Thanks Mike,
Really? the Haynes CJ manual? I know they're cheap, but I was thinking
of just buying the FSM. I already have the Haynes YJ manual.
I'll stop by the stealership on my lunch break tomorrow and get the wires.
I don't remember what brand the cap and rotor were, they were brand new
sitting in the Jeep when we rolled it home, so we threw them in just to
make sure that wasn't the problem. They'll do for now.
And they have Accel at the auto parts store two doors down from where I
work (where I 'never' usually shop, cause they're overpriced a-holes),
so I'll go grab on of those. Depending on the prices, I might pick them
up for a few more of my heeps, too.

Might as well ask - recommendations for spark plugs?


Mike Romain wrote:

The trouble with the YJ books is they only gloss over the 258 engine and
it's wiring whereas the CJ book specializes in it.

I have rewired a couple YJ engine bays due to fires and melted wires and
the CJ book is the best one by far for that.

The 258 engine runs best on Champion spark plugs. There should be a
sticker under the hood with the type. They will refuse to run with
Bosch plugs for some reason.

Once you get it running, there are lots of tweaks around to make them
just purr and fly depending on your interest in 'tweaking' things. No
sense in going over much of that now until you get it going and see how
it runs. If it has idle issues, there are quick fixes.

Mike

The Merg wrote:

Mike you are "one of the few"! Mercy, the parts situation is going
to the dogs, or at least the Chinese!

I also put an Accel coil on my CJ, not sure which one but it fits in
the standard bracket and has a Resin Core instead of oil to resist
vibration. It gave a noticable smoothness to the idle.

If you are REALLY insistant, you can still get a good Cap and Rotor.
Borg Warner still has available the good cap with the BRASS terminals
and a decent rotor. You will most likely need to ASK for the BEST
stuff to get it, everyone quotes prices on the Chinese Junk to keep
from scaring off the "Bubba Mechanics".

Wires are even harder to find. The only ones I can recommend are the
Belden brand, and make sure that when you open the box they are a Deep
Navy Blue in color. These are the good ones and you won't have any
problems with them. Belden makes wires for NASCAR, so they do know
what is necessary to make a good wire.


Good Luck, Bruce

Bruce,
I can't seem to find a website for Belden. Do you know where I can
find some info or where I would be able to pick them up?
Thanks a lot.

On Feb 8, 10:34 am, "Highcountry" <highcountry2... (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:

NAPA carries Belden. Belden is owned by Federal-Mogul.

http://www.napapartsfromfederalmogul.com/belden/
http://www.federal-mogul.com/en/Afte...viceSolutions/

Chris

The Merg wrote:

I think I have tried every aftermarket 'performance' wire set made in
the last 35 years or so and none have performed or stood up as well as
the OEM ones from the $tealership.

I am now running on 7 years with the OEM Jeep plug wires in my CJ7.

'Performance' just means they will put out a nice clean spark... while
they work.

They are designed to work for at least 'one' race.....

Like a 'performance' engine. Race cars change those every race or two
also....

Accel wire are supposed to be 9mm 'performance' wires. Well they worked
until I had to check my spark plugs, then every metal clip on the ends
pulled off when I removed them. Half were arced out already which meant
they were broken to start and had been jumping that gap since new.

Belden make cables. They are twice the price of the same cable from any
competetitor just because of their name stamped in pure gold on the side
of the cable. (it must be pure gold, nothing else justifies their price)

Just my $0.02....

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)


The Merg wrote:

One of the car rags did a test on aftermarket wires and agrees that they
are mostly for separating you from your money on street vehicles. Even
the performance wiring kits sold by dealers were worse than the stock
ones for emissions and performance. The performance drop was at the
higher rpms the wires claim to be good for.

Most also tend to make your radio and stereo quite noisy.

There used to be an old orange wiring kit that worked for drag racing,
but I'd hate to make a very big bet that they really helped compared to
factory.

Roughly the same marketing category as fancy audio wiring that cannot
compete for performance with some really inexpensive alternatives.

Mike Romain proclaimed:

Mike,
We're still getting nothing. Let's see if I can remember - we've
replaced the fuel filter, coil and solenoid, I tried the jumper ground
from the battery, I've cleaned nearly every electrical connection I can
find. I got starting fluid, but it still seems to be that there is no
spark.
It would probably be a good idea to get plugs and wires, but it seems
that there is no spark even getting to the plugs.
How can we check to make sure the distributor is working properly?
Any suggestions??

Mike Romain wrote:

I would pull one spark plug out, plug in it's wire and hold it's base
against the block to see if I had a spark.

Did you get a multimeter?

With it set on volts, see if you have power to the coil positive
connection with the key in run. The do it on the coil negative with the
key on start and see if the volts that show flicker up and down.

Then you can take the meter on 'ohms' and put it into the connection on
the distributor to take a reading between the orange and purple wires.
You should have between and 400 and 800 ohms there. If not suspect a
bad pickup coil.

Then with the meter on ohms, you go from the coil positive to the coil
negative. You should have between 1.13 and 1.23 ohms there.

You then go from the coil high tension center to the negative. You
should have between 7700 ohms and 9300 ohms.

If all this checks out, then suspect the ignition module which is
located 'way' down on the fender below the washer bottle.

I know no other ways to tell.

Mike

The Merg wrote:

Thanks Mike, we actually couldn't find the ignition module to save our
lives. Looking at the YJ and CJ Haynes manuals, that seemed to be the
only thing we hadn't checked, but the books never actually told us where
to find the damn thing.

We've done most of those tests and all have come back fine - I need to
try the ohms on the distributor wires tomorrow night.

This is easily the most frustrating repair/troubleshooting I've ever
done because we don't know how the vehicle was acting before it died
and, as is pretty obvious, I don't know much about the ignition system.
Maybe we just should have taken it to a shop, but there aren't any
around that I really trust and I like to at least try to do it myself.
I really appreciate your help.

Mike Romain wrote: