Jeep Strokers

6TIME wrote:Did you confirm the pressure with the analog gauge?

I did- pressure was close to what my dash was reading. I like your setup- small simple gauge.Where did you get it? Every oil pressure guage I see is for mounting inside the vehicle with hookup for lights etc.

2 steps forward, 1 step back.

Went driving at lunch to get some miles on the jeeps. Ran great to work, ran great for 30 or so minutes at lunch. However, temperature got up to around 220. Higher than it should be for a 65 degree day. Coolant is topped off. I have a 180 thermostat.
Then, I got the dreaded check engine light- Code P0202, Injector 2 malfunction. Engine started running bad and AFR went up to 17~18. Luckily, I was close to home so I limped it home.

This is the same code/issue I was having at the beginning of starting the stroker. Where can I find a new injector electrical connector? I think I will put in a new connector along with new wiring back to the computer. I will swap around injectors as well but I don't think that is it b/c I swapped them around several times in the past and continue to have an issue with Injector 2.

Is heat soak a possibility. One time on the way home I got misfire codes for cylinders 2, 3 & 6. It was running warm so I think this may be a possibility??

Your stoker may run a bit warm during breakin as everything seats. Could have an air pocket in the system too, which should eventually works its way out.

Scottr wrote: Where can I find a new injector electrical connector?

google "injector connector". That will yield a bunch of results. Ebay has a bunch and your local parts store may have one too.

Scottr wrote:Is heat soak a possibility. One time on the way home I got misfire codes for cylinders 2, 3 & 6. It was running warm so I think this may be a possibility??

Depends on the circumstances, but they usually come up as #3 & #4. Was with this the stroker you got 2, 3 &6? Same injectors? Heat soak injector issues usually happens when the engine is fully up to temp, you park it, let it sit for several minutes then go to drive it. It usually clears up after a minuter or so as the injector gets rid of the air in the injector.

Parked the jeep Friday at lunch time. Had to do some things around the house this weekend to keep the wife happy. So I was not able to look at it. I ordered some injector connectors- $2 each. They should be here Tuesday.

Heat soak possibility- I did get the misfire from 2, 3 and 6 after I pulled over when I was getting the injector malfunction code and it was running high AFR. Turned off the engine, popped the hood. Giggled the injector connector on 2 got back in fired it up and quickly had the error codes for the misfires. They did eventually go away.

I thought maybe my issues on Friday were just from it getting so hot from the 'long' drive (45 minutes). So, I was hoping that when I got in this morning it would run normally- nope. Still have an issue with injector 2. Had to drive my wife's car to work. Very frustrating. Looking more and more like my jeep won't be ready for the Superlift Park trip.

Last night, I ran the engine and messed with the wires/connector of the Cylinder 2 Injector. I could change the way the engine (injector) ran based on how i moved the wires of the connector. Definitely not good. I installed a new connector. Engine is running much better. I ran it for several minutes last night- I checked the Fuel Pressure while I let it run, 47 psi at the fuel rail at idle. I drove it to work this morning and it ran fine. I think I need to drive it just for short trips (less than 30 minutes) until the engine loosens up some more- longer than that is where I had over heating issues the other day. I am also going to remove the inner fenders to let it breathe some more while it breaks in.

220 seems really hot. I'll bet you still have air in the system that hasn't worked it's way out.

I never got above 200, even during break-in. And it routinely runs around 185 now, with about 3K miles on it. I'm running a 185 thermostat.

Scottr wrote: I did- pressure was close to what my dash was reading. I like your setup- small simple gauge.Where did you get it? Every oil pressure guage I see is for mounting inside the vehicle with hookup for lights etc.

You can get them just about anywhere. That's a typical 1-1/2" analog 100psi gauge from Summit. They're like 20 bucks or so. About the tstat... I've had several that were faulty out of the box. After it opens where does the temp drop to? Some like to cycle fairly hot before they open. I'd rather have one that's opening right at what it's labeled at to keep the temps stable. I always confirm proper opening temp and response with a IR gun or something fairly accurate, in hot water. That way you don't get a lemon or take a risk at getting a new motor hot.

Disregard last post. That was saved on my iPad from a long time ago and for some reason I can't edit it.

I still have very low oil pressure at hot idle. Cold start is 50+. Hot driving is 40+. But sitting idle it will go down to 5 or zero psi. I have verified with mechanical gauge. I am on a second round of breaking oil- Joe Gibbs. Could that be causing it?

Also, the engine is running too warm. After driving for 20 or so minutes it Will get up to 225~ before I shut it down to cool.

I did find an error of the machine shop- they left out the cam thrust pin/spring. I installed them a couple days ago and still have the issues above.

You may have killed the cam bearings,
With out the pin and spring ( or with a weak spring) The cam can walk forward which breaks the oil coating, layer, barrier between the cam and bearing. Causing the can to eat the bearing. Particularly with stronger aftermarket springs.
If this is the case the bearings will be worn at the 6 o. Clock position.


If going with a high volume pump you may wish to put in a dizzy gear oiler to help with the extra stress the hv pump puts on the cam/ dizzy gear.

It's all covered in this post, all 42 pages of it.

http://www.jeepstrokers.com/forum/viewt ... ?f=8&t=444

Good luck with it.

Ran the engine around 350 miles before I determined that the machine shop likely left the thrust pin/spring out. Which they did. Looks like I need to pull the oil pan to inspect.

Anything else I should check since it ran so long without thrust pin?

Scottr wrote:I did find an error of the machine shop- they left out the cam thrust pin/spring. I installed them a couple days ago and still have the issues above.

OMG bad machine shop

You are so lucky that you found this, hopefully 350 miles is not too late. Low idle oil pressure and getting hot does not sound good.

Omg that's enough to make me throw wrenches

Scottr wrote:Anything else I should check since it ran so long without thrust pin?

Take a good look at the cam bearings and for any bearing material in the oil. Take a look at my thread that Rainman posted for pics of what the bearings might look like. I had cam bearing problems even with the spring and pin. Removing the spring, a solid pin and setting the cam end play manually fixed mine.

jeepxj3 wrote:You are so lucky that you found this, hopefully 350 miles is not too late. Low idle oil pressure and getting hot does not sound good.

For me the bearings were gone by 200 miles. Progressively low oil pressure was the tip off.

Things seem to be better now.
I took the engine back to the machine shop. They did not see anything that was obviously wrong. However, they replaced the cam bearings and made some slight changes to tighten up the tolerances on the main/rod bearings just a little.
I installed a solid pin for the camshaft. I also reverted back to a standard oil pump since there was so many posts about how bad the High Volume pumps are.

Oil Pressure now-
Cold Startup/idle: ~50 psi
Hot Cruising (above 1500 rpms): 40 psi
Hot idle: ~7psi

This is with 10w-30 oil.

I think I can live with those numbers. I may bump up to 10w-40 when I change the oil next time.

Thoughts?

Oh, and I replaced the radiator with a 2 row all aluminum from Champion. Zero heating issues now. Been around 80 degrees here. Hoping to get a 90+ day soon to really test it. They guarantee this radiator will cool up to 300hp. Can send back in 60 days if it does not cool my engine.