Hey everyone. I have a 2001 xj with 4x4. I recently had a shop swap my engine and transmission with one from another xj. Since leaving the shop it started having issues and I wanted to know whether they had a common source.

Since leaving the shop:
1. my overdrive won't engage,
2. the engine starts to choke if you try to go above exactly 3000 rpm and won't go any higher,
3. randomly the starter will have a tough time turning the engine over. For ex, it will turn over instantly like normal when I go to the store, but 15 min later it will take 10 seconds to turn over and barely do so.
4. 4 low will not engage at all. I can't get it past neutral. Full time and Part time work just fine though.

Naturally none of these issues existed before going to the shop. The swapped engine has a bent rod or something in cylinder #1 that's causing a misfire, aside from that it's in perfect condition. I don't know much about the transmission except that the seller said it had no issues.
My question is if anyone knows whether there's a common source for these issues. Additional info, the swapped trans was originally shifting pretty rough, but I put some lucas trans lube and that helped a lot.

 

Now that you have a list of things that are wrong I would take it bake and have them fix it .

 

I'm following up to my own post in case someone eventually comes across this. I reset the ECU to factory settings and it fixed everything except engaging 4 low. Well at least for about three days, then it went back to the way it was. So, I think the misfire in cylinder #1 due to the bent valve is causing the ECU to go wonky.

 

You have mentioned a "bent rod" and a "bent valve". If, in fact, either or both of those is actually bent you need to fix it before the engine destroys itself.

 

When you take something "Into a Shop," you aren't just paying for them to "Fix" it...
you are paying, to make it "Their" problem, and no longer yours...

Don't be ashamed or intimidated if you have to bring it back to them and say it isnt working... you're a paying/paid off customer, who should expect their "well-compensated" work, to be correct and effective. I know people worry about getting charged more money for bringing it back. If it is a licensed, legit mechanic shop, and they estimated, and you have paid, for agreed upon services, then if they won't fix it correctly, call the Licensing Board in the State you live in, and file a claim against them. Or at LEAST smear them on Google.

If you went to a backwoods "OakTree" Mechanic, good luck, there's probably a reason why they arent licensed.

But really, not to be a d!ck, this site is more geared towards "fixing it yourself with XJ Cherokee Jeeps" than offering advice on what to do when your Mechanic didnt fix it right.



Good Luck. God Bless.

 

His question was perfectly valid. If you didn't feel it was worth responding to, then you shouldn't have. Some people are perfectly capable of minor work, but would opt to have a shop do an engine swap for lack of the right tools, time, or knowledge. If he just paid them to swap engine A with engine B, then the shop really has no responsibility if the donor parts are bad. If the shop provided the donor engine and trans with the expectation they were good, or they missed or did something wrong during the swap, then they need to fix it.

Off the top of my head, without more info the things I would suggest checking or potential causes:

No overdrive is often the throttle position sensor. If they transferred everything over including the intake and throttle body, the donor one could be bad. Or possibly the donor trans has issues, possibly a bad solenoid. Both are easy enough to test with a meter.

Engine choking about 3000. Needs a little more info, but maybe intake manifold leak, map sensor not connected, could be TPS sensor. Lots of possible causes.

"4 low will not engage at all. I can't get it past neutral. Full time and Part time work just fine though.". The transfer case linkage is likely not connected properly or out of adjustment. They should have checked that, but it's relatively easy to fix yourself.

 

The linkage for the transfer case tend to be questionable to start with, it sounds like yours is just out of adjustment. The bushings can tend to go bad and foul things up too. Very likely not related to the other issues.