Kyle Stevens

I recently purchased a 2000 GrandCcherokee Laredo 4.0 4wd. This is a Creglist special. The deal was made for 600 dollars. The story I wad giving was it was his wife's daily driver that she over heated and probably blown a head gasket. He decided to run it in the yard and locked the motor. Once I got it home I drained probably 3 gallons of oil/antifreeze out of the oil pan. Took a long shot and dumped oil in it and crossed my fingers. didn't do anything like I figured. Put a breaker bar and pipe on the harmonic balancer Bolt and tried to bug it with no luck.

So this is where I'm at so far. I'd like to drive it before I replace the motor. I'm guessing the crankshaft is seized. Has anyone had any luck replacing rod and main bearings with the motor still in there jeeps? Before buying a remanufactured motor for a jeep I've never drove I'd like to peace it together enough to drive it down the road to verify what I was told about it being perfect except for the motor locking up.

andrewmp6

The 00 has the cracking head problem and if its locked up theres nothing you can do short of a rebuild and probably replace the cracked head it has.

Kyle Stevens

True this is one with the 0331 head. I don't really care if it runs bad I just want to make it down the road and back to see how the rest of the jeep does. Before spending money to replace an engine to find out it needs a transmission or transfer case.

andrewmp6

Your pretty much out of luck tell you pull the engine and rebuild it.If its that locked up nothing you can do to fix it while its in the jeep.

dave1123

Probably the pistons are seized in the cylinders, that is the aluminum has melted and attached to the cylinder walls enough so you can't turn it. You could try filling the cylinders with a mixture of kerosene and transmission fluid and waiting a couple of days, then try turning it at the flexplate. Don't reef on the balancer bolt or you'll break it. We've broken them loose before with a manual transmission by pushing them downhill and popping the clutch, but with an automatic it's tough. You could also try air pressure in the cylinders one at a time. Take the valve rockers off and the plugs out first.

It's very difficult to even take it apart with pistons that won't move. If you can get it to spin, you can get it to run. Badly, but run.

Kyle Stevens

Thank you for all your information. I'm going to work on it today. I'll post anything I find out.

Kyle Stevens

Ran a scope down all the cylinders. This is cylinder number 4.

dave1123

HA! Okay, that answers that question! Try turning the engine backwards. That one can't be saved without pulling it. It's not going to run without major work, if it can even be saved at all. Your going to need an engine from a 99-04 something because the earlier ones don't bolt up to the motor mounts. The easiest way to identify them is they have the oil filter mounted on the side of the block instead of on an adapter down by the oil pan. 02-04 had the "TUPY" head which was Chrysler's fix for the 0331 head.

It's your decision now if it's worth keeping. As long as the body is good, everything else is fixable. What's the price of scrap steel? LOL!

Kyle Stevens

I decided to pull it and see how bad it is.

Fred/N0AZZ

Like Dave said it all depends on how good of shape the body/interior are in. When looking for a used engine mileage of 200,000 + mi. is not a lot for these engines if taken care of just make sure of the yr. 02-04's.


Post a few pics of the whole Jeep.

Kyle Stevens

Fred/N0AZZ

If it's all that clean and mine I would search for a used engine for it or better yet a wrecked one where you have a lot of extra parts just in case.