Childs

My son just bought a 2001 XJ for his daily driver. I was excited about this Jeep because we would get to do some fun stuff on it together, my excitement has turned to frustration and I'm hopeful that someone in this vast space can help me. This Jeep is super clean inside and out, very little rust. Has 220k miles.

Decided to do some basic "fixes" to this Jeep:

• New Exhaust, CAT Back, sounds good
• New Valve cover gasket, pretty easy
• New Oil filter house seal
• Oil Change
• Greased Everything and cleaned years of excess off fittings
• Here's where I think thing go wrong....The heat shield for the fuel injectors looked bad so I got online and decided to buy a new one and replace the injectors at the same time. The Injectors were cracked but the motor ran smooth, I doubt they were original but they did look old. I bought a Design Engineering Heat Shield with the Rail and Injectors wraps(pretty impressed) and JDMON 4 Hole injectors, these had good reviews. I cleaned out the ports the best I could with a small pic and a vacuum. Put everything back together, motor fired right up after cycling the fuel pump a few times. Ran rough for about 10-15 seconds then smoothed out. I called success and moved on about my day. Later that evening I noticed a strong smell of fuel in the garage....I must have pinched one of the o-rings, yeap there it is, fixed it (on the rail side) Rolled the Jeep outside, fired it back up, same results. Decided to let it run for a few minutes and re-check.

Where my nightmare starts: Walked back out to check on the ole girl and shes smoking like freight train. I run over turn if off. The smoke has a very fuel heavy smell. BTW now have CEL up on dash, read codes, Multiple CYL misfires, CYL 1 Misfire and CYL 3 Misfire. So I do what I think is best, I go get new plugs and a new coil pack. Replace all that, fingers crossed, same smoke same smell but this time there is a heavy heavy fuel smell and fuel coming out the exhaust mixed with steam/smoke?

I shut it down and watched football the rest of the day....
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I don't want to look like the dad that toyed with something and broke it....

Griffyorcono

Should be a very simple fix. If the problem did not occur before the injectors where put in, you need to check that the injector wires still have proper power and that they are all connected to the correct injector. If none of those are an issue you need to buy different fuel injectors and return these as faulty.

Childs

I will give that a shot and report back, just concerned more about the smoke but that may be a byproduct of raw fuel.

Griffyorcono

If it's running rough and throwing misfire codes is just a result of the current complication. Again very simple to diagnose, was there excessive white smoke before the fuel injector change if yes then you do have another problem. If it only started with the new injectors than the smoke is caused by the injectors or something related to them. Also be careful playing with fuel if you have a fire extinguisher keep it on the ready or don't like me and full send it XD.

Also just to reassure you, in my couple years of experience I've never heard someone say ”well I changed my fuel injectors and blew up my motor” I have heard this though ” I bought ****ty aftermarket injectors and got what I paid for”

Childs

Thank you for the response. No smoke before injector change and yes I bought cheap. I will buy the suggested ones from previous threads.

I have a two car garage and have pushed it outside to start each time with extinguisher in hand.

warrpath4x4

if your dumping raw fuel into the cylinders to the point its coming out your exhaust, you might want to change your oil again once you get it figured out.

Childs

Fixed.....After many nights of confusion.

This was all done during other "fixes" to the Jeep and I consider myself a "shade tree' Mechanic at best. I have a good working knowledge of how motors work, SUCK-BANG-BLOW.

1. Injectors-Watched a video on how to check injectors using the 12v system using alligator clips and listening for the magnet clicking. I disconnected the battery and drained the pressure from the fuel rail (more on this later) Checked each injector and heard clicking on all 6
2. Power to Injectors-Bought a cheap NODE light kit from HF, broke the first light and had to fabricate new pins to one that was close in size to get it to work. Removed fuel pump relay and started from the front cyl. This kit is pretty cool in that it has a fiber optic line that you can run up to say your windshield wiper so you can see the light while inside the car during testing. It worked good but every now and then the motor would get enough fuel to start, roughly. All cylinders light off in same pulse rate(visually)
3. Now I now or think, They're opening and shutting when they are supposed to.
4. Fuel Pressure-Bought a fuel pressure gauge kit with the correct schrader vale attachment. Hooked it up, cycled the pump via the key, walked back to the motor to see the gauge quickly falling to zero, bled the gauge and tried again, same result. Immediately thinking I have a bad fuel pump or check valve. But I looked up running pressure first, I believe it was 51-52psi. Started truck, walked out and it was dead on. Not pressure issue. Motor still running rough, still smoking like a steam engine on a cold winters day.
5. One last thing try just for my brain, make sure one wasn't stuck open or leaking.....Pulled the rail, all but one injector came out with it, put that one back in. (battery disconnected) I zip tied absorbent petro towels that I cut down to the end of each injector. Connected battery and cycled key twice. Removed all the towels and #6 was soaked...my ah-ha moment. Replace #6 with new.
6. Put everything back, did the key on, lights on and off thing ( I'm not even sure this was necessary or if its true but i did it anyway)
7. Started and was running smooth, checked for fuel leaks(none) and immediately saw that familiar cloud of smoke....maybe it needs to clear out.....after 2-3 mins it started to thin out then disappeared! Success.

I don't know if this will help anyone down the road but figure that I have read enough posts that it was worth me sharing for once.

Other things I did during this whole process:

• 3" Lift (RC) w/ complete new rear leafs (the front bolts are a task)
• Front Spring/Shock mounts stripped and installed new (Rusty's-these are a great fit and would highly recommend)
• Oil pan gasket(felpro)
• Rear Main Seal- a buddy that had done his came over to help. Not particularly hard, just a bit scary
• New RF U-Joint at hub
• New Track bar
• New Sway bar bushings
• Fixed the window child lock failure
• Installed stereo with 4 speakers, front wires were broke, had to pull boot into door and solder new wires.
• Fixed the broken center console
• New rims and tires, required some front end bumper trimming (32" +/-)

This is my son's Jeep and I think I done with it for now....haha

I will posted pictures later.

dave1123

Very good on the diagnosis by the way. Another easy way to check for a leaky or stuck open injector is to pull all the spark plugs, then put long cotton swabs into the plug holes and charge the fuel rail. You should be able to see or smell fuel if one is leaking and check the swabs to see which one. I saw this done once and thought it easier than pulling the rail and injectors out. A certain amount of fuel can leak past a closed intake valve. If not this can be done by doing it again after turning the engine a bit. On the one I watched being done, fuel actually ran out the plug hole!

The way the injectors work is they are all powered up with the key on by the ASD relay and grounded by drivers in the computer when fuel is needed in sequence and on-time duration controls mixture. File that away in your brain's lexicon. The ignition is just the opposite on that engine. The coil rail is powered up the same way and the computer BREAKS the circuit to fire each coil when needed. That engine also uses a "waste spark" system where 2 plugs fire every revolution, one on compression and one on exhaust. That was done to reduce emissions and use just 3 coils and drivers.

Luckily you found a couple of nice guys to answer your post because you posted in the ZJ-WJ section and not in the XJ section. Sometimes you can get admonished for doing it wrong, which is rude in my option.

BTW, you can download a free copy of the Factory Service Manual at cruiser54.com