New to the KJ world

[rizob]

Hey everybody, I am a new part of the KJ world that just came over from the JK world. I sold my high payment JK and got a no payment 2003 KJ and took the anchor off from around my neck.

The reason I am writing this first post is because the KJ I bought was my mothers. It only has 39,000 miles on it ( I know you guys are jealous). The jeep did a lot of sitting around and was only drove by a little old lady around town. My mother would go to the grocery store and yard sales and that's about it. The oil was always changed but that's about the only maintenance that was done.

My question is, The jeep seems to idle just a little rough. Seems to run great otherwise. If you just bought a KJ that sat around and was only driven at slow speeds a few miles at a time what kind of maintenance would you do? Is there something that is a common problem that may be causing the slight rough idle? Thanks in advance for any advice. You guys will be seeing a lot of me around here.

 

[M38 Bob]

First off, forget the rough idle b.s.! First you must rip off the plastic bumpers and replace with 1/4 inch steel plate, remove shocks and springs and raise it at least 2-2 1/2 inches and for Jeazus Sake put some rock sliders, underarmor, and mud buggy tires on it!:grd:

Seriously, one of the more popular injector/fuel system additives might be in order.

Welcome, by the way!:favorites37:

Bob

 

[ltd02]

Welcome! Wow 39K. Awesome!

I'd vote for some Techron or something similar too. Might just need to blow some carbon out too if not driven much or too hard. Might want to change the plugs if they are original. Just get some new OEM style NGK copper cores. If the other fluids are original (coolant, ******, tcase, diffs etc), I'd change them all out soon. 39k ain't much but 12+ years is.

 

[LibertyTC]

^Yup as above & full tune up time.
Welcome to the forums!
Get some spray throttle body cleaner, in park at 2000 rpm and blast some cleaner down the throttle body bore..then..
The under hood sticker for gap & plugs, every 30 k miles is what I do.
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Sitting around also means not the freshest of fuel, Trechron concentrate additive as well as some good fuel stabilizer is always a good idea too. I use Starbrite StarTron.
Available Wallyworld & home depot. Link: Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment Gas Additive Small Engine
The coolant HOAT type should be replaced every 5 years.
The dealer is the best place for servicing the coolant & transmission as they have the correct skills & machines to do the job right.
The rear diff gear lube should be replaced every 20 k miles. If trac-lok rear end, needs 4 oz bottle of limited slip additive. I would recommend getting the free print out of the build sheet for your KJ as you know what you have then.
Refer to the owners manual for all fluids & gear lubes as the Jeeps got some different specs.
Dont forget the air filter, IAC cleaning, PCV valve check, and New DOT3 brake fluid as well as suction out the power steering reservoir, and get some fresh ATF+4 in there too.

 

[RenKJ]

Besides whats been mentioned I would seafoam the intake real good, let it sit a bit and after burning it off swap the plugs, ill be dropping my oil pan this spring to check out the pickup screen and clean/paint it, as long as theirs a way to get it out without pulling the engine, gotta do a search and read up

 

[Dave]

Welcome to the forum and it looks like you are already getting good help.


Dave

 

[rizob]

Thanks for the quick replies. I can see the willingness to help a fellow jeeper holds true in the kj world too. I'm running some techron thru it right now so I'm on the right path. It doesn't really seem like a big issue, I think it's just from sitting so much. The thing probably got up to 50mph about twice it's whole life and that's when I drove it. And I loved the reply about forgetting the rough idle and lifting it. I'm with you on that one. That's what I spend most of my time on here reserching. I figured I should probably take a little break for a minute to address the mechanical issues. Lol

 

[LibertyTC]

Re the Techron Concentrate, best is one ounce per gallon.
Often that means two bottles into the 19.5 gallon tank and :driver: it for a really good long highway blow out, over drive off and give er up some steep hills! :happy107:
That will clean the plugs & crud!! :happy160:

 

[tommudd]

New copper core plugs and then take it out and run it some. Easy at first but keep getting into it a little more all the time. Also forget the seafoam etc does nothing but create smoke. Most of the additives are BS as well so choose carefully.
Have the diffs/ transfer case etc been changed? If not they need it along with a complete cooling system flush , also brake fluid as well.
Sitting that much and rarely driven could be lots of moisture in everything.

Just picked up an 03 with 80,000 a few months ago to add to my KJ collection and went through everything changing/ swapping etc.

Some say that the 3.7s idle rough but to me they are not that bad at all .

