Part of the protection mandate for Covid-19:

 

We just we through this with my son's Jeep. Fortunately we got 275,000 miles before the head gave way.

I purchased a Jeep from a guy who purchased it from GovDeals for $910 with 132,800 miles. I paid him $500 after he gave up on it..needed a starter. Tolerances were all great so no rebuild needed, but all new seals, gaskets, oil pump, timing chain, water pump, and a new head from Clearwater.

If you buy a JY head you still really don't know what you are getting for your money.

The head has gone up $55 since I purchased 4 months ago. After everything I am in $1700 on a used motor, new parts and it is running great with 55 psi oil pressure.


https://www.cylinder-heads.com/product/new-jeep-cherokee-laredo-4-0-0331-cylinder-head-complete/

 

For that price you don’t think another $400 for a remanufactured engine is worth it? I feel like that’s a lot of money to invest into an old engine, mine has 152k miles.

 

Just an update for those curious. I removed removed the oil pan and found no chunks of metal not even shavings so I’m feeling confident my pistons are ok. Lots of sludge in the oil pan probably half in thick and while removing my rockers and Pushrods they almost all had coolant on them so I’m also confident my ticking noise was just my lifters gunked up from coolant. I’m going to order the Clearwater head and all new gaskets and new lifters. Probably an upgraded oil pump like someone’s recommended. I’ll keep updating as I go. Also for anyone afraid to do this job themselves, I have only done oil changes on vehicles before this Jeep and now I have half my engine torn apart and my air intake and exhaust manifold fully removed. I bought a $100 craftsman socket set and a $20 kobalt wrench set and I’ve got this far. Only thing I would get is 1/2 inch 12 point deep sockets because my set didn’t have any and I need them to remove the head.

 

Just buy what you need. Don't buy the whole set because you'll probably never need them. You can get individual sockets at NAPA, New Britton brand, I believe. OR at least you used to be able to last I checked.

Don't bother buying a high volume oil pump because you'll have to modify the oil pan or pickup to make it fit and it's not worth the trouble. The OE pump is a Melling.

 

Jasper or ATK? Junk. This is why I never get on this forum, always some non constructive post.

You have to realize $500 was cost of a complete Jeep for engine, I have recouped $400 from parts and interior.

 

I’m a little lost at what you’re getting at? I’m asking if it’s worth it to spend another $500 on a remanufactured engine instead of spending $1700 on parts to fix an old one. Not sure what part of that was non constructive on my own post.

 

I prefer the 6-point sockets as they get a better grip and are less likely to damage the bolt head.

 

Remanufactured may have its time and place but at the end of the day you're getting a junk engine rebuilt to an unknown quality. A remanufactured engine is still the same "old engine" not like its a brand new 4.0, just rebuilt so if you have the time and ability do it yourself so you know it was done right.
Getting it back together correctly is the hard part.

 

I didn't see any problem. Just an honest (though uninformed, IMO) question. More on that below.



The deal here is that ATK and Jasper are junk, so it's not a fair comparison. Rebuild it yourself, or get a good local shop to rebuild it, but don't buy one of those online reman engines. Let me give you an example of the kind of junk work they do.

If a cylinder wall is deeply scored, and needs to be bored .060, they will bore just that one cylinder. Oh, that .060 bore didn't quite get the last of that scratch out? Oh well, close enough. If another one or two need .040, that's what they will get. Another one maybe gets nothing but a quick honing, and that last one gets .020.

If you don't understand engine rebuilding, you might not think this is any big deal.

It's a big deal. A big BAD deal. Your crank is now being subjected to uneven forces from the pistons, as the diameter of the pistons is different, so the force exerted on them by burning fuel is different. Since your cylinders now have different volumes, your ECM is never going to get the mixture quite right. The engine won't be balanced, so you'll subject every moving part to more vibration.

Oh, and that "mix and match" approach to cylinder bores is also carried to the rod and main journals.

The correct approach is to make them all the same. If one needs .060, they all get .060.

This is bad stuff. It doesn't mean immediate catastrophic failure. It DOES mean shorter usable life.

And that's not even getting into quality control issues yet!

 

My rebuilt shortblock was from Maaco in Texas and I checked all the barrels and bolt torques before we installed it. All 6 were .020 over and the mains and rods were .010 under. I felt quite confident they did the job right.

 

Ok hopefully someone can help, I just removed my cylinder head and found a good amount of coolant on top of the pistons and also some on top of the lifters. Should I just remove the lifters? Should I try to dry it all up? Going to order the Clearwater cylinder head today and get the rest of the parts ordered as well. Again my oil pressure before I shut her down was 13 at hot idle and 40 when moving. I don’t think I’m worried about the cam at the moment.

 

yeah I just stripped out one head bolt and had to hammer the next size down onto the bolt. Got it off finally.

 

Did you drain the coolant from the engine before you pulled the head ? if you didn't that's where the coolant came from . But yes I would clean the coolant out and if you install a high volume oil pump let us know what your hot idle oil pressure is

 

While your at it fix those two ground wires...their looking a little frayed.