Couple questions

[statedawg]

Hi guys. New guy here and fairly new to the jeep world. I bought a 97 TJ in November of last year. Jeep has 231,000 chassis miles. Engine was replaced around 220,000 miles with a 505 performance 2.5 engine. Engine had a slight oil leak at the pan gasket. Replaced gasket no more issues there. Now to my questions/issues.

•Engine recently started smoking a little at startup.
•Every once in awhile the windshield wipers come on without touching the switch. Sometimes they'll go off on their own or you'll have to cut the key switch off for them to cut off.
•Noticed the engine runs really cool, like around 140 degrees.
•Every once in awhile at startup or when the engine comes down to idle the rpm's drop and the engine runs really rough or may go dead unless you give it a little throttle.
•Any other things to look for or check out.

Any help/advice will be much appreciated!

 

[Chris]

•Engine recently started smoking a little at startup.

To me that sounds like your valve seals are bad. That's a common reason for smoking on startup.

Is the smoke blue / white or black?

•Every once in awhile the windshield wipers come on without touching the switch. Sometimes they'll go off on their own or you'll have to cut the key switch off for them to cut off.

Sounds like it's either your wiper relay, or the turn signal / wiper stalk itself going bad.

•Noticed the engine runs really cool, like around 140 degrees.

Your thermostat is likely stuck.

•Every once in awhile at startup or when the engine comes down to idle the rpm's drop and the engine runs really rough or may go dead unless you give it a little throttle.

This is almost certainly your IAC. Check this thread out for how to clean it: How to clean your IAC (Idle Air Controller) valve

•Any other things to look for or check out.

Two things:

1) Make sure your frame doesn't have any serious rust on it.
2) If you don't know when the last time your cooling system was overhauled, it might be time to think about it. Here's a good thread on that: Jeep Wrangler TJ Cooling System Overhaul FAQ

 

[statedawg]

Thanks for the tips. The smoke is oil smoke (blue). Had a feeling it could be the valve seals but didn't know if that was a common issue on the tj or if I may have a broken ring. Will test/clean the other components you mentioned. No tub rust and minor surface rust on the frame, that's the main reason I jumped on this tj last deer season!

 

[Chris]

Thanks for the tips. The smoke is oil smoke (blue). Had a feeling it could be the valve seals but didn't know if that was a common issue on the tj or if I may have a broken ring. Will test/clean the other components you mentioned. No tub rust and minor surface rust on the frame, that's the main reason I jumped on this tj last deer season!

Sounds like the valve seals then for sure. That can happen on any vehicle. I wouldn't say it's common on TJs, but it can happen.

Sounds like it's a good TJ aside from all this minor stuff!

 

[statedawg]

Anyone know the valve adjustment specifications?

 

[2002 yellow X]

Anyone know the valve adjustment specifications?

As far as I know you can not adjust the valves. It uses hydraulic self adjusting lifters. Only way to adjust them is to replace the lifters. If I'm wrong someone will correct me. I wanted to comment on running cool @140 degrees. If some one put a performance 2.5 engine in they may have put a cooler thermostat in it or maybe no thermostat at all. I'd fix this first and maybe the extra 60-70 degrees will help with the stalling out problems.

 

[statedawg]

Thanks, planning on flushing the cooling system and replacing the thermostat tomorrow. Also going to replace the valve seals.

Already cleaned the IAC it seemed to help a little but the main problem is when the engine is cold and you take off and shift to second gear sometimes it stutters and kind of pops like a really mild backfire. It'll also do this in other gears and sometimes at idle but hasn't done it at idle since cleaning the IAC. Have a new set of plugs I'm going to put in it while I'm doing the valve seals.

 

[StG58]

Grab the FSM from here and get the specs, but @2002 yellow X is correct.