zzAMBIENzz
New Member
New KJ Owner. Just picked up a 2004 Liberty, and to say the least ... I got a little scammed. Luckily, it was an auction purchase, so I have some room to hopefully correct the problems, and not come out too bad.
So if you aren't familiar with buying at an auction, you can inspect the vehicle, but you really can't go too deep with the inspection. The little KJ has a great body (albeit with a pretty crummy repaint), and a good interior. It did fire right up but ran rough. Oil was dirty, but no sign of "milkshake", and the coolant was in the same condition. Wasn't blowing smoke ... so I pretty much ruled out a bad head gasket, as best as you can without testing.
And there it was! Large vacuum hose, clearly disconnected, and several other vacuum hoses with electrical tape wrapped around them. Rough idle solved, right? WRONG! Nifty little auction trick ... leave something clearly wrong that loos easy to fix, to hid the bigger problem.
So I get 'er home, and scanner shows multiple cyl misfires. Misfire count shows 2-4-6 are all missing, and drop test shows all 3 are dead. (Amazing just how "decent" that engine ran on only 1/2 the cylinders!)
Pulled the valve cover, and I see good news, and I see BAD news. The good news is, this engine has, at the very least, had the heads very recently done. It is clean as can be in there. The bad news ... the timing looks to be about 3-4 links off.
So, here I am. Trying to decide if it is worth trying to fix this hot mess, or just look for another engine. Anyway, that's me, and my sob story. Now, I am off to pick the brains of the KJ masters!
So if you aren't familiar with buying at an auction, you can inspect the vehicle, but you really can't go too deep with the inspection. The little KJ has a great body (albeit with a pretty crummy repaint), and a good interior. It did fire right up but ran rough. Oil was dirty, but no sign of "milkshake", and the coolant was in the same condition. Wasn't blowing smoke ... so I pretty much ruled out a bad head gasket, as best as you can without testing.
And there it was! Large vacuum hose, clearly disconnected, and several other vacuum hoses with electrical tape wrapped around them. Rough idle solved, right? WRONG! Nifty little auction trick ... leave something clearly wrong that loos easy to fix, to hid the bigger problem.
So I get 'er home, and scanner shows multiple cyl misfires. Misfire count shows 2-4-6 are all missing, and drop test shows all 3 are dead. (Amazing just how "decent" that engine ran on only 1/2 the cylinders!)
Pulled the valve cover, and I see good news, and I see BAD news. The good news is, this engine has, at the very least, had the heads very recently done. It is clean as can be in there. The bad news ... the timing looks to be about 3-4 links off.
So, here I am. Trying to decide if it is worth trying to fix this hot mess, or just look for another engine. Anyway, that's me, and my sob story. Now, I am off to pick the brains of the KJ masters!
