Yeah I started a thread in Cherokee Chat but it doesn't seem to get much traffic, so i figure i'd put one here too. Long story short, I flipped my Jeep upside down, it was sitting like that for about an hour. Aside from removing the plugs/cranking to remove the oil is there anything I should do before starting it?

 

you should be fine with just that, unless it ran for any time upside down.

 

I'd put springs on the sides to prevent future roll overs.

That sucks though. What were you doing when you rolled it? Nothing from the pictures looks so extreme that it'd roll a jeep.

 

Why would there be oil in the cylinders? If your rings are sealing, there shouldn't be any.

Do a quick test crank. If it spins, start it. If its locked up, then remove the plugs and try again.

 

I rolled my kia rio about 4 years ago, I fired it up after it sat upside down for hours. I did nothing to it prior to starting it after the roll.


Smoked like crazy, topped off the oil and ran it tell it stopped smoking. still pulled 225psi in each cylinder when I sold it as a parts rig.

 

Check all your fluid levels before you do anything. You could have dumped oil if the dipstick popped out, same with tranny fluid. You could have lost your coolant through the overflow cap. And diff fluid through the vents. Just check. And then run it.

 

Tranny fluid, when cold, may not show much on the dipstick. Wait till you warm it up before adding anything, assuming it actually needs it.

When you rolled it back upright, were there any fluid stains on the ground or on the underside of the hood?

 

I did that in my 95. I rolled mine 3 times ended up on it roof for about 2 hours. After getting it back on it's tires. I started it up without any problems. The good thing it looks like you will be able to drive yours. Mine was completely crushed.

 

Rule of thumb is that it should sit upright for twice as long as it was upside down. I've uprighted many vehicles as I owned a towing company for 12 years.

Me, I'd pull the plugs having seen how much oil will FLOW past the rings which aren't designed to hold back that much oil at once. Stand clear of the spark plug holes while cranking or you could get an oil bath.

 

i second what cruiser says, oil rings are meant to hold back tiny amounts of oil, not quarts of it. even brand bew engines if turned upside down will leak minor amounts past the rings.

 

Alright, so I got it mostly sorted today. It actually started up just fine, with a bit of smoke for 10 minutes or so. I disconnected the ignition coil and cranked it lightly to see if there was any resistance, and it seemed fine so I put it back on and started her up. No problems. So heres a list of the damage that I mostly fixed today lol:
a lot of denting on the roof
ripped one of the riv-nuts out for the roof rack
bent the rack crossmembers
rear pass door would not seal
interior is a damn mess
oil all over the engine bay
pass front fender crunched a bit, wouldnt let the hood open
low on oil about 1.5qt
low on trans fluid about 4qt
coolant overflow was empty

and here's the pics
it's hard to tell in this one but the roof really was buggered up.

 

Wow the damage wasn't all that bad huh?

 

How'ed ya flip it?

 

Yeah I was amazed at how little damage there was. I forgot to answer everyones question of how I flipped it...Honestly I was being stupid, wasn't fully paying attention to the trail and got too close to the embankment on the drivers side. It was like 2 feet vertical, just dirt eroded away. My tire caught it and I tried to steer out of it way too much then i'm guessing the pass front tire caught a rut and it went over.

 

The good thing is now you can go do it again and not feel too bad about it, the damage is done.