AngeloM

Thank you Moses. I will answer each reply as best I can Cranking speed seems to be within standard range. The battery, wires and starter straightened that out. I haven’t been able to get a second pair of eyes on the spark since initially when I started investigating it was yellowish-orange in color. I briefly looked into the leak down test information posted in your Honda motorcycle article. I would perform this test but it looks like I will need a leak-down test unit? I have not tested for actual pressure or flow. I removed the test port plug and placed a rag beneath the port, turned the key to engage the fuel pump and had fuel on the rag. I do not have the proper adaptor to test the pressure at this time. Fuel pump engages, fuel is delivered but I don’t have data on pressure and flow yet. There seemed to be less flooding after cleaning the injector nozzles. I have not done the filter yet either. There was oil residue buildup in the rocker/spring assembly. One thing I noticed in attempting to pinpoint the timing was that the distributor rotor blade was at its tail end of its contact for each pistons’ top-out stroke. I only confirmed this by eye as I rotated the engine through all four strokes by placing the cap on the rotor and removing when each piston topped-out. Is this a concern to investigate further? I’m unsure of whether spark occurs at top-out or just before. I will not be able to perform a vacuum test that requires the engine to be running. The Cherokee came from the Nantucket area possibly originally where I believe it had two separate owners then I bought it from a guy in Syracuse who had it for about 2 years. I believe that the mileage is correct. The body shows holes from rock chips turned rusted nickel-sized holes on the hood and passenger rear roof corner which have cause various rot issues beneath the vehicle but the rockers and pillars are solid while there are the usual rot spot in the floor pans. Other issues for another time. I think it was driven intermittently and possibly garage kept for periods of its life. It is a second vehicle for me so I drove it once a week or so but started it at least twice a week. The cranking speed was slowing with each startup for about 3 weeks before it would not start.

This is my first post here so I’d like to introduce myself briefly and then post some info about my vehicles condition. I recently purchased a 1989 Cherokee 2.5 TBI that has ~115k miles on it. It’s my first Jeep and if all goes well, my last. I’m looking forward to the journey of owning an old busted up Cherokee for as long as possible. So I read a few threads in this forum that were related but could not find my specific issue. Here is a rundown of what happened/what was been done: Slow cranking(slower and slower til no start) Tested battery, low cranking amps, replaced Checked starter wires, oil compromised hot wire to starter, replaced both hot and ground on battery/starter Replaced starter Tested coil, seemed ok Replaced plugs Changed distributor cap and rotor Tested compression (95, 95, 115, 95)passable? Replaced main ground strap Tested CPS, ok Cleaned TB and injector. Fuel pooling in intake manifold I had one major problem through this. Had cylinder 3 and 4 plug wires reversed and blew the valve cover off. Replaced that and performed 90% of previous checks after the misfire problem. So basically I am getting a good crank, decent spark and fuel but no combustion. Any suggestions to help me get this thing running again would be greatly appreciated!