belvedere

There wasn't any unusual noise, but I did have a slightly rough idle. I used the old "rope method" (moved the piston down, slowly stuffed a new nylon rope into the spark plug hole, then turned the engine by hand until the piston was up as far as it could go). Then I used a spring compressor that pivoted on the rocker arm stud. A couple tips for replacing springs: replace the valve stem seal, and use a magnet to catch the keepers when you compress the spring and grease to hold them in place when re-assembling.

I don't see where you mentioned the year of your Jeep, so this may or may not be relevant. I have a '98 XJ with the 4.0. When I bought it, it had a slightly rough idle. No biggie, a good tune-up will take care of it. Over the next couple weeks, I pulled my hair out as everything I checked failed to reveal the cause of the P0301. At my wits end, I stumbled across a TSB that covered, I believe, '96-'99 4.0s. It said that if you had a misfire and all other possibilities had been eliminated, you are to run Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner and replace all the valve springs. (I suppose a weak spring could cause the misfire, plus allow carbon buildup, therefore requiring the CCC). I ran the CCC and replaced the springs on just cyl 1. Problem solved! Again, this might not be your problem, but just wanted to throw it out there.

Sounds like an awesome trip...when you go, you'll have to give us lots of pics and an article!

Just wanted to say hello and give a quick introduction. My name is Jeff and I'm from SD. I have an '82 Ramcharger and a '98 XJ (currently laid up with a broken #6 piston), both 4x4s. (Also, my wife has an '06 Liberty 4x4.) I'm a die-hard Mopar nut and am really more into older cars, but do enjoy 4x4s as well (just don't have as much experience with them). I do most of my own wrenching. Looks like a nice site here...looking forward to learning, and maybe even contributing on occasion.

Thanks for the welcome. I've always wanted to go to Alaska. The wife took that to mean "an Alaskan cruise". Umm, no. I wanna get behind the wheel and really see things!

Nice post. I hope to be able to explore Canada someday, though it is so large, I'm not sure where I'd begin. Thanks for the info!