2.1 Renault Diesel Jeep Cherokee Running

This is my 1985 Jeep Cherokee with a 1986 Renault J8S original equipment Jeep diesel engine. The original 1986 Jeep had 72,000 miles on it and had sat in a field since 1995 after being sideswiped. I performed the swap with only very basic hand tools and a rental engine crane. This may be among the rarest Jeep Cherokees out there in the USA. As any expert could see I still have many patched together fixes that need to be attended to before this project is done. I have had great difficulty in sourcing all of the parts.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Diesel
• Jeep
• Cherokee

[cadillacdan52]

What kind of mileage are you getting out of the 2.1 TD?

[craigdge]

@cadillacdan52 Well remember it't not 100% complete as I think it needs new injectors and when I was daily-driving it, it needed a front pump seal badly. I was recording 25 mpg even in spite of that. With good injectors I suspect it would do better. I am selling it though so I'll probably never be able to give a truly honest figure.

[craigdge]

Yes the 2.1 renault was a good motor generally according to most european mechanics. A shame that the engine was so far ahead of its time that mostly it was a flop in the USA. I discovered that mine had an injector front pump seal leak.  Going to try to patch it up this coming weekend. I'm hoping at the very least that cold start performance will be better. I'm also thinking it may help the engine performance off the line.

[craigdge]

Sat since 1995 and I did almost nothing to the engine. I'd say that's pretty phenomenal. It really is a tribute to the engine more than it is to me.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some time to finish up a few more odds and ends on the exhaust and some other wiring bits that need attention. Once I get my next paycheck I can focus on the timing belt. Once the timing belt and ring and pinion sets are done I can actually drive it without risking serious damage to the vehicle.

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

@craigdge

The flop status of this and just about every other diesel (except for VW and Mercedes-Benz) can be in observance to the much-publicized failure of the Oldsmobile 5.7L diesel V8 which GM offered as an option in the bulk of its medium to full size passenger cars from 1978-85 (and 1/2-ton light trucks from 1978-81).

[cadillacdan52]

@craigdge Ok, thank you. I'm buying a 2.8L Comanche and have been researching a diesel swap. I like it because it's just different. Too bad they never took off here, right?

[cadillacdan52]

@craigdge Cool. Thanks. I'm buying a 2.8L Comanche and am seriously considering a diesel conversion.

[666iwein666]

I'm buying one of these next tuesday for only 1200 euros, theats nothing for a jeep :p

[benpinter1988]

Nice job! This is my favorite kind of jeep cherokee, hopefully I can buy one like this someday. Luckily there are still plenty of them running here in eastern europe with renault 21 diesel engines.