are capped...Meaning the washer is basically already part of the head piece...You can buy four of these for about $2.50 at the auto parts store...Bring an orginal bolt for comparison and measurement and you should be fine...

When you call around for a simple part like that and ask the person who is supposed to know what the hell you are talking about, they act like it is some major component and cannot be found without ordering....The truth is, it is just a USA standard 1/4-20 one inch grade 5 bolt that you can pick up at the local auto parts shop!

Easter Gaskets! (cont. again)

The instructions in the manual say to clean off the mating surface of the valve cover before applying the new gasket...I started with a paint scraper and screw driver, but after not getting anywhere quickly, I switched to the polishing tool on my almighty DREMEL...

It worked amazingly! The dremel along with some grease lighting and foam engine degreaser worked wonders to assist in cleaning out the interior of the valve cover...Here are some more photos of the progress as the cleaning progressed:

Easter Gaskets! (cont.)

I started the day by waking up and having a big hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy...Following that I contacted my buds Jay and Kevin to facilitate their assistance...I figured three brains are better than one, unfortunately as far as mechanics go, we added up to maybe a 1/4 of a brain; although now looking back, it may have been the alcohol...Just like Jamie Foxx says; "Blame it on the a a a a a alcohol!"

After breakfast, the boys came over and we went to the auto parts store and decided to change the oil first....The day started out great; got a fantastic deal on five quarts of fully synthetic motor oil and a K&N oil filter...All of it came to $25; I could not have been happier...I grabbed an oil pan and a filter wrench and drove back home.

I decided to take the Jeep to heat the engine up a bit before the oil change in order to get the oil to flow out better...Besides sparking myself up on the starter while trying to remove the oil filter, everything went off without a hitch....My first oil change, 101,900 miles on 04/10/09...

Back to Easter Gaskets!

After the oil change, my beautiful wife Cathi came home and we all decided we should go celebrate with lunch on the water...It was an awesome sunny day out and thought it would be awesome to have lunch and a few drinks...

After lunch we returned home to work on the Jeep...The hood was open and we prepared to begin...Prepare as in have a few more beers! I took hold of the shiny ratchet...Twist, twist, twist, SNAP!!! My dumb@%% snapped off the bolt inside of the housing...There was nothing else to do but continue...After snapping the second bolt, I realized that I was tightening the bolts, not loosening them...Always remember...Righty tighty; lefty loosey...The thing I can't figure out, is

that I got that sequence correct on the beer bottles, but somehow switched it when I got under the hood!

In my anger and frustration, the broken bolts ended up somewhere across the street in the open lots thanks to my buddy Jay, who threw them as far as he could...I did manage; however, to remove the remaining threads from the housing (WHEW!)

Here is a picture of the valve cover after it was removed...I was able to save all but four of the bolts...

Easter Gaskets!

After finishing the last few projects of this new endeavor I have undertaken, I decided to try something a little more advanced...

I had noticed that the idle had gone back to normal; however, after the engine heated up, it would again go high to about 2000 RPMs...Frustrated, I took the Jeep to a local mechanic near where I work and asked his opinion...A few hose checks and tricks later, he found that there was a vacuum leak somewhere in the throttle body or intake/exhaust manifold.

He found this out by placing his hand over the throttle body and realizing that the engine did not cut out; then he visually inspected the gasket around the intake/exhaust manifold, which was visibly worn and corroding a away...A $300 estimate later, I decided I may try this one on my own...

In order to prepare for this litte adventure, I decided to try something similar but less difficult...I will change a gasket, but an easy one...Lets try the valve cover gasket; that should be easy...I was in for a few surprises to say the least...

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!!!