1970 J2500

[Frank Ziebert]

The reason I cant get the truck onto the "build" side of my shop!

All Ya'll remember I have been tracking down overheating issues on Stinger.(My 05 LJ with a Chevy 6.0 and 6l90) Well the #6 cylinder was showing about 90/100 psi below the others on a compression check. I decided to pull the engine and send it to a machine shop for a fix!! At that point I was absolutely disgusted with the whole thing--new JL is looking good.

Well after I got about half the front tore off I came to my $$$$ senses and just pulled the right head off. A VERY through inspection of everything I could see including pulling the pistons on 3 cylinders reveled nothing wrong. Suspected a blow head gasket but on these steel gaskets it is really hard to tell.
So on reassembly I found that torques dial indicators are a HUGE PITA. Try one and you will understand. :crying:

Got everything back together and double checked everything--right! Fired it up and it ran like crap. Remembering back to my youth some of those 265/283s ran crappy until they warmed up so I let it run.

After a few minutes I realized the smoke wasn't coming from the engine or manifolds. I peeked under and gapped the 5lbs fire extinguisher. Used almost all the bottle putting out the fire in the insulation and wiring. The CAT was just below the melting point -beyond cherry red. F**k!

Got the fire out and went into the house and got oiled!!>

Next morning I opened the shop and after turning on all the fans airing it out for an hour or so I started the necropsy. Some totally clueless a-hole forgot to hook up the right bank plug wires.

So the several minutes of running was dumping raw gasoline into the cat. It tried to do its job. :surprise:


One after-cat sensor fried. its connector fried, wiring to anything close to the exhaust or cat -fried.


Okay a couple of hundred $$ later I got almost everything replaced or rewired. Still waiting on the sensor connector.


Temporarily wired the after cat sensor to do a test run.

Walked around the drivers side and ran square into the front tire----the SOB went CLUNK. Its not supposed to go CLUNK. So I got ready for a ball-joint replacement except when I pulled the tire off I could not find the CLUNK! Now figuring a wheel bearing, I pulled the tire and lockout hub off and found within the hub a broken spring. Got on-line and found the 30 spline replacement hub. Amazon said 2 day delivery. Well BS on that, 8 days later the hub showed up. Wrong one!!!!!

Called Warn and got the part number. Local dealer said ya it might take a while we don't have it and neither does the warehouse. May take a week or so. Hells bells I can drive to Portland and pick it up, and come home in a day. It would only be 280 miles.:frown2:


Feeling totally frustrated I decided to pull Stinger off the lift and out of the shop so I can at least wash the floors. Backing out the check engine light came on. nfire: Both banks, pre-cat sensor heater faulting.

Now I have already dropped a couple hundred $ on this fu**up and really am not feeling the glow if ya know what I mean.

Retired to the house and getting on line I looked up the codes, what they meant, and then how to repair them. Now I am looking at replacing two sensors for $150 or so. I am not happy so you can now imagine what Momma is thinking.


On a lark I U-Tubed how to check sensors and found one tiny infinitesimal post saying to check the fuses first. What fuses? Okay I have two fuse boxes for the Jeep and two fuse boxes for the Chevy engine. At the last--go figure- box I found a 20 amp fuse marked "emissions."

Replace that freaking fuse and all is fine. Well at least in the department. Still trying to find replacement hubs.


Did I mention the JL is looking really good?>

[Frank Ziebert]

The reason I cant get the truck onto the "build" side of my shop!

All Ya'll remember I have been tracking down overheating issues on Stinger.(My 05 LJ with a Chevy 6.0 and 6l90) Well the #6 cylinder was showing about 90/100 psi below the others on a compression check. I decided to pull the engine and send it to a machine shop for a fix!! At that point I was absolutely disgusted with the whole thing--new JL is looking good.

