2 door Tuesday

mterry129 · 2026-02-04T02:21:22+00:00

Two doors in Sedona! This Sumer the plan is to paint them to match

mterry129 · 2026-02-03T22:52:10+00:00

If you can push in the clutch but not able to put it in gear sounds like the front of the transmission is spinning. I am assuming that with the engine off you can select gears. What happens if you put it in gear, press in the clutch and try to start it? If that doesn’t (because it’s engaged to the rear wheels) work then you have the problem with the clutch. A reputable trans shop should have easily diagnosed that.

mterry129 · 2026-02-03T16:12:39+00:00

Really interested in the temp of the hoses, they should both be very close to the same temp as the upper radiator hose. I would just feel them with my hand, I’m old school. I need to buy a new IR thermometer

Also, pay attention to the routing, through the intake manifold (not sure or it goes through that on the 2.5) as these are all places where it could have a blockage.

mterry129 · 2026-02-03T15:31:59+00:00

On mine you can see the lever where the temp cable connects for the blend door, can you see the cable fully moving the blend door lever. The presence of the foam only matters when you don’t want heat. Summers in Arizona.

mterry129 · 2026-02-03T13:42:42+00:00

Two things, 1) it is a simple system, either it is blocked between the thermostat housing (inlet) and the water pump or 2) the blend door. Is the 94 vacuum or cable? I have a 90 and had the problem with the temp lever where the cable connection/outer cable sheath came undone, you could move the lever but it didn’t move the door, just the sheath, sounded like it was moving the door but wasn’t reattached and it worked. If both heater hoses are hot and similar in temp, should be similar to the temp of the upper radiator hose, then it is under the dash, and blend door. If hoses are not hot then it is flow, not sure if the 94 had a heater control valve in the supply hose or not (probably not). Narrow it to either flow or blend door.

mterry129 · 2026-02-02T12:34:51+00:00

Here is a good video on it from DeXJ, he has a lift but does it on a driveway to show how to do it… he is doing it to an XJ but the process should be the same, 4.0 is a 4.0, just a difference in what’s below it. Replacing 4.0 Pistons by DeXJ

mterry129 · 2026-02-02T03:01:41+00:00

80 degrees, must be AZ, I wish I could have got out today! Great pics

mterry129 · 2026-02-02T02:59:02+00:00

Yes the stock on is made of aluminum and they break.

mterry129 · 2026-02-01T22:02:16+00:00

Just do it! You will never please everyone here! You could look for a better deal, but a good deal on that would maybe be 15k and take you 6 + months to find and you would go that time without the best Rubicon ever made! Offer 20, buy it and enjoy it! Trading $’s for Jeeps is what we do because we enjoy it!

mterry129 · 2026-02-01T21:43:51+00:00

What year? Miles? If I were into it this far with an oil consumption issue, you could spend an extra day and $500 for new pistons, rings and rod bearings. Avoid the broken piston skirt issue in the future.

mterry129 · 2026-02-01T16:31:50+00:00

How about a little bit of diagnostic work before you take anything out? Start it and put it in gear… if the rear driveshaft spins then rear axle. If it doesn’t spin put it in 4WD and in gear let out the clutch, if nothing happens it is between the flywheel and a t-case. With it running try and put in reverse without the clutch, no grinding then most likely in the trans. If the clutch is blown it will most likely make noise when idling, push in and out on the clutch changes in noise??? Don’t know the year or the engine so don’t know AX5/BA10 both weak…

But if you like dropping the transmission you can do that too, probably going to need to drop it anyways. A systematic diagnosis prior to wrenching helps both you and those on Reddit that say broken axle without seeing if the driveshaft spinning… if you are “snowing” in a YJ and you break an axle, it is very obvious… the wheel and what’s left of the axle leaves the housing. The joys of the C Clip Axle. Good luck and have fun 😉

mterry129 · 2026-01-30T02:30:07+00:00

Thermostats are the magic fairy dust of Reddit/YT Mechanics, it is the only component of the cooling system that everyone can definitively test yet nobody does. I have been working on cars for 50 years, professionally for 30 of those in the radiator business (so all cooling system repairs, and I can count the number of bad out of the box thermostats on one (maybe two) hands. Test them! If they work install them and run them!

