What would you do?

[theresanblair]

I'm new here, I want some suggeestions please. I am the recent new owner of a 79' CJ7. It hasn't run in almost 7 years. Maybe an occasional start for a year or two after parked in 1995. If you were thinking about a resto, what would be the list of things you would do to the motor prior to a test run to see if she still breathes? To the guys that answered my first post, Thank-you, I saved and printed your thoughts, just trying to be thorough, and get as much info as possible. My mechanicle knowledge is O.K., this isn't my first toy, just the first one with an extended "vacation". Any thoughts would be great, Thanks, Blair :D

[Jeep Fan 99]

First off do the simple things. Change all the fluids, pull a few spark plugs and see how they look. Cap and rotor, new plug wires, battery. Then crank her up and see how it runs. I imagine you might have some fluid leakage, do to gaskets and seals drying out after sitting for so long. You might want to try Valvoline Max Life oil. I put this in a Ranger I had that had sat for 4 years and it seamed to help the smoking problem it had, due to dried out valve seals.

[XtremeXJ]

Im not a mechanic or anything but a thought that had occured to me was the gas in the tank. If it has been sitting for awhile maybe some additive or a drain. Again just a thought, someone else might have a better idea as to what to do. Good Luck, XXJ.

[my4thjeep]

i would definetly drain and clean out the gas tank. Water and contaminates in the gas can make a mess in a hurry.

[thhjr]

Besides all of the fluids, the oil on the cylinder walls has probably dried out along with the rings have probably stuck. While you have the plugs out, spray in some liquid wrench. It wouldn't hurt to do like you do on a rebuild and yank the distributor and use a screwdriver like tool mounted on a drill to spin up the oil pump to re-fill all the passages and get oil to the lifters.

Tom Houston
Loveland, Colorado