1989 Jeep YJ starting problems

[leviortmann]

1053376

Sometimes my jeep starts up just fine, as long as you hold the gas pedal about half way down. Other times, it takes several seconds(8-10) to start, and it happens at different times;there is no consistent time that it starts or doesn't start. Also, my air filter has oil junk all over inside, and I don't know where it's from or why it is in my air filter. Any help would be greatly appreciated. [addsig]

 

[MORGSTER]

1053454

Regarding oil in the air cleaner.
I have been reading this same topic from forum to forum. Everything from removing valve covers to rebuilding motors because of warn or broken parts. Here is a suggestion from a Jeeper that had and fixed that same problem. I now have well over 225,000 miles on my daily driven, rock crawling, 1989 YJ. (With no oil in the air cleaner) . With help from the one non-salesperson at Jeep, I fixed the problem with a $1.99 can of gumout. With the engine running you can lift the pcv valve out of the valve cover and put your finger over the end and you should have some serious suction. (While reving the engine) If not, the pcv valve does sometime clog, (When you shake it, it should rattle) To clean he suggested spraying with gumout or replacing (if necessary). But the culprit is usually inside the hose that runs from the pcv valve to the intake manifold. If you removed the air cleaner you would find a split in that (approx ½ inch outside diameter) hose. It connects two hoses together. Inside is a small orifice (approx 1/8 inch inside diameter) that gets clogged very easily. (Trying to remove the two pieces usually ruins the orifice)(It gets brittle)
Before you remove anything, with the engine running, spray gumout into the pcv valve or remove it and spray directly into the hose (keeping the rpms up, so the engine won’t stall) Depending on the severity of the clog a little or a lot of gumout will be used. (Sometimes a piece of piano wire is needed to unblock the orifice) You should notice immediately a difference in the amount of suction at the pcv valve. Reinstall the valve, shut of the motor, open and clean the excess oil from inside the air cleaner. Replace, if necessary, the air filter (this is a good time to install a K&N filter) Remove the little filter, spray it with gumout, replace it and put back all the other parts. This completely fixed my problem. Two years to find and $1.99 and five minutes to fix.

Note: With this line clogged, the pressure inside the valve cover forces oil up through the rear hose into the air cleaner. And with so much oil inside and leaking out of the air cleaner, it leaves room for shady mechanics to suggest some serious $$$ repairs.

That repair was done about 50,000 miles ago, and just to be safe; I spray out that hose along with the carb during periodical maintenance. The problem never came back.

Give this a try. It solved my problem, and at $1.99 for a can of gumout, this might be the cheapest suggestion you’ll get.

Good Luck. [addsig]

 

[Johns89YJ]

1053612

Hey Morg!

I tried your fix and my '89 runs much better. The only problem now is that I broke one of the connectors between the PCV valve and the 1st tee. Do they still sell these? can I just get rid of it and run a single tube? Also, according to the vacuum diagram running around here and also in the haynes manual, I'm not sure what I have in my rats nest. My PCV line comes out of the valve, through two connectors, then tees, with one branch going to some sort of valve that's mounted on a bracket. The remaining branch tees again, with one tube going to the carb and one to the vacuum receiver or resevoir under the windshield washer res. The question is, what is the valve-type thing? I see one on the diagram, but for California cars only. But I'm not sure what it is. Any thoughts?[addsig]

 

[CARDOC123]

1053693

The man above is correct. Most times this will be the problem, and sometimes this will cause a hard start problem and on older models could cause a no start. However, it is usually best just to replace the PCV valve as it doesn't cost much. Also, be mindful that spraying card cleaner on rubber will degrade it quicker than normal wear but really nothing to worry about. And like he said be careful of others who will recommend a high cost fix. Good luck.[addsig]