Yeah, I looked at the cylinders again tonight and cannot detect any ridge so that's a good thing. Also, the cylinder walls are nice and shiny. I'm not sure what "glazed" looks like but I'll bet this isn't it.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/drunk.gif" alt="" />Well some folks do call that glazed... use a little 240 grit paper and lightly scratch that cylinder before installing the piston and new rings. The fact that you do not find a ridge is interesting... prolly means there are many miles left in her.
Big Jim

Listen to these guys... IÆve done this job a couple of times before and everything IÆm reading here is good advice. You might also consider taking replacing the rings on the other cylinders while you have the pan off. We are talking about a twenty one year old vehicle here.

I had to laugh about your Head being on the kitchen floorà My wife still gives me the business about working on my dirt bike in the kitchen when she first met me. It just seemed right to me. She doesnÆt understandà ItÆs a guy thing.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/drunk.gif" alt="" /> Howdy Reverb
And I on the other hand would not touch those other cylinders. They seem to have had good compression and they seem not to have a ring groove... I take this to mean they will be Ok for many more miles. (I could be wrong!) Also we do NOT know how out of round they may be... It might take 5000 miles or more to get the rings to fit. So I suggest leaving it alone. (for whatever that is worth)
Big Jim

I have one other possiblity which I'm going to have checked out today and I really hope is the problem. I've had advice from someone else who pretty strongly feels this is a case of Cylinder wash. That is, the injector is performing badly, allowing too much fuel or allowing fuel to drip down the cylinder wall causing the oil seal on the oil ring to loose it's functionality. I'm taking the injector rail to a shop today and test the suspected injector. If this is the problem then that would be a good thing.

Based on my Compression tests (150 psi) both from a shop and myself and leak down (under 10% on first 3 cylinders, warm test) plus the visual condition of the cylinder (no cylinder ridge) all points to the engine being in good condition.

I'm really hopeful it's the injector at this point.

fuel wash does sounds plausable. but when you did the compression test did you do it after it sat for a while???? after it has sat for a good length of time and the oil does get washed off the cylender, it no longer seals the cylender make it it have close to 0 compression and 100% leak. once the engine gets going and there is oil there it should seal up and stop leaking huge amouints of oil. so if you would let it run for a little while then it starts smoking... i would say you don't have fuel wash. the standered symptoms of fuel wash is miss when first started, uneven cranking rythm, and the symptoms are gone once it gets warm.

Acutally, it's interesting you mention these symptoms. When I went for my smog test I put a new set of plugs in the bugger. It ran rougher than it did before I put the new plugs in. I went to a smog shop and they denied me a test (didn't understand the MPI kit, etc) so I went back to my work, called a jeep shop and they gave me a recommendation to a shop that knew what a MPI kit was. By the time I got to the smog shop it was running smooth again and this was weirding me out. I couldn't figure a sceanario which this symptom would fit into. I'm not sure it this fits exactly with your symptoms or not but it's close.

However, when I tested compression it was 150 cold. Anyway, I'll get the injector tested and eliminate or confirm this as a problem today.

If it saves me from tearing the engine apart so much the better.