Project: 5-speed went auto....
 

Yep you read right, I got an auto and its also silver. The world must be coming to an end. But having said that, it might not be a keeper. We will see. Stay tuned to see what happens next. This is now the 5th XJ I have owned!

Pros
- The cleanest interior I have seen
- Body is very straight. Only 1 dent
- Not one spec of rust
- Doubt its ever seen dirt
- Brand new tires
- Brand new shocks
- All aluminum radiator (this could be a bad thing)
- New water pump and thermostat
- No oil leaks!

Cons
- 2001 with 0331 head (cracked)
- 2wd
- Auto
- Silver
- 210k miles
- Clear coat peeling on hood
- Smashed in front bumper
- Misfire at idle
- Not only is the coolant brown but it was down almost a gallon
- Heat core not hooked up
- Trans leaks


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...2d2f38da4f.jpg

Lets get off to a bad start shall we. So as with any Jeep you first buy, do maintenance first! First thing to do, change the oil. Ya I did that and only 2 qts of nasty black gooey stuff came out. Awesome. Had a hint of silver to it as well. Even better! Next up was spark plugs. Yep the ones that were in it were newer. Great. Then compression test. Oh ya all over the place. 50 psi in one hole and all the others except 1 were low. I checked it cold so it might be a little off. But still, 50 psi is no good. A leak down test is next and that should tell me my next step.

And leak down shows 90% in cylinder 2. All coming from the intake valve. Valve cover getting popped next

Valve cover popped and nothing looks wrong. I took the rockers off and did another leak down test. Just as bad. Did 100oz of a "steam clean" and it still runs the same. Looks like ill be popping the head off very soon. Any idea on why it wont rev past 3k in park? Is there some sort of rev limiter in park? Sorry the last auto xj I owned was about 15 years ago and I dont remember if it did the same. Could this mis fire at idle and 3k rev limiter be caused by the same thing? I got the cats nice and warm doing the steam clean too haha. Nice little orange glow.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...e9cdd3e3ad.jpg

I believe while in park / neutral, the PCM kicks in the rev limiter at around 3.5-4K RPMs while in drive it doesn't kick in until after 5K RPMs. You could push it further i'm sure, but there's no reason to. As for the misfire at idle, my bet is on the head since you had 'eh' compression / leak down results, but it could be a numerous list of things. I would check fuel pressure, clogged cats, O2 sensors, vacuum lines, etc. 2000-2001 are infamous for heat soak as well. But i'm sure you know your fair share, probably even more than me. I love your 5-speed build and I wish you best of luck on the new build!

Thanks for the good words and the info! Well I encountered the worst tonight. I had a very slight feeling the head was cracked when I bought it. I didnt expect it to be this bad.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...1021c45099.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...b881316533.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...6ea86ac2d1.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...76ce8b8715.jpg

So now the question is what do I do from here. I got some thinking to do.

Not sure what you do in da workin world my friend, but SoCal must be good. Havin one jeep in da family is all I can afford and or have time for. Don’t get wrong, I like my 5 speed but would rather have an auto when crawling.

I do engine and engine parts sales. Its not a very fun job as many would think. Stress levels through the roof. And no, Socal is not good. The cost of living is just way too high. I dont have as much free time as it may seem either. I just work really fast haha. It took me a hair over a hour and a half to get the head ripped off and that included a few beer breaks. And lastly, yes I agree that the auto is better when crawling. I love my 5-speed too but its no fun in the rocks.

I got the oil pan off tonight, somehow. My other Jeep was so much easier. I had to pop the lower arms, shocks and sway bar off to be able to remove the oil pan on this one. No fun but its off. Bearings look brand new. Pistons are fine. Rings are toast. So should be a nice simple and quick rebuild. Dont mind all the orange everywhere. Thats from rusty coolant spitting out the reservoir.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...dea2cd597b.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...0ee424f800.jpg

More bad news for tonight. Finally ran the hone down a few cylinders and got bad results. Its going to need a bore. So looks like I get to pull the remaining part of the engine out and do a full rebuild. Yay for me...

So now I am debating what to do since the engine is coming out. Do I pull the engine out of my white Jeep and transfer over just the short block? I can then use this engine as a base for a stroker on the white one. Or should I just rebuild this one and carry on?

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...d740e6b203.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...e42f7134be.jpg

Well I like to see projects come to life but what are your plans with this one? I mean if you want to put it back on road and DD this then maybe just get the head worked and slap it back on and drive it. Then take your time building up your white one the way you want it. At least this way you will have one working XJ while you build your toy (White one).

Oh and you live in California unless that jeep sat near the ocean your lucky to find most of your vehicles if not all rust free! I bought my Excursion and F350 while stationed down there and both in immaculate shape for years. 2000 and 2005. Wish I would have purchased an XJ there too :).

I am still not sure what I am going to do with this one. I was not expecting to do a complete engine rebuild. I was originally going to replace the head, fix up the body panels and sell it. But now that its getting a full rebuild, who knows.

If I do keep it, its going to end up being the official trail rig. The white one would get converted to more of a street friendly vehicle in prep for being a DD (lower it, take the locker out and make it ride better). At that point, the silver one would go in the garage, get put on jack stands and then gut the entire drive-train and suspension in prep for a full build. I cant stand driving an auto everyday so that is why the white one would go to DD duties over the silver one.

Yes that is about the one and only good thing about CA.

Bummer about the engine needing a rebuild. Take a look at my project thread if you want to see what you're getting into as far as time and involvement. I can shoot you a parts list of all my 4.0L parts too if you'd like.

Thanks for the offer. I will check out your build. Sadly, this is not my first time pulling and rebuilding the engine on a XJ. I did the same thing to my 98 I had a few years ago. I have already ordered most of the parts for the rebuild. Still trying to source out a cheap head. I might just go down to the boneyard this weekend and see if I can find a Tupy head on a GC.

Edit - I would be interested in hearing about that stroker... Thats the plan for my other Jeep.