damn jeep wont keep and idle when at a stop.

[ThadstvnsCJ5]

i have owned my 1983 CJ5 for about 3 years now, i love it but lately i have been having a hard time keeping an idle. i took it to a shop and they just told me to buy the fuel injection kit. hopefully i can buy that soon but if anyone knows what i can do in the mean time please let me know.

 

[gert]

How good of a condition is the motor in? If it has a lot of miles on it you might being rebuilding it soon. You could start with a compression check to make sure your cylinders are good and doing what they are supposed to be doing. Inspect your ignition system for proper function and lastly (most likely ) your carb might be having problems so you could rebuild/upgrade it and skip the fuel injection all together

 

[JR74CJ5]

First, not sure your exact engine / carb, but I'd start here:

Is this happening while stopped no matter what? Or when coming to a stop after driving...

If the motor is running fine (smooth at higher rpm's)

Either way, I'd start with some of the easier stuff, like:
* Carb mixture adjustments
* Timing
* Idle screw
* Fuel Filter

Also i would inspect all linkage and outside parts of the carb. For me there was a busted part on the back top of the carb, and everytime i was going say 25 + MPH and came to a stop light, id have to pump the gas once after shifting to neutral before hitting the brake to keep it running... It was a pain. Found and replaced broken part, no more problems... even started better, choke and warm-up wise...

Don't you just love the shops you go to that tell you to something like FI instead of fixing what you ask them to fix??? I just love that...

Cheers
~ JR

 

[ThadstvnsCJ5]

thanks, i think im just going to take the carb of this weekend and see what i can do. the engine is a AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l , i think its in good condition. but ill test the compression. thanks.

 

[1960WillysCJ5]

Buy a can of SeaFoam and run it through your carb.

Sounds like your idle circuits are either plugged or partially plugged.
SeaFoam will help clear that out.

 

[73CJ]

If it happened all of a sudden, may be a cracked vacuum line or one came loose.

 

[Wildthing]

Absolutly, before you tear stuff up, look for the simple fix. A vacuum leak is most likely your best bet. Start with tightening down the carb. I6 s are known for the carbs losening up.

 

[1960WillysCJ5]

Is it a points system, or HEI?

I had a set of points go bad that still looked good, and they would cause it to act like that.

 

[ThadstvnsCJ5]

thanks for all the help, ill do some more work to it this week. i did replace the fuel filter, it looked pretty bad but no luck. i did notice that the fuel filter does not fill up. is that normal? looks like alot of air is getting in while its running. also noticed when its trying to idle, if i spray carb cleaner in the carb it runs great for a few seconds, then back to normal after it burns off. again thanks for all the help, ill try everything that was suggested.

 

[BigCJJohnson]

Went through the exact same thing! Checked the fuel sending unit, filter, carb linkage and all were OK. Ran compression check and was fine. Ended up adjusting mixture, etc per shop manual and tore down carb and put in a rebuild kit. Ran better than it ever had. Found that the seal on one of the float chamber was bad and slowly leaked (never did smell much gas either). Make sure you check the seals and follow any torque sepcifications. Make sure you check/re-tourqe after a week or so if you choose a carb rebuild.

 

[JeepinTX]

My 83 is doing the exact same thing and then after a few miles of driving it idles perfectly fine!?!

I upgraded the ignition, cleaned the carb jets/bowl, new fuel filter. I guess I need to check the timing and carb linkage/seal and go from there.

What would cause the hard start/idle issue when the motor is cold only?

 

[73CJ]

In general - low speed miss = carb, high speed miss = electrical