The big shakedown!

[Milktruck]

When I bought my '88 Wagoneer it had been sitting for 5 years. Nothing that sits is in good shape, so I set a goal of going through the waggy and taking it on a road trip from North Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma to prove it was ready to serve. I've just returned - and here is the tale.

Before leaving I did the following:

New tires
Change fluids and lube all nipples
Replace door locks
Replace window regulator plastic tracks
Install new Bluetooth capable stereo/speakers
Rectify the tailgate that had been converted to hand crank then stripped by PO. It's back to stock electric now.
Remove/repair/replace both manifolds
Get the muffler to seal and hung correctly. Also had the heat riser welded
Replace all hoses and belts
Replace the AC clutch
Replace fuel filters
Replace fuel level sender
Chase a stupid lean-out issue for about 2 weeks that had me scratching my head.
In doing so I installed an electric fuel pump with relay and inertia shut off switch. (I left the mechanical in place for emergency purposes)
Starter relay
Switched dizzy to manifold direct vacuum
... and eventually the ignition control module which solved the lean out issue and long cranking starts. Go figure.

About a day and a half until departure and I called quits to tinkering. I fell short of my goal of having an AC hose made and getting a charge on the system, but for sanity's sake I had to stop or risk breaking something else. (2x70 cooling all the way!!). That evening I made reservations for camping at Natchez Trace State Park in TN and announced to the family that the beast was fit for travel. My wife gave me that look. Some of you might recognize it - the one with the raised eyebrow that says "Are you sure you're not deluding yourself?" Then I set about building a solid tool kit to make sure that I had what I needed for repairs on the road and packed the beast up. Sunday morning I woke my son up, grabbed some coffee and we left.

On the road:

Our first day to Natchez Trace State Park was uneventful. 588 miles of pure cruising joy peppered with more fuel stops than I've ever done in my life. Dang - 10 MPG is no joke. At least I never heard my son ask to stop for a pee break! We pulled into the State Park and found that we were one of two campsites in the nearly 80 unit facility. I love having the whole place to ourselves. We set up camp and decided to drive out to get dinner.

That is when the first issue appeared. No start, lotsa cranking. Nothing. I decided that we'd hang out, get a hike and maybe a swim before the sun went down. We focused on fun and cooling down, not agonizing about the wagon. Repair was for the next day. Believe it or not we BOTH slept well.

Day two we got up and broke camp. Then it was on to the no-start issue. Of course the problem didn't solve itself (heat soak/vapor lock), so it became a moment to teach my son how to troubleshoot. I showed him how to test for spark and narrow down the issue to fuel supply. Once there we went through the possible issues. By my gauge and calculations we were not out of fuel, but we weren't getting it to the carb. We were parked on an incline and the gauge showed we were on the bottom quarter of the tank. With that knowledge, I showed my son how to open the tank from above - and sure enough there was plenty of fuel. Pulled the new sender (TGW by the way) and looked at the sock and it was clean. It was also not deep enough in the tank to pull fuel. Fortunately I had packed fuel hose in my toolkit. We siphoned a bit of gas, then pulled the sender, removed the sock and put about a 6-inch hose extension on the pickup tube. Voila! Gas was now accessible. I put the sender back in but when I did so, I knocked the float off and right into the tank. GRR - no more fuel level gauge until I could fish that out and fix. I primed the carb with a bit of the siphoned gasoline and bam - we were on the road to the nearest gas station. An hour later we had the tank filled, and a breakfast in our bellies. Time to hit the road again. 530 miles to Tulsa.

All day long the drive was smooth. Fortunately I had been logging my stops and measuring range the day before. I was able to give myself a safe range for the highway speeds and we made good time. Toward the end of the day I decided to use the turnpike to shave about 30 minutes from the drive. I usually skip the tolls - but the day was long. I was thinking about hitting a pool and getting a real dinner and a couple of beers. Big mistake.

We were about 45 minutes away from Tulsa when I ran us out of gas. The turnpike was great. Speed limit went up to 75, and since I was looking toward the end of day rewards, my foot went deeper into the pedal. Oops. As anyone with an ounce of sense would point out - that increased my fuel consumption. I had entered the town of Muskogee and was looking for a stop. I passed the first exit with a station in sight to go for the second. Once off the highway - there wasn't anything there (signs said so!!). I got back on the highway and promptly ran out of gas 1/4 mile down the road.

My son and I walked 2 miles to the nearest gas station. I didn't want to burn any AAA service on this so we wanted to get this done on our terms. Well I shoulda called first. They didn't keep any fuel containers on hand, and I had neglected to pack one for the trip. In a moment of pity/grace the attendant offered to hit up her Facebook and see if anyone would bring a gas can. 20 minutes later we were getting a ride to the truck with a full can of gas. Saved by Facebook! We put gas in the tank but the battery was flat from cranking and we couldn't get it started. AAA got their chance. A total of two hours elapsed from running out of gas until the engine cranked again. I made mental note of the hard start, and how the ignition switch "felt weird" - and off we went.