Welcome and enjoy it

and just for S&Gs measure middle of the hub to bottom of the flare in front and report back

 

[the_dealer]

Re the Techron Concentrate, best is one ounce per gallon.
Often that means two bottles into the 19.5 gallon tank and :driver: it for a really good long highway blow out, over drive off and give er up some steep hills! :happy107:
That will clean the plugs & crud!! :happy160:

Actually redline si-1 and fuel system cleaner and bg k44 have the most PEA(the actually cleaner) of anything on the market. I did some testing with redline in my cobra and it's the best on the market imo

Sent from my G870a on 38's

 

[wheeee32]

Welcome! Enjoy that lack of monthly payment but you'll inevitably use it towards the mods on the KJ.:icon_lol:

 

[rizob]

Hey Tom, just did some measuring. I'm sitting at 18" in the front and the strange thing is in the back the drivers side is at 18 1/4" and the passenger was at 19". now I am sitting on an uneven stone driveway so I have a feeling that is why. So how badly sagged is 18"?

I would like to put Moabs and goodyear duratracs on it. I know I should probably start a new thread in rims and tires but screw it. What size lift would I need to run moabs with little or no rubbing? What size tires would be best? I was looking at the tommudd lift on JBA. What size Duratracs should I go for with that lift and moabs?

The other thing I would like to do is install cruise control. Has anyone done this on a 2003 yet? How much did it cost? How hard was it and where did you get the parts?

 

[tommudd]

Hey Tom, just did some measuring. I'm sitting at 18" in the front and the strange thing is in the back the drivers side is at 18 1/4" and the passenger was at 19". now I am sitting on an uneven stone driveway so I have a feeling that is why. So how badly sagged is 18"?

I would like to put Moabs and goodyear duratracs on it. I know I should probably start a new thread in rims and tires but screw it. What size lift would I need to run moabs with little or no rubbing? What size tires would be best? I was looking at the tommudd lift on JBA. What size Duratracs should I go for with that lift and moabs?

The other thing I would like to do is install cruise control. Has anyone done this on a 2003 yet? How much did it cost? How hard was it and where did you get the parts?

You are about average, an inch below new stock height ( if manufactured after April 12,2002Best size that work and look good on Moabs are the 265-70-16s, same height as the 245-75-16s but wider and look good on them. Moabs are 8 inches wide so anything with a tread of say 7 inches wide spreads them some. 255-70-16s would be good as well

 

[Hockeygoon]

Seafoam is actually one of the few fuel additives I would recommend, its done some good work for me with engines that had issues with old fuel. Never heard of Techron so I won't comment.


With only 39K does it still have the original plugs? If so I'd swap them out immediately. NGKs are the way I would go.

 

[teeje]

Since it sat around for awhile, how is the battery? Is it original? Have it tested for free. That could sure cause a rough idle. It sounds like it never took long trips which means short drives+natural combustion engine= carbon buildup. I'm with @Hockeygoon. Seafoam sounds like a good idea just make sure you do it slow. Also not a bad idea to clean the throttle body. Before I put a brand new motor in and my last one blew, I poured seafoam in one of the vacuum lines. I just used the vacuum line that runs into the throttle body rather than pouring it straight in and let the vacuum suck it in and I let it idle down Til it would almost stall and backed off the seafoam. Used about 1/2 of the bottle and let it idle for 10 minutes. After the idle I shut it off for another 10 and started it back up.

I will give you a short story about my kj experience. As of today she runs strong at 2,500 miles on the new motor

I got my 2002 kj from my grandfather. He putted the thing around and of course, that's not how I drive. Couple days after me owning the vehicle, it started ticking=broken timing chain tensioner.
Paid to get it fixed problem solved.
Driving to work one day, heater core hose blew (keep in mind this jeeps motor was rebuilt when my grandfather had it has a new heater core and everything)
Did a temporary fix Til I got the part from the dealer. Being the heater core fitting is smaller than the fitting on the block I used an adaptor. Well, it worked. For awhile
Adapted came loose when driving on the e way and over heated
Got the new part from the dealer for 119$! [emoji36]
Drove for a couple more months. MORE TICKING!
seriously sounded like a freight train that was low on blinker fluid
Couple months later engine jumped timing. Now she sits with a new motor

Moral of the story is, if she was drove nice and easy, continue to drive it nice and easy. Especially if she was the only owner. If an engine is not broke in hard but broke in easy then it is not wise to drive it like you stole it. Take care of it, do not switch to a synthetic oil if that is not what has been used over the years. Using synthetic could free up gunk in the motor and cause oil pressure issues (I believe this to be my issue with the last motor)
Good luck!
Also, if you're on here, no jeep stays Stock

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