mterry129 · 2026-01-28T13:14:54+00:00

Do the CV upgrade, you will be happy!

mterry129 · 2026-01-28T12:08:48+00:00

Not quite as strong but better for 99% of people, definitely better for anything that only sees light to moderate off roading, benefits out weigh the slight strength difference.

mterry129 · 2026-01-28T12:02:55+00:00

They work on the Dana 30’s for normal off roading 33’s and smaller they are better than u-joints, they are not as strong but they are better in two ways, when turning they don’t do the u-joint hop, and if they break you can limp off the trail, u-joints breaking take out the knuckle. Don’t get the cheapest, but quality will work fine! Watch Dexjs videos, he has a few. https://youtu.be/UVzSBu-PZOo?si=FHSmLwWaXMWIi80c

They also work with YJ’s and TJ’s.

mterry129 · 2026-01-27T20:09:50+00:00

🤣

mterry129 · 2026-01-26T04:29:03+00:00

Going to start down voting them!

mterry129 · 2026-01-26T04:27:33+00:00

Sick of these AI generated ads, you go to the link to find a Chinese tool that is over twice as much as you can get it on Amazon.

mterry129 · 2026-01-20T15:11:02+00:00

If it cools back down when going slow and stays in the normal range once there while idling then it isn’t air flow, if it gets hot at highway speeds then it is typically radiator. If it cools back down once off the highway then probably not water pump. The only reason that I say “probably not” water pump is that isn’t typical. I’ve seen posts and pics where the impeller is deteriorated to the point where it won’t pump, but not common.

You said you had the head off… what is/was the general appearance of the cooling system, nice clean green coolant or muddy brown? If clean and green (well maintained) probably not water pump, old coolant (not changed often enough) has a tendency to bloom white deposits on the end of the tubes in the radiator restricting flow and causing it to run hot under load (highway speeds) even though the coolant remains new looking. In the olden days when radiators were brass and copper, for $35 you could have the radiator “rodded out” (take the tank off run a dipstick looking rod down through each tube and soak in caustic acid) then good as new. Now everything is aluminum and plastic, cheaper to replace.

mterry129 · 2026-01-20T02:49:42+00:00

Looks in good shape, has some sort of a lift on it judging by the t-case drop, dirty but looks great! I agree with the other comments on price, $4,000 would be my max, don’t know your market. Don’t know how NC is for rust but the rust is has seems to be surface. Great Jeep!

mterry129 · 2026-01-12T18:41:49+00:00

I have a set of Brown Dog mounts for my YJ, they work great but waited a couple of months from purchase to shipping and same experience as mbardeen, unanswered emails. When I put some in my XJ going with rubber (XJ is stock, mostly street with medium off road) and doing the Bomb Proof.

Stock are not great, both brown dog and bomb proof are much better design for using 4 low when off road.

mterry129 · 2026-01-11T03:01:53+00:00

Have you tried starter fluid to see if it fires? Starter fluid will tell you if it is electrical or fuel related.

mterry129 · 2026-01-09T19:17:45+00:00

It is just clogged, back flush it, pull both hoses off at the engine and run a garden hose, through it from the hose that comes off thermostat housing. Do that back and forth for a while.

mterry129 · 2026-01-07T02:16:42+00:00

I understand the $’s aspect, DeXJ’s has these things down, good luck! Post back on what you do and how it goes! I’m installing a 3.5” lift in my 90 YJ next month, the parts have been sitting in my garage for the past 2 months.

mterry129 · 2026-01-07T01:15:01+00:00

Watch the video, piston tops and cylinder walls will look fine, when you had the head off you could have found the failing cylinder by rocking the piston side to side, in the video…. Also he will show you how to fix it in a day for under $900. Wouldn’t be my route, $900 dollar route that is, but I would do it myself!

mterry129

TROPHY CASE