Well after I got about half the front tore off I came to my $$$$ senses and just pulled the right head off. A VERY through inspection of everything I could see including pulling the pistons on 3 cylinders reveled nothing wrong. Suspected a blow head gasket but on these steel gaskets it is really hard to tell.
So on reassembly I found that torques dial indicators are a HUGE PITA. Try one and you will understand. :crying:

Got everything back together and double checked everything--right! Fired it up and it ran like crap. Remembering back to my youth some of those 265/283s ran crappy until they warmed up so I let it run.

After a few minutes I realized the smoke wasn't coming from the engine or manifolds. I peeked under and gapped the 5lbs fire extinguisher. Used almost all the bottle putting out the fire in the insulation and wiring. The CAT was just below the melting point -beyond cherry red. F**k!

Got the fire out and went into the house and got oiled!!>

Next morning I opened the shop and after turning on all the fans airing it out for an hour or so I started the necropsy. Some totally clueless a-hole forgot to hook up the right bank plug wires.

So the several minutes of running was dumping raw gasoline into the cat. It tried to do its job. :surprise:


One after-cat sensor fried. its connector fried, wiring to anything close to the exhaust or cat -fried.


Okay a couple of hundred $$ later I got almost everything replaced or rewired. Still waiting on the sensor connector.


Temporarily wired the after cat sensor to do a test run.

Walked around the drivers side and ran square into the front tire----the SOB went CLUNK. Its not supposed to go CLUNK. So I got ready for a ball-joint replacement except when I pulled the tire off I could not find the CLUNK! Now figuring a wheel bearing, I pulled the tire and lockout hub off and found within the hub a broken spring. Got on-line and found the 30 spline replacement hub. Amazon said 2 day delivery. Well BS on that, 8 days later the hub showed up. Wrong one!!!!!

Called Warn and got the part number. Local dealer said ya it might take a while we don't have it and neither does the warehouse. May take a week or so. Hells bells I can drive to Portland and pick it up, and come home in a day. It would only be 280 miles.:frown2:


Feeling totally frustrated I decided to pull Stinger off the lift and out of the shop so I can at least wash the floors. Backing out the check engine light came on. nfire: Both banks, pre-cat sensor heater faulting.

Now I have already dropped a couple hundred $ on this fu**up and really am not feeling the glow if ya know what I mean.

Retired to the house and getting on line I looked up the codes, what they meant, and then how to repair them. Now I am looking at replacing two sensors for $150 or so. I am not happy so you can now imagine what Momma is thinking.


On a lark I U-Tubed how to check sensors and found one tiny infinitesimal post saying to check the fuses first. What fuses? Okay I have two fuse boxes for the Jeep and two fuse boxes for the Chevy engine. At the last--go figure- box I found a 20 amp fuse marked "emissions."

Replace that freaking fuse and all is fine. Well at least in the department. Still trying to find replacement hubs.


Did I mention the JL is looking really good?>

[bkilby]

Man, when it rains, it pours huh? It might be frustrating and the JL might be looking pretty good ( and they are cool), but I'm sorry I sold my LJ. Hemi powered, Pro Rock 60's, 40" tires etc. It was a blast. But the new owner Doug is pretty cool. And a cave explorer. You can see him and the Jeep here.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hour...and-haystacks/


Anyhow, my point being, fix the LJ and enjoy it. And get the JL for the wife. ;-)

[Frank Ziebert]

Man, when it rains, it pours huh? It might be frustrating and the JL might be looking pretty good ( and they are cool), but I'm sorry I sold my LJ. Hemi powered, Pro Rock 60's, 40" tires etc. It was a blast. But the new owner Doug is pretty cool. And a cave explorer. You can see him and the Jeep here.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hour...and-haystacks/


Anyhow, my point being, fix the LJ and enjoy it. And get the JL for the wife. ;-)

That would be the exact plan.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Ditto on that... So Frank, if you throw in the towel make sure it lands on your J truck with wax on it.

I had to say it...

