Sputter's Return to Stock

[Sputter]

Picked up a 2003 SE with a 2.4L a couple of months ago. It was in rough shape and had been frankensein'd over the years with pieces and parts from other TJs. But it was only $3500 and it was a good project for my daughter and I and the 4 cylinder would be a good fit for her as this will be her first car. When I picked it up, it had over-sized 35's on it and it wouldn't go above 55 mph. Got about 2/3 of the way home and the radiator blew. Had it towed the last 83 miles.

We got it home and started tearing it apart. Here's what needed to be done to it:

1. Won't start unless you pull the battery leads and connect them for 15-30 seconds
2. Multiple electrical gremlins to deal with.
3. New radiator, hoses, themostat - fix fan realy issue.
4. In limp mode - transmission solenoid needs to be replaced. (Completed)
5. Prep for paint. Remove black bed liner and get back to paint - remove any rust
6. Needs new shocks, brakes, rotors and sway bars
7. No heat or A/C - will deal with this one much later.
8. Replace oversized tires with stock 33's from a 2008
9. Add floor insulation carpet, repair rusted seat frames, and new seat covers. Source a rear seat
10. Rip out the dash and recolor in sand color to match new carpet

That's about size of it. Everything is rusty on this so nothing is coming off easy. Electrical gremlins are delaying progress as is the slow removal of the bedliner that is all over the front half of the jeep.

 

[Chris]

Great vehicle for her first car!

I can say from firsthand experience that with 35s and the 4 cylinder you’ll struggle getting it over 55 MPH for sure. Hell, even on a 4.0 it’s still not fun.

Looks like a fun project though.

 

[Sputter]

Great vehicle for her first car!

I can say from firsthand experience that with 35s and the 4 cylinder you’ll struggle getting it over 55 MPH for sure. Hell, even on a 4.0 it’s still not fun.

Looks like a fun project though.

Well it doesn't help that it was in limp mode! Got 10 months to get it squared away. Wish me luck!

 

[Sputter]

Had to get all the bedliner from the floor to see what I was dealing with. Found rust in the driver's and passengers floor pans. Got a good portion of the rust out with a pneumatic descaler. Etched the floor pans (probably used a bit too much muriatic acid ) and then coated with POr-15. Repainted with some bedliner and adding Noico insulation on top of that.

 

[Sputter]

Multiple electrical issues to deal with.

1. Jeep wouldn't start without crossing the battery leads. Multiple sensors replaced bu PO. Sent the PCM to be repaired but they found no issues. Currently working with @Daryl to troubleshoot and found a coil issues and possibly some problems with the injectors which came out of a 4.0

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/crank-but-no-start.39215/

 

[Sputter]

Found a number of issues in the wiring harness so I pulled that out and will work to repair with insulation and new pigtails. Wiring with fuel injector #4 is faulty and wiring of air intake sensor, camshaft position sensor and crankshaft position sensor is frayed. Parts on order from RockAuto

Tracking my costs here if anyone is interested.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dIBPxhjmaj9LTNtFC9FLxE8pQqXNhMMHpYe__Gi7wlo/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Sputter]

While waiting on the new pigtails to come in, I thought I’d go ahead and finish up the shocks all around, front brakes and rotors. Also ripped out the dash for later clean up, rewriting and paint.

 

[Sputter]

More cleaning. Removing 17 years of funk, dust and bug carcasses from the dash area. Also removed the dash wiring harness for further cleaning and testing. Lastly I added some finishing tape to the floor insulation. The more I dig, the more I find. I feel like I am moving backwards!

 

[Sputter]

Got all the connectors in. Getting started repairing the wiring harness and testing each wire’s continuity as I go. I plan on finishing up the connectors tomorrow, wrap the harness and install on Saturday.

 

[Sputter]

It looks good - tested good. But will it work?? We’ll find out tomorrow!

 

[Sputter]

No joy on the harness fixing my problem although it still needed to be done. I’m not getting 12 volts to the coil connector so working upstream of the ASD to see if there is a larger electrical problem. Found some crappy battery clamps and a post missing from the PDC connector. Got some new clamps coming but not sure what do do about the missing PDC post. Might drill it out and add a new bolts. Also inspecting the whole PDC, wiring, ground and will do a complete clean.

While waiting on the new battery clamps, I thought I’d go ahead and finish up the front sway bar installation. Mine was missing so I ordered a used one off eBay which had some putting and rust on it. I removed the rust and put POR15 on it. The mounting holes were rusted to I had to tap them out before I could get back in there. Finally got it done though and added the links as well.

 

[Sputter]

Waiting for some new battery cable ends to come in. In the meantime, I cleaned up the PDC with some contact cleaner and repaired one of the junction block posts. Cleaned, reseated and tested some grounds. Also finished laying down the rest of the Noico insulation.

 

[LATJ]

Nice work!

 

[Sputter]

Still working on getting this thing running again. I thought I had a problem with the pins on the C3 connector so I got some used ones from ebay and rebuilt the connector. Pins are more secure but still not getting 12 volts to the ignition connector. Still got some sort of ASD problem (I suspect) but I can’t seem to figure it out. Meanwhile I guess I’ll just keep working on prepping the body for paint and complete the driver side seat frame.

 

[Daryl]

I was wondering where you were with your Jeep. Since you have it narrowed down to the ASD circuit reread the operation of the ASD circuit and retrace your diagnostic steps for it.

 

[Sputter]

Yeah that’s where I am at. Other than the CPS, what can prevent voltage from going to the coil? I was looking at the connection to the fuel relay to see if that came into play here.

 

[Sputter]

Decided to work on something that required a little less brainpower. Prepping the drivers side seat frame for POR-15 treatment.

 

[Daryl]

Yeah that’s where I am at. Other than the CPS, what can prevent voltage from going to the coil? I was looking at the connection to the fuel relay to see if that came into play here.

View attachment 195550

It’s been awhile but I thought you left off at a poor ground somewhere.

 

[Sputter]

It’s been awhile but I thought you left off at a poor ground somewhere.

Yeah I got passed the ground issue. Removed, cleaned and reattached grounds to block and body. Voltage tests were consistent afterwards.

 

[Daryl]

Yeah I got passed the ground issue. Removed, cleaned and reattached grounds to block and body. Voltage tests were consistent afterwards.

Without physically being where the vehicle is, all I can suggest is to review the wiring diagrams for the ignition circuit and test for continuity between the ASD and the coil again. Are you certain the crankshaft position sensor is a Mopar brand and the correct part number for your engine/transmission combination?