Nckellys

Hello All,
This is my first post here. It looks like I now own 3 of these things so i think it's time to get involved here....
My first 2 Cherokees are both Sports. My wife drives one and my daughters share the other. They are both 2000s 4x4s with the 4.0L engine.

Well, I was looking thru the CraigsList classifieds and came across a 2000 4x4 Classic project -140,000Kmi. I went to look at it and ended up buying it. The body is in nearly perfect shape - North Carolina rust free. Interior is dirty but I'll get that looking like new. Here's the problem. The owner (2 owners - current for the last five yrs) who claims to have maintained it well - severely over heated it and now engine seems to have little compression and wont start.
I bought it with the thought that it will either need an engine rebuilt or swap, worst case- I bought it cheep.
I have not brought it home yet. When I was looking under the hood I notice rust deposits blown out around the radiator cap and the overflow bottle. I unscrewed the radiator cap and couldn't believe what I saw - the underside of the cap had rusted apart to the point that the spring was no longer even connected to the cap! Unbelievable!!! It looks like due to the fact that the cap couldn't keep the system pressurized the coolant just boiled out of the engine - severly over heating the engine. Engine does turn over tho....
Like I said - I bought it cheep. And I've been looking for a project.
So, I'll be towing it home - with my 97 F250 Powerstroke and will be able to get a better pic of what I'm up against. It is a very nice looking Jeep. With 140K on the odometer I suspect the engine will be coming out. I'm tempted to do a rebuilt since I know of a local back yard machinist that does excellent work at better than a fair price.

What about the tranny? I've never really done much work on automatics but with a fresh engine i would want to make sure the transmission is up to it as well. Are there links here to tranny rebuilds on this site? I suspect the transfer case and front axle have seen little use.

Bottom line - I want this Cherokee to be as good as new when i'm finished.
I do have a set of nearly new 31" BFG AT's and rims that I was saving for one of the other 2 Cherokes (I'll need a 3" lift) but mabey they'll find their way on to this project?

Well thanks for reading and I appreciate all your comments in advance...
Thanks,
Brian

Bama91XJ

I think I would go with a engine but a rebulid would be good, Why did it over heat like that?

Just hope it didnt mess up anything inside when it over heated.

Nckellys

I think the reason it over heated was because of the radiator cap. It rusted apart and was no longer able to hold the pressure back. As the coolant heated up it just flowed into the over flow and out. A coolant system needs to be pressurized in order to work other wise the coolant just boils out.

An engine swap may be the quickest way to go but I've bought used engines and always wondered what I was getting. I bought a used Saab engine once for a swap. Yard told me 89kmi was on it. I pulled the timing cover off and one look at the balance chain and idler sprockets (with all their teeth worn off) I knew the engine had way more miles on it. Good thing I check it before putting it in otherwise it would have been coming out again later.

If I could find a replacement engine and see what it was coming out of then maybe???

I need a good shop manual for this project. Is the Dealer shop manual the best or Haynes?

Bama91XJ

Haynes is good to use, The cap might have caused it or allot of air in the hoses will also cause it to boil over.

I think you could find one at a pull-a-part and you can pull the engine your self.

http://www.pullapart.com/

there might be a location near you.

Nckellys

I'm into it. I did a compression test and had 2 cyls at 75psi and cooling sys would not hold pressure. I pulled the valve cover off and the sludge was so thick you could spoon it out. I used the shop vac to suck up most of it.
I pulled the head off and could see the areas where the cooling leaked. But the sludge bothered me and the engine has 140K on it. I bought this for a project so I decided to pull the rest of the engine out and I'm going to rebuild.
With engine now out and laying on the garage floor I will disassemble it this weekend. I have a good backyard machinist that will hot tank, magnaflux, hone and recondition everything including the head for around $400. He quoted $580 for the master rebuild kit but if I reuse the pistons, lifters, cam, timing chain and gears... etc it could be a lot less.
I'm not sure how far to take this. Since these engines can go for 300K+ I'm thinking some of the internals have a lot of life left in them???