[Frank Ziebert]

I am sharing this because to someone, someday this may be important. No way in hell would I have suspected overheating with a bad fuel pump.

Well below explains why I haven't had time to even look at the truck. So hopefully I have this issue solved and can move on---AND not needing a 2018 JL. Boy do they seem to have problems.


After fighting overheating issues for several years, I stopped at Novak Conversions for some face time. Eric, the owner had already warrantied me 2 replacement radiators.
Prior to that:
I had Stinger into a local radiator shop twice and the flow tested ok. The electric fan was replaced and the shroud reworked. Nope-didn?t help. Their next solution was to remove the winch. Nope-didn?t help. Replace the Radiator cap- Nope-didn?t help. Flushed the engine, replaced for the umteenth time the DexCool Fluid. Nope didn't help!

So, the last time we were in St George and still had overheating issues I had Dixie 4x4 take a crack at it. Milt said he milled a fitting that went inside the thermostat housing to help redirect the coolant flow. Nope-didn?t help. (When I replaced the pump and housing I could find no evidence of any internal work.)

We got to Novak on a Monday morning and was in the shop at 0900 and left after 1700. In fact, I did that on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday also. They fabricated two prototype air damns. Hooked up the computer and did a data mapping test drive. Over the next four days we did 7 different computer tunes with a 14 miles test drive between tunes. Nothing seems to help much but it was slightly better, and we had to leave to get to Buena Vista for a club 4x4 rally.

The Rally at Buena Vista was a bust for us. One run was spend trying to cool the engine down enough to get out of the hills. Good time with friends and a round of golf took some of the sting out of a no jeep rally BUT??..

So, driving back thru Utah to home in Oregon we made one more stop at Novak. They fabed up an electric fan engine oil cooler. Did another computer tune. (I had it in my mind it had to be in the computer because every time the engine was put under load: a hill, high rpm, etc. the temp gauge just climbed out of sight.) so I was figuring advanced timing beyond normal??.. Eric had just about every person working come take a look and offer opinions. Most of which I could reply: tried that, replaced that, nope its brand new??..

In desperation, Eric hooked up a high-dollar Snap On scan tool and noticed an abnormal difference in the long-term fuel trim levels. ODD! So, we started testing individual fuel injectors. When the ignition key was turned on fuel pressure would slowly rise to about 40 psi. When the injector being tested was opened and then closed again a slow return to 40 psi. This really turned on the light bulbs! When the ignition key is turned on the fuel pressure on a 05 Jeep should jump to 58-60 PSI and only have momentary dips as demand is supplied.
Next test was to take off the hood to see a hooked up a pressure gauge to the Schrader valve on the fuel rail to monitor fuel pressure during a test drive.
We drove about 15 miles and climbed a couple of hills. Every time the engine was under load the fuel pressure dropped and stayed low. So, what does this mean? Low fuel pressure causes the computer to keep adjusting the fuel delivery trying to keep up. Fuel demand was far below what could be delivered, and the engine leaned out-----causing (WE HOPE) the overheating issues. This theory fits every heating issue I have had for the past several years!!!

That?s why there is no fuel tank in the jeep. The old pump, that is located inside the fuel tank has been removed. The strainer over the pump that serves as a fuel filter for the system was beyond clogged.
So here it sits in my shop waiting for the UPS guy to show up today with my new pump.

I can?t say enough about Novak: Erick and his guys. What a team and everyone I spoke to actually liked working there. Tim, the General Manager, Zeek, in Powertrain, Dillon, the mechanical engineer, Scott, in conversions, Steve, in Powertrain, Hardy, in Powertrain. All first-class folks interested in customer service first and foremost. And of course, the man who sets the company?s tone the owner Eric. Sorry but I must have missed a few people.
All of the work these guys put in, all the parts they provided, and the information they shared should have been in the thousands of dollars and I was prepared to pay that. My final bill was ZERO. Eric refused repeated attempts of me paying him. When i did the initial conversion my jeep was at Novak for several weeks while they worked/massaged/kicked the factory E78 computer into a working E38 ECM.,
Just so you don?t think I am a skin flint I have sent a check to Eric to spread among his employees for their efforts in solving my problem.

