'88 YJ, stock 258 with carter carb and automatic tranny. Turned right into a parking lot a little fast and got a bit of a side to side jolt. Jeep died. Stopped and restarted, but it ran real rough and sounded like it had a bad miss. Died. This went on and on. :mad3: It took excessive cranking times to get it to start then it would run like spark plug wires were crossed then backfire thru the exhaust!! If I got it to start and tried to hold rpm @ 1500-2000 it would miss horribly and then just lose power and die. Finally it would sorta run and I limped it home, but I could not touch the gas pedal or it would die. Finally it died and would not restart. Prior to this it ran fine with the occasional stall, primarly when backing out of a parking spot. Any help would be appreciated. As a side note, does anyone know if the Weber carb is smog legal in Kalifornia? Thanks

As a side note, does anyone know if the Weber carb is smog legal in Kalifornia? Thanks


Do you REALLY think the People's Republic Of Kalifornia would allow you to remove a computer controlled carburator, that monitors exhaust oxygen content, for a regular old, mechanical carb, that has NO emissions controls to it at all?
Your options for upgrading the 258 in Kalifornia, are the Mopar MPI kit, or the Howell TBI system.

As for your current problems, since it will not restart, have you checked fro spark? Fuel?
As fucked as the 258 system may seem to be, you still have to start with the basics. All gas engines still require air, fuel, spark, & compression to run.
My first guess would be the ignition control module took a dump.

Thanks for the reply Robert. Yeah I know the drill here in this socialist experiment they call Kalifornia. I have not had time to check anything tonight to get any more ideas as to what happened. I have only had this Jeep about a month and every time I looked under the hood at the tangle of hoses and the electrical plug in the back of the carb :eek: , I just hoped "nothing bad would happen." I have been surfing and will check on the systems you mentioned. Thanks again.

there are some primers on the carter to be found on the internet, as well as vaccuum hose maps and such, all i think are by john nutter if you google it.

i swapped my carter out for a mc2100, and have never been happier, but i realize that is not an option for you.

my best advice is to rebuild or go through your carter, familiarize yourself with as much as possible with all of it, because this won't be the last time it wrecks your day.

Start with the ignition box, I always have this checked out and if it's okay and you have spark. you may need to check the filter next. My junk had a clear filter on it that was letting air into the fuel lines and after replacing everything for the fuel AND ignition systems, found out it was a stupid two dollar part. buying a rebuilt carb will do you well for about a year and then they start going bad again. I bypassed my computer and all. You don't have that option. I ran this thing for as long as I could stand it but in the end the best way to go is upgrade to a 4.0 with ...yep you guessed it fuel injection.

I'll be checking the ignition box and changing the fuel filter for giggles and grins this afterenoon. Looked into the Howell TBI kit. $Wow$. I still can't get over how this just happened out of the blue. This morning I pumped it once (like always) it started right up and purred for about 5-10 seconds then died, took the wifes Jeep to work. Thanks again for the inputs.

I had nothing but problems with that damn carter, one day even rebuilt it twice on the trail, shitty day. Finally replaced it with the weber K551, the emissions are even better with the jets downed to 135's and runs great and great gas mileage. But the problem you are having sound kind of like one I used to get going down a really bumpy road. I also have an 87' w 258. on the back of yourintake manifold towards the firewall, just check to see if there is a vacuum plug/tube that should be plugged into the top of the manifold. I know that it sounds stupid but it happened to me a couple of times and it acted just like that.

I also have an 88 YJ w/AT, This happened to me about three months ago! After all the checking of fuel lines, filter, vaccuum hoses etc. It was the ECM under the hood, drivers side behind the coolant overflow tank. $49.00 at NAPA, 15 minutes to install and it has ran fine since! Good Luck!

I vote also to take your ignition module and test it at your local auto parts store. If it turns out to be good then you might check your cat and see if it's clogged.

I changed the fuel filter, and sprayed some carb cleaner down it and it rumbled back to life! Go figure. Just hope this was the problem and will get me by for a while. I am going to try the Juice Box conversion this weekend for the ignition and am looking real hard at the Howell TBI system too.

FYI, the "juice box", is the "TFI Conversion" or "Team Rush Upgrade", and the parts list is available many places. i think i did mine for half the $129 of the juice box package.

Yeah, I am planning on getting parts seperately. How has your experience been with the mod and would you recommend it?

my upgrades went in 3 stages:
nutter'd
TFI
mc 2100

so it was already modified when i did the ignition upgrade, but i would still say it made a big improvement. i highly recommend it. just don't forget to change the rotor in the distributor. worst 10 minutes of my life freaking out that it wouldnt crank after all that work...