We fueled up at the next exit, and I opted to leave the engine running at the pump. Not enough time had elapsed to get a charge on the battery. We then hit the road and made the rest of the trip. We arrived late and once again opted for no dinner - just road snacks. When we got to the Hotel where we were staying I slid the Wagon to the back where I could do some work if needed, and turned the ignition - but it stuck. I couldn't get the tumbler to move. Dang thing was stuck on. So we unloaded and I rolled up the tailgate glass and windows, locked the door and pulled the coil wire. Time to get clear of the vehicle. Long day.

My son was done for the evening and I found my pint of beer. While cooling off I hatched a plan for the next morning. My wife and daughter were flying into town and needed to be picked up at the airport at 10am. I had a tight timeline, but was up for the challenge. At 7am I grabbed an Uber and rode to the nearest parts store. I'd already found the part and knew that I could rent a steering wheel puller and lock plate tool. In my preparation for the trip I'd taken the steering column apart to tighten it up using the great write up from Dale's Jeep Junk. $7 dollars for Uber, $14 for the ignition cylinder, and 1 hour for the job! Sweet. I had the truck on the road before 9am. I had time for coffee and gloating.

The rest of the trip went well. It was hot as Hades, but the truck served well as a commuter while we watched my daughter play in a soccer tournament. At the end of her team's run, we packed up and made the two day haul home. It was a great road trip. No more breakdowns and we made sure to run conservatively on the range estimates.

Today I'm home working on the small things that popped up. Fuel gauge will be done by sundown, and AC will be done in another few days. I'm not going to figure up the cost of fuel for the trip. I'm done with the pain.

[will e]

Nicely done! Half of the trip with an old FSJ is just expecting something is going to happen. Sounds like you might want to carry and extra 5 gallons with ya!

But overall the only real breakdown was the ign cylinder right?

[Tatsadasayago]

A truly gutsy/dumb idea hehehe.
Considering the length of the trip I say you were fortunate that nothing big went BOOM.
I wonder how temperaments would have changed had your wife and daughter been along when your jeep got cranky.

Thanks for sharing, it was a good read.

[Milktruck]

Thats right will e - ignition cylinder was the only true breakdown. Trying to demonstrate to my kids that embracing uncertainty is alright. I want them to know not to panic when the $h!t hits the fan, and that calm systematic troubleshooting can yield a solution. Sometimes you gotta ask for help too.

We were covered on the trip if all went to hell. Maybe that is why something didn't go BOOM! What I will say is that I wouldn't want to do that without the support of my wife. She knew there was a high chance that we'd spend another night somewhere or we'd need to rent a car for them to hightail it home.

[letank]

Great story, thank you for sharing...
10mpg is no fun, but you made it, cheers,
time for AAA premier that comes with free 200 mile towing... and more

[will e]

I wouldn't call it 'free' towing, there is the membership fee.
But I have to admit that I do breath a sigh of relief when passing the Petrified Forest National Park entrace on my way home from Ouray, it's just under 200 miles to my door step.

Milktruck, those are some valuable lessons for your kids.

[ShagWagon]

How else do you find out what's wrong with it, besides driving it?

[Jonnyworld]

Thats right will e - ignition cylinder was the only true breakdown. Trying to demonstrate to my kids that embracing uncertainty is alright. I want them to know not to panic when the $h!t hits the fan, and that calm systematic troubleshooting can yield a solution. Sometimes you gotta ask for help too.

We were covered on the trip if all went to hell. Maybe that is why something didn't go BOOM! What I will say is that I wouldn't want to do that without the support of my wife. She knew there was a high chance that we'd spend another night somewhere or we'd need to rent a car for them to hightail it home.

Great to teach the kids how to recover and troubleshoot. I love the write up.

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[66stepside]

What a great story. Well done all the way around. That's going to be a trip the kids will remember for the rest of their lives- including the life lessons you're showing them. Again, well done all the way around!


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[fulsizjeep]

Great story but I did get hung up for a while at "lube all nipples".

Zerk fittings:

[Tatsadasayago]

LOL! Here I was thinking he was referring to the wife

[dodgerammit]

Well done!

I'm feeling your pain as far as "will this stupid pile ever run from point a, to point b, AND BACK to point a in one go?!

On your inertia switch, what did you use? I'm toying with a late 90's F series unit. I too am running dual fuel pumps.

[az chip]

Great story but I did get hung up for a while at "lube all nipples".

Zerk fittings:

I chose to contain myself to a private bit of laughter.

[fulsizjeep]

I chose to contain myself to a private bit of laughter.

Still giggling...

[swampedge]

Great story and pretty good troubleshooting skills.


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[Milktruck]

Well done!

I'm feeling your pain as far as "will this stupid pile ever run from point a, to point b, AND BACK to point a in one go?!

On your inertia switch, what did you use? I'm toying with a late 90's F series unit. I too am running dual fuel pumps.

I just picked something up at the local advance auto. Here is a link from another website selling same:

https://www.google.com/search?q=electri ... j8QgjYIxwM

Sorry that link is an ugly beast.

[Milktruck]

...I'd rather lube nipples than zerks any day. But thanks for helping me remember the right term.