New CJ-7 owner!

Hey guys, new to forums and new to Jeeps! Bought this 83 CJ 7 last week and the family loves it. We bought it to tow a trailer for camping and weekend drives and it is the perfect fit! It was originally a 4 speed but someone put a 5 in it (which I’m glad they did). It has no body or frame rot, though somebody got the bright idea to cut a hole in the hard top to put a sun roof in it (very bad job at that). It doesn’t smoke even with 127k miles on it, but you can tell that it’s getting a little slop in the top end on startup. Now for the bad and a question or two: First off the hose routing under the hood is a nightmare, and pretty much a rats nest! The guy I bought it from put an after market omix valve cover on it and it leaks oil out of the pcv valve, grommets, and oil cap. A lot of stuff has been mucked with as you can tell in the pics. The pvc hose is actually zip tied to the fire wall pointing to the ground. Any idea on how to deal these up so they’ll stop leaking? I’m an engineering tech by trade so I think I can unravel some of whatever has been disconnected/bypassed electrically, and I bought the chiltons manual to help, but the emissions schematic is kind of hard for me to get a handle on. Is there a more picture friendly manual for the hoses/components than the chiltons manual?

Again I’ve got some searching in the forums to do, so I’m sure this is all covered somewhere. Primarily I just wanted to show it off and send out some Jeep love!

 

Thanks for sending in all those pics. I seems to me that you have too much pressure in the crankcase. It does look like you have a breathable oil filler cap up front. Make sure the rear oil breather filter in the air cleaner is clean. Better yet, install a breather cap at the rear of the valve cover. The best thing you can do for the money on that 258 is to install a "Team Rush Upgrade" to the distributor:https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/ignition-upgrade-78-90-jeep-teamrush-upgrade-1302931/. Which is just a distributor cap from a 300 Ford six, a matching rotor, an adapter with a new set of distributor wires, I prefer the very expensive MSD wires. Weak points on the CJ consist of using too much of the frame and body as ground connections as steel is a poor conductor of electricity. More on that later if you want it. I have had a CJ for over 30 years.
Edit: Looking at that loose hose coming from that emissions cannister it is the breather line for the fuel tank. You do need a vented fuel tank for it too operate correctly.

 

Thanks Jim! Think I should install a sealed oil cap as well or leave it the breathable type? Is it ok for the pcv valve to be hooked up like it currently is vented to atmosphere?

 

Since you have a Chilton's manual, I would suggest looking under "Emission Controls and Fuel system" to understand just how a pvc system works, it also cools down the combustion chamber. The CJ came with a sealed oil filler cap up front, the pcv valve in the center, and a line to the air cleaner in the rear with an air filter attached to it. Basically, the crankcase gasses get sucked in the engine thru the tube in the rear, and the sucked out gasses get air returned to the crankcase thru the pcv, I think. Although as old as these engines are they could use a bit more air entering the crankcase, so I have a vented cap in the rear of the valve cover. Check that pcv mounting seal for excess slop that would make it leak. Here in Kalifornia, the rear breather gets removed when the smog man looks at it.

 

Something I just noticed, On top of your carb there is a black plastic cap. That will block off the carb float bowl vent. There should be a hose from that location to the emissions cannister at the "carb bowl vent" location. If you look closely at that cannister it is indicated just where all those hoses go.

 

Jim thanks for your help, the valve wasn’t connected to the manifold, therefore had no vacuum so no air was being pulled through the valve cover at all. I’m going to buy some connector T’s and hose to finish connecting everything back as it should be. I’m not sure why the schematic shows the pcv labeled pcv vlv and then a pcv sol (I assume that’s the pcv valve maybe they moved out in the schematic for clarity)?? Not sure what the DECEL VLV is either but it looks like mine is gone lol.

 

Good catch, not sure where you got that pic, but it is from the factory service manual. Most of the time you have to research this stuff out yourself. Another thing I am not really sure where you live has any type of emissions testing. Is your computer hooked up? It would be located behind the glove box. The computer controls the ignition advance and fuel mixture. Both systems can be bypassed, so a lot of stuff on you engine is not being used.

 

The schematic is out of the chiltons manual so good to know they included factory schematics!. I live in Alabama, we have no emissions inspections at all . Didn’t know 83’s had computers, I’ll check in a sec.

 

I assume this is where it was . This explains the several unconnected connectors with no mate in the engine bay.

 

Good to know where you live, if memory serves me, around that time the some Jeeps had computers and some did not. You could look for evidence in that area. If you look at that pic from your repair manual, you will see several items and hoses that are not in your vehicle. Another thing I would like to add, if you look at the ground connection from the engine to the frame you will see that is made of a cheap grade of steel. Attaching a multimeter to check resistance between each end of that connection you might be suprised on just how much resistance there is, copper wire is a lot better. Another thing is the size of the hot lines used between the battery and the starter. An industry standard is now a #4 wire to handle all that current to the starter that sucks the highest amount of current on your CJ. I think the wire you have now is a #6.