Godson - 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited

For those of you in chat, you already know I had been eyeing a trail rig for several months. I had the stipulation that I wouldn't buy any toys until student loans were gone. But that didn't pan out. I had a deal approach that was too good to pass. Here are the specifics.

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited
113,500 miles.
4 in long arm lift kit
35x12.50r15 tires
Salvage title
242 transfer case
Spare 5.9 v8

I'm technically the third owner. Vehicle was salvaged by first owner when they hit the rocker panel on something. Replacement rockers are 60$ each, so I will likely replace it and get some sliders.

I bought this for 1k dollars with a blown head gasket and all the heavy parts in the lift gate. Previous owner let it get too hot and didn't take care of it when the temps got high. No head damage that I could see. Head was off the vehicle for the better part of 5+ months in the Midwest, which typically doesn't bode well.

First order is as always, get the engine to rotate. Little atf, breaker bar, and about lbs of force and it freed right up. Score.

Next was to get into the rear hatch, and adjust/clean/lubricate the rear hatch release. That took about 30 minutes working blind and with bad prop struts.

Parts inventory was taken, ran to the parts store for a hefty list. I'll add it here later.


New headgasket, intake manifold and plenum gasket, and we had 90% of the engine back together with the needed wiring to get it to start by 230 last night. Cranked the engine to see if it would light, and the starter began smoking. Called it a night when we saw that. Likely the kid before cranked and cranked on it hoping it would get him home. I'll add the engine was not wetlocked and all pistons came up to flush with the cylinder deck.

Next order of business is to figure out why I wasn't getting fuel pressure. Likely a wiring hack job and the pump isn't getting any voltage. Will look into that this week. Should be running by weekend.

Attachment 2444Attachment 2445

Brave man! I had to take care of my friend's ZJ - I don't ever want to do that again! Best of luck and I'm sure it'll be loads of fun!

Or can't be any worse than the BMWs or Porsche I've owned. Plus, parts are CHEAP

I suspect her truck had been seriously abused - there was literally always something broken and the issues seemed to grow in severity every time. It was no fun! Parts are cheap - and there is no problem getting them ever. That is definitely attractive!

So tonight. It idled under it's own power.

First order of business was to chase out the smoking starter. Turns out ground wires are super important on this chassis, because they don't have a whole lot. Hooked all of the ground straps back up, and starter cranked fairly strong but engine wouldn't take. Checked for spark, checked for compression, and lastly, we smelled the fuel.

Yuck.

Old as fuck gas. Check fuel gauge.


7/8ths tank.


Of-fucking-course.

I make a couple of phone calls, and this morning borrow three 5gallon gas cans, disconnected the fuel line, Ran a jumper on the fuel pump relay and drained 17 gallons of old fuel.

Dumped 1.5 gallons of 91 ethanol free in it, went and grabbed another 2 gallons of 91 ethanol free (it was cheaper than regular 91). And hooked up the jumper cables from my truck. Let my truck idle. Gave it 7-9 solid attempts at starting while holding the throttle to the floor, and on the final attempt it lit and idled.

It revved.

It was happy.

Next order of business is to hook up the cooling system and other ancillaries and then test drive it.

I'm in it right now for 1500.

Ugh... facing the same thing with the XR. Not sure what to do with ~15 gallons of bad gas, so I haven't done anything. I can probably use some of it in the motorhome (mixing a few gallons of bad gas with 80 gallons of good... ) but then...?

Check with your water company. Kansas City Water Department does disposal of hazardous waste.

I imagine this will be an interesting read. Have fun!

Whoa, that's cool. Ours does not... and the hazardous waste facility has limits on certain types of fluids. I can eventually recycle it, but it'll take a while. :(

Sure burning man can use some donations right?