Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

Sluggish Acceleration

I’ll have my dad sit under the hood to read it as I go 40mph down the road 😎

Hence GoPro, or a Glow Shift or whatever electronic gauge.

I'm becoming more and more fond of wanting to check my fuel pressure at a glance.

And since I started playing with oil pressure and temperature I'm equally curious about fuel temp.

TJs have regulators in the pump. I'd like to build a custom fuel pump assembly with no regulator and an in and out hose fitting...the fuel rail would have a regulator on it and a return line. This can and will significantly drop fuel temperature.

-Mac
 
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Hence GoPro, or a Glow Shift or whatever electronic gauge.

I'm becoming more and more fond of wanting to check my fuel pressure at a glance.

And since I started playing with oil pressure and temperature I'm equally curious about fuel temp.

TJs have regulators in the pump. I'd like to build a custom fuel pump assembly with no regulator and an in and out hose fitting...the fuel rail would have a regulator on it and a return line. This can and will significantly drop fuel temperature.

-Mac

If you do please make a how-to! Any mod that simplifies/ improves working on a Jeep I support. All about the quality of life improvements
 
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You may want to hang a Schrader valve on that 1/8" port and get a test gauge with a 3' to 4' hose you can route out the hood and tape where you can see it.

Or again an electronic gauge.

I did mine this way (for now) so I could glance at the fuel rail and confirm pressure. This was largely in response to putting the cheapest Brute Power fuel pump in my 97.

-Mac
 
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You may want to hang a Schrader valve on that 1/8" port and get a test gauge with a 3' to 4' hose you can route out the hood and tape where you can see it.

Or again an electronic gauge.

I did mine this way (for now) so I could glance at the fuel rail and confirm pressure. This was largely in response to putting the cheapest Brute Power fuel pump in my 97.

-Mac

Schrader Valve

1/8” barb x 1/8” female NPT

1/8” Fuel line

I think with this setup I could use the female npt / male barb fittings on each end of the hose and thread the schrader valve and the gauge I linked into them.

Let me know if I messed up I’m kinda a noob 😂
 
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I have a regulator assembly that fits in the stock hanger on the earlier models. I have a complete hanger for the earlier and later models. None are on my website yet. I'm still working on pics and details.
 
Created my fuel pressure gauge, stayed at ~46psi the entire test drive, even at idle. After shutting it off the psi dropped to zero after about 30 seconds.

I know it says the range is 44.2-54.2psi, so does mine seem on the low side? Let me know your thoughts.

IMG_5222.jpeg
 
Okay so fuel delivery/components should be all set then. Maybe there’s a vacuum leak under load? I know if the leak was present during idle the RPMs would spike, but I think under load it would cause it to bog down.
 
Did you get it figured out? My 2006 2.4 just started doing this same thing, hoping maybe
it could be the same problem and this could provide some insight.
 
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Did you get it figured out? My 2006 2.4 just started doing this same thing, hoping maybe
it could be the same problem and this could provide some insight.

Hey sorry for the late response! Ive been MIA on the forums for awhile.

Ultimately, I think it came down to whoever did the previous rebuild did not do a great job. I was getting lower compression readings on two of my cylinders, so I opted to rebuild it myself (mostly to gain experience doing my first rebuild). After the rebuild I still felt like I had some bogged acceleration, which at this point there’s a chance my PCM is not doing amazing.

Does this only happen when the engine first starts/ is hot? Any codes / CEL?

I didn’t have any codes or a CEL which is why it was a PITA to diagnose.

My first suggestion would be to check your air filter, make sure that’s not gunked. I’d then inspect your throttle body. Good excuse to clean it even if it’s not the culprit. I’d next test your cats to make sure they aren’t collapsed and plugging your exhaust, you can do this with an infrared thermometer, lots of threads on this. If that’s not it I’d try testing your fuel pressure. Unfortunately I don’t think our fuel rails have schrader valves so I built an inline one to test it while driving. There’s a link somewhere in here for the adapter you’ll need, then you can use this gauge to test. You’ll need fittings and hose to run it inside to watch it while driving.

If your fuel pressure isn’t in the suggested range, I think around 45psi, your fuel pump is likely failing.

If you have access to a compression tester try that, I’d recommend pulling the fuel pump relay and unplugging your coil block while doing this.

Let me know if you have any questions!
 
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After assuming the worst on mine, it turned out to be the coil pack. Thanks goodness for fairly cheap and super easy.

For your sake I’m glad it was just that. Was there a code for it? I wouldn’t wish my struggles on any TJ owner
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts