Casey Goehl

Hey all. I replaced the cap and rotor on my 2.5L 95 xj. She’s stalling now. I tried the pattern that I’ve seen over and over, she wouldn’t turn over. The old owner marked 2/4 wires, so I put those on in that order and moved the remaing 2 until it started. No idea what to do now. I got her started she stalled in reverse and creeped a bit I till I got her dead in the street.

dave1123

First of all, compare your old cap and rotor with the new one and make sure they are the same in shape and design. Then take all the spark plugs out. Turn the engine over by hand until you can feel pressure building in cylinder #1. Turn it until the timing marks line up. Whichever cap tower the rotor is now pointing at, make that #1 plug wire. Install the other 3 in the firing order making sure the direction of rotation is correct. If you haven't loosened the distributor it should still be in time.

Casey Goehl

Thank you for the detailed response. I realized that my manifold is out of a 99 the firing order is different. Should be steady now.

XJalex1999

Dear Dave, got recently a '99 xj 2.5L with 168Kmi on the counter. good shape ideal for project. very recently I observed that the #1 plug mark on the cap although pointing to the front, is connected to the #4 cylinder. the rest is according to the firing order. is there a chance that the wires are 180deg turned??? I think not but better to ask somebody who knows better!!
ignorance is bliss, 'cause it allows you to be thankful to those you know (just made that up)

thanks,
Alex

dave1123

In my opinion, it doesn't matter how the cap is marked or where the rotor is pointing, if the engine is at Top Dead Center #1, that is both valves closed and pressure building in that cylinder, whichever tower of the cap the rotor is pointing at, that is #1 plug wire. The rest of the wires get installed into the cap in the firing order in the direction the rotor moves after that. In other words, the distributor can be installed incorrectly, but #1 cap tower is wherever the rotor is pointing at the time #1 piston is at TDC compression. We used to purposely install Chevy small block dizzies 1 tooth off so we'd have enough room for the wrench to tighten the hold-down clamp because the vacuum advance unit got in the way otherwise.

With the 2.5L jeep, IDK if the cam sensor needs to be positioned in a special place or not first, but the cap/rotor rule still holds. All I know about that engine is it's a shorter version of the 4.0L, right?

If the rotor isn't pointing at the marked cap tower, I see no reason you can't remove the distributor and reinstall it so it does. It will need to be re-timed if you do.