Could it be this?

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/ho...ocking-125547/

 

No, I forgot to add that I removed the cover and inspected also. Flex plate looked good and all bolts were tight.

 

Has the motor been overheated or run hot? If so it could be a 0331 victim.
You may also want to check for a crack in the flexplate.

 

As far as I know, it has not been run hot/overheated. It does not use coolant, no white smoke, and seems to run fine except for that REALLY loud ticking. And as I said, the flexplate is fine too.

It ticks about 300 times per minute, or half of the engine RPMs which I believe means it has to be valve related (is that assumption correct?). I would think if it were a rod knock or piston skirt issue it would happen at the same RPMs as the engine.

New valve lifters were installed maybe 100 miles ago thinking that that was the cause for the noise.

 

Sorry to revive and old thread.

After putting off this project long enough, I located a good used fairly low-mileage engine from a 1992 a month or so back. I transferred the head from the original 2000 engine along with the manifolds, coil packs, and other assorted bits to the 1992 engine. The transplant had the usual issues (removing those top bell housing bolts, etc) but overall was no big issue. It refused to start but soon discovered that even though I lined up the electronics (distributor vs. electronic w/coil packs), I had to rotate the sensor 120 degrees from where it should have been to make it fire up.

I also discovered that after sitting for two years, things get corroded. The wipers, a/c, door locks, door windows, some lights, turn signals, and outside temp sensor did not work. Some things I had to replace, some wiring needed to be replaced, and some things just started working again on its own.

I now have about 1000 miles on it with no issues. The temp and oil pressure are rock solid, no leaks and no funny noises. I wish the gas mileage were a bit better - 22 highway, 17 city - but overall no other complaints.

Thanks to all who gave me advice and previous posts which outlined the basic procedure.

 

I am about to do the same thing with my Cherokee.

I have a 2000 XJ with 113k miles and no rust.

Great Jeep, but had same engine problems as you and finally last winter spun the bearing plus it overheated and warped the head.

I found a distributor model engine with similar miles and I want to swap it out with mine.

Can you give me some more detail as to how hard it was to install the coil pack and any other problems you had?

Or call if you have time.

Thanks,

Chris
(603) 674-6484 cell

 

Chris, sorry I didn't respond earlier. Hope you got it figured out.

I chose to use my 2000 head onto the 1992 block for a couple of reasons, mainly cost and aggravation. If I kept the 1992 head, then I was going to have to deal with the intake and exhaust issues. The original 2000 intake/exhaust weren't going to match up to the head or I was going to have to redo the exhaust and the sensor issues. My original head was good and the lifters only had a few hundred miles on them so I just put the original head on the new block. I also didn't have to deal with making brackets to fit the coil pack. It only cost me a few extra hours (it's very easy to pull the head when the motor is out) and the cost of a head gasket.

I also used all the original brackets and accessories (alternator, fan, power steering, a/c). Except for the sensor to replace the distributor, I only had to change the oil pressure sending unit as the connector is different. Unless you look at the casting number on the block, the only difference is the oil filter housing.

I had difficulties lining the engine up to the transmission to install. I removed the mounts (left the engine mounts in place though) so it could slide in without that awful angle.

My donor came from a manual transmission, my Jeep is an automatic. Getting the pilot bearing out is no fun without the correct tool!

I made the mistake of not removing the crank sensor when I did this and I might have bumped it when installing the engine. After a short time it failed and I (or my wife) was left stranded.

If you have any questions, please ask!