[Full Size Jeeper]

Frank that's great news. Glad y'all got that figured out.

[Kreter]

Beautiful color. Was thinking about something similar but with a white top, now I can't . Blazed through everything the last Few days.

[bkilby]

Crossing fingers the new fuel pump solves the problem. That's mighty awesome of Novak to help the way they did. I keep telling myself I need to get one of them fancy $3000 scan tools. Just haven't done it yet. Let us know what the outcome is.....when you get that pump installed.

[Frank Ziebert]

New pump installed. Drove it to the top of McKenzie Pass flogging it all the way--low gears/high rpm. It got to 230 at the top but immediately dropped to 210 when I got off the throttle.
Yesterday I reinstalled the A.C.. Have no way to evacuated the system and recharge it but I ran the engine until it got warm then held it at 3200 rpm. Barely got warm enough to turn the fan on. I did NOT energize the compressor because there is no refrigerant in it.

[SJTD]

What I do on AC is use a cheapo HF air compressor operated venturi vacuum pump. Pull it down to whatever it can do. Maybe 27".

Break the vacuum with refrigerant. Just back to atmospheric or so then pull it down again with the venturi.

Do this two or three times and the residual air/moisture is going to be as low as you could get with any vacuum pump sold for AC work.

[Frank Ziebert]

To Mr that is way too much work. I'll just take it to town and have the radiator shop do I it. I have a $10 off coupon

[Frank Ziebert]

Decided to do the body lift on Stinger to be able to put heat shields over the exhaust system. As usual, all the mount bolts came out just fine except the one under the core support. It snapped off! PITA but not that big a deal, just drill it out. Started with a small pilot bit and was working my way up. At the 3/8 st point I had the drill on slow speed high torque------- that's when the bit snagged up and the drill came around out of my hands and smacked my right jaw. When i got up off the shop floor I found a very large hole inside my cheek and a small hole on the outside of my lip where the tooth went through.

Wine on a open hole inside the cheek hurts like hell. Just thought I'd warn ya. Oh and the headache is a .

[bkilby]

Ouch! Can you put the wine cork in the hole?

[Frank Ziebert]

Almost that big---or at least felt like it.

And all this time I thought it was just a lifted jeep with big tires. Ya know, that wandering around between the white lines, and let?s face it sometimes between the ditches.
So today after having a day of rest of jaw and cheek mending I was back on Stinger finishing up the body lift. One of the last steps is to relocate the steering shafts to a new higher location. With all the modifications I have already done I didn?t know it that was really necessary. I fired the engine with the tires barely off the ground, and turned the steering wheel left-right- left, your left, your left?Vets will understand. Things just didn?t seem right, kinda sloppy and disobedient. Much like a two-year-old with a dirty diaper.
It wasn?t that! This model jeep has a shaft coming from the column out through the firewall and with a u-joint hooks into a shaft that is supported by a bearing and down below that there is another u-joint that hooks into the final shaft attaching to the steering gear box. Ya,ya ! I put my hand on that bottom u-joint and pushed the tires back and forth. I finally got movement on the upper part of the shaft---well-after the bottom had started turning. This is the point I say ?bad u-joint, very bad u-joint. No supper. Except the joint is so shot that its beyond supper.
The slop in that joint probably would transfer to 20-25 degree motion in the steering wheel before any effect being transmitted to the tires and it just kinda wanders down the road. Those of you that drink and drive might want to pay particular attention here-----Nay, won?t do any good if the cop has any smarts!

Anyway, and to the point, Faye is in town trying to find a shaft-----called me and said something about dealer only part BUT our local yahoos would call the jeep dealer and see what they could do.
Out of parts can?t do much more so I opened the wine bottle--- cheers!