30cal

Hello all, first time posting, long time reader. I have always been impressed by the wealth of knowledge found on this site, and have used it as a source for reference more than once.
Long story short, I believe I will need a reman engine for my XJ (2001 Sport, 177k). I have to be frugal with my money so I shopped around as much as I could and found a company that, for as much searching I have done in CF archives, found no mention of. So I thought about logging in and asking about to find out if anyone could offer or has any experience with.

Fraser Engine https://fraserengineco.com/4-0-liter-jeep-engines/

Quote
$2499 Engine
$500 Core charge (estimate)
$250 Shipping (estimate)
Lead time 7-10 days

That will include the following:

All machine work is performed on fully CNC machines.
Installing new Melling Oil Pump
Installing new hypereutectic graphite coated pistons & piston rings
These blocks are magnifluxed, resurfaced, bored (.030 oversized) and diamond honed in our Rottler CNC honing machine.
Cylinders are held to tolerances of .0001" (roundness & taper)
Crankshafts are ground and micro-polished, connecting rods are reconditioned, and cylinder heads are reconditioned receiving a 3 angle valve job.
New rod & main bearings
New timing chain & gears.
We supply all remaining gaskets to complete the installation.
We also offer a new improved cylinder head casting as well as the popular TUPY casting upon request

This all was sent to me via text and I asked three separate times if the TUPY head would be additional cost and got crickets. i have not yet reached out to ATK, Titan or Quadratek to check about getting around their 0331 heads but I’d rather write one check than two...

Thanks in advance for anyone that can help guide me to making an expensive decision. Have a great weekend!

Sirsyc0

I would start looking locally( even if it’s 50-100 miles away) for a trusted speed shop or machine shop. Go, sit down, and talk to someone personally about what you want to do.
You only want to do this job once and you want it done right.

sstout

I agree with local. I have a current build thread going about putting an engine in a 2000 xj. I shopped around online for a reman for a while. I've heard stories that some of the parts the big reman companies use are questionable. Just for peace of mind I called a local machine/speed shop and talked to them about rebuilding my current motor. Well, they won me over in about 2 mins. They also came highly recommended from from friend that has had work done there. So, an ATK reman is $2300-2800 depending where you look online. The local shop quoted me tops $2000. That's all the machine work, completely new parts and bearings inside, and a little hotter cam. Not only are they cheaper, I know it'll be done correctly. The shop has done a lot of jeep 4.0 motors through the years. Just my 2 cents but I found that a local shop fit what I wanted better.

sstout

The only thing I forgot to mention, I have a cleareater head already that I bought because of the 0331 head issue. So, they are going to use that to build the longblock.

cruiser54

Local

30cal

Thank you all very much for your replies, I really don’t want to do this the first time much lest a second. My mechanic of choice said the advantage with a reman engine would be the warranty. Should I expect the same out of my local mom&pop?

exasemech

_

exasemech

You might want to do some serious Googling of people's experience with warranty claims and the engine rebuilders you may be considering. After you raised the issue I did a bit of it and it was "interesting". They could have a 20 yr warranty but if they don't honor it.......
and a good machine shop is not "mom and pop"

Also, at the risk of getting slightly off topic, you never mentioned why you think you need a new engine. 170k is nothing.

lawsoncl

I found mixed reviews on the forums too. More bad than good, but take that with a grain of salt. Most of the complaints were about noisy engines, a few pointing out that they reused damaged pistons, one noted they overbored and used the original pistons, and lots of complaints about poor customer service, or they got a run around when trying to get a replacement under warranty claiming it was an installation error.

That they're not responding to your question about what head will be on the engine is concerning. Their "refurbished" engines look like nothing more than spit shines used engines with a new water pump and park plugs.

30cal

After reading ‘Trustpilot’ about reviews of Fraser as well as other auto forums, and the lack of discipline/effort to get an answer about the head I’ve determined Fraser as a company NOT to mess with. (Also, fwiw and in hindsight, Google beats the hell out of DuckDuckGo when it comes to getting the results I’ve been searching for)

As far as knowing if i need a new engine or not, I do not as of yet. This was something that was brought up as a cost/benefit rationale by a mechanic or two when I explained that the chemical test turned out finding that I had exhaust in the coolant and then Bars-leak in the coolant. In the brief time I have owned her she’s been temperature sensitive, in the summer especially.

exasemech

just to further complicate your life I'll add this and leave you alone.
coolant in exhaust, first suspect is head gasket.
It's a 2001 so maybe head crack but that's usually coolant in oil and who knows if it is the original head .Check for coolant in oil.
If there is stop leak in there it could explain any overheating(plugged radiator) and the radiator will need to be replaced in any case as any evidence of stop leak that ended up in a replacement engine would void any warranty.

If it were mine I would check the oil pressure with a good mechanical gauge. If it's good then consider replacing/ having the head replaced if it's the original or checked and surfaced if has already been replaced. This should be done by someone who knows what they are doing, not someone who watched a video