Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Denis O]

I shall be doing my plugs over the weekend and expect it to be straightforward. Any tips or difficulties I may encounter or any special tools needed. The plug at the front looks a little awkward to get at.

I know these days plug gaps are supposedly correct out of the box but I'd like to check them so what is the recommended gap.

And finally, what's the consensus on a little copper grease on the threads before the new ones go in. I don't want a plug sticking when I next do them.

[LairdScooby]

Not sure how the TJ differs to the XJ and i've only owned an XJ so i'll throw my advvice in based on that - any errors etc for what you need to do on your TJ are obviously unintentional.

The front plug (#1) i found easiest to lift the radiator top hose out of the way to get in with the plug socket etc. On #6 plug, right at the back, on the XJ there is an odd shaped bit of bulkhead which minimises access - not sure if the TJ has the same but i used a short extension on the socket with a UJ to get the angle i needed.

Also the middle two plugs are a little tricky because the dizzy is in the way, straightforward as long as you go careful.

The plug gap on the XJ 4.0i is 0.9mm, i would think the same applies to the TJ. As for copper grease on the threads, i always use a thin smear applied with a thin paintbrush, just enough to coat the threads.

As far as i remember, the HT leads, dizzy cap and rotor arm are a service item at 60k miles on the XJ - no reason to assume the TJ will be any different as it's pretty much the same engine.

[Brynjaminjones]

Having looked at the Mother's TJ in the past, I'd say it's just like Scooby says, but with easier access to the rear of the engine

Also, I think gap is 0.035" so I assume that works out as 0.9mm. Our Jeeps both have spark plug part number and gap printed on a sticker in the engine bay.

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

[LairdScooby]

You're right Bryn - 0.035" = 0.9mm and in the handbook the plug gap is listed as 0.9mm. If i had converted i would have said 0.036" based on 0.040"=1.0mm but i can't remember the last time i saw Imperial feeler gauges so didn't bother. Given how small 0.001" is, it's not worth worrying about   

Re - the sticker with all the data on - some kind, considerate wombledick planted the LPG ECU over the sticker on mine, after obscuring it further with some gunge that won't come off, making it totally illegible! 

[Brynjaminjones]

I think my imperial feeler gauge is much older than me - I found it in Dad's toolbox that I don't think he's used since probably the '60s!

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

[Denis O]

Thanks guys.

I haven't actually started the job yet as the weathers been so crap, but I now have your info to help.

Just number 1 looks difficult but I think by moving the belt pulley, that should give me enough room to get to number 1. Although mine does not have air con, it seems the platform for it is there and that's what obscures the plug.

[LairdScooby]

Mine has A/C and all i had to do for #1 plug was lift the top hose out of the way so you shouldn't need to touch the pulley system at all.

I think my imperial feeler gauge is much older than me - I found it in Dad's toolbox that I don't think he's used since probably the '60s!

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

I've since remembered the last time i saw some Imperial feeler gauges - about 8-10 years ago! They were supplied new by the firm i worked for at the time when i was working on Caterpillar V16 engines. Silly thing is they had to buy the feelers from the USA and yet they were Draper branded so were in the UK before being exported to the USA! 

Many moons ago i had a set of Snap-On feelers, Imperial one end and Metric the other. This made them quite big and bulky to use so i ended up using two "normal" sets instead. Might even still have the Snap-On set somewhere - but where?? 

[wildwood]

  I've got Imperial feeler guages!!!!

Also some sets of Whitworth and BSF Spanners

All from his Lordship.....'King Dick'

My dad and my grand father......

Converted the sockets to Metric with help from the Interweb...... White paint pen on them......
They have come in useful for stuff that's misshapen or rusted or mullared.

[bgbazz]

I've got imperial feeler guages too...but not too much need for them, these days. 

I've also got a few old "King Dick" spanners which I nicked from my old man...many years ago when I got my first car...about 1962, I think.   

[Delk]

Half the engines on the boats I work with are still have BS and Whit bolts holding them together. Buying tools is harder then getting the engine parts.

[bgbazz]

Half the engines on the boats I work with are still have BS and Whit bolts holding them together. Buying tools is harder then getting the engine parts.

I sort of share your frustration...but in the opposite direction. When I started putting my tools together I needed BSF, Whitworth and A/F stuff and very little in the way of Metric...I still have most of the older stuff, plus a whole collection of Metric, Hex and Torx variations including sockets, drivers and torque wrenches. It all came in handy when I had the KJ because that thing was a mish mash of different sizes, but I think it might be time for a clean out...I only buy the best stuff, but a lot of it has never been used. 

[Dave69]

Bubba might also confirm this but LDV vans ONLY changed to metric when they made improvements and the bolts and fixings were then metric. Improvements term used loosely. So you needed imperial and metric tools to work on them

[LairdScooby]

Rumour has it the only reason LDVs finally got Metric fasteners is because the bill for the Imperial fasteners hadn't been paid - since 1979! 

Joking aside, i suspect it was because Metric stuff became cheaper than Imperial and if memory serves, the 2.5L Perkins engine under the bonnet of the diseasel models still uses Imperial to this day! I know they've changed the Perky for something a bit newer and more "Euro IV" compatible but there's still a lot around with the Perkins lump.

Have to say, out of all the old vans i've had when starting a different job, i never minded getting an LDV - they always just plodded on. Transits were good in their way but if they had been "less well looked after" showed their age a hell of a lot more. After nearly dying of carbon monoxide poisoning one morning i told my boss he was going to give me one of the nice, new Rangers sitting in the yard because the only place the Transit was capable of going was the scrappers!