nwagtmustang

Bought a 99 grand cherokee with 4.7l. Jeep has 171k miles on it. After doing a flush engine is burning oil. Reman engine with 3yr/100k mile warranty being installed this week. Unlike the last owner I will take care of this engine. So glad.

po0dingles

Did Jiffy Lube buy this for you?

nwagtmustang

No they did not. Im using my own money. $4500 including labor.

Firestorm500

So.....the Jeep will be worth about $3500 when you're done?

dave1123

I wish I had gotten back to you sooner, I had problems getting back to the forum with a new computer, but I think I know why your engine was smoking. I'm thinking the flush loosened up all the crap inside and plugged the oil drains in the heads, making oil in the heads higher than the valve seals. Valve seals don't work very well when submerged in oil, even new ones. This is a common problem with the older Chevy small block V8s. The oil drains in the heads get plugged up and the engine starts smoking.

In a worse-case-scenario, My friend bought a poorly maintained 327 Impala that sat for 2 years without being started. When it fired up, it ran well. Then it started smoking badly and started to stumble. When it finally quit running, I pulled a valve cover off. There had to be at least 1/2 quart of oil that poured out of it. The drains were plugged solid with hard carbonized sludge that had to be drilled out. After cleaning out both sides, the motor ran perfectly, although it was still filthy inside.

Obviously your 4.7 was tired, but you might not have had to replace it. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.

nwagtmustang

Does this make the jeep worth more? No. Is it worth it me? Yes. So my options were sell the jeep for a substantial lose. Buy another jeep aroind the same vintage and not know the history. Go buy a newer used jeep and have a car payment of 300 to 400 a month. Look at all the things people do their wrangler. Do you think they can recoup their costa for the uogradesthey do? Maybe but they would not get all their money back. So it is worth it atleast to me.

nwagtmustang

When the shop pulled out the old motor they said it most likely was a junkyard engine and it might have had more miles than the car itself. They think this due to some bolts missing where it mounts to the transmission and it is the original transmission. I dont know if it was a junkyard engine. They do know its not the original. What happened to the original? Dont know. Of course I did the engine flush (will never do again ever) and it started smoking. My guess was the valve seals because it would smoke on startuo and after giving it throttle when light turn green. A compression test was done but no leakdown test. The compression was 95 to 105 except one cylinder had 70.

I went to the shop yesterday to look at the new engine. They had the valve covers off of the old engine. I was surprised how clean everything looked. The camshaft and the rest of the inside had a bronze color but no oil deposits at all. Either the flush cleaned everything out or the flush did something to the rings. It was not smoking at all before the flush. I dont think the previous owner did anything to hide the smoke because I tried every thing in a can to stop it.

The jeep should be ready today or tomorrow. I will do oil changes every 3k miles and take care if this jeep. Hooefully it will last another 15 years.

I nevwr had a problem in the past with cars smoking/burning oil. All my used car purchases have been low mileage cars. Do I regret buying the jeep? Absolutely not. Im excited to see if I can feel a difference in performance with this new engine compared to the old tired engine.

There is miw way I will ever buy a 2014 or newer jeep down the road. They are not attractive and way too expemsive especially for a v8. I have an xj with the 4.0 and now I have my grand cherokee. If i can make these cars last another 15 or 20 years then that would be great. I will be 39 in a couple of days. If I buy a new car in 15 or 20 years it would most likely be the last car I buy. Maybe at that time when my kids are out of college I will go finance a car of my dreams. Right niw I LOVE both of my jeeps and dont want to give them up.

po0dingles

Cool. Can you tell us more about the motor you chose? 5.2? 5.9? Crate?

po0dingles

I have to agree with nwagtmustang here. I was in the same boat.

Firestorm, most cars won't appreciate in value. Most of the time any money dumped into a vehicle is a sunk cost which is a point you're correct on. But the same costs are incurred if you lock yourself into a brand new depreciating asset.

However nwagtmustang, if you have long term plans for this jeep you may be better off with a fully modified vehicle as your starting point.

I've been going back and forth as to whether or not I want to dump a ton of money into my ZJ or just buy another one where someone has already done the work for me--lift kit, bumpers, roof rack, bigger tires, new rims, etc. And then start from THAT as your foundation. By this approach, you're cashing in on a huge savings that otherwise is only valuable to the previous owner.


If all you're going to do is replace the motor/trans/transfer case as needed and touch nothing else, then you're in a good position. Also you never know what you'll get with the previous scenario--short cuts and hack/slash stuff that's thrown together on a budget and not done properly can end up costing more than starting out with a fresh base.

It's all a matter of opinion and luck really.

nwagtmustang

Im going with the 4.7l reman engine. I would of loved to put a performance built engine however it was hard enough to convince my wife to let me do this. I am keeping it all stock. No desire to change it. I do plan on keeping this jeep for a long long time. Hopefully it will be aroind when my son gets his license. He will be 7 at the end of the summer. So dumping 4500 into a car that will last another 9 years is worth it. If I was going to dump it in a year or 2 then I would not have done a new engine.

The other thing is lets say i bought a car that cost 3k every 2 years nit including amy costs for repairs, that would cost me way more than a new engine now. Will my yransmission last? Will my transfer case last? Will I have to dump more money into the jeep? I dont kniw. As of right now its worth it for me to put in a new engine.

po0dingles

Agreed. There's a lot of different folks on this board who have different intentions for their vehicles, so they view each post through their own filter.

If you're not slamming your Jeep into trees and rocks, some of the members here will look at you funny. Lot of shaming of "mall crawlers".

nwagtmustang

I wanted an SUV due to the fact that I have 2 kids and we do a lot of traveling out of town for the holidays and during the summer. I have no interest in Ford or any of the other offerings from car manufactures. I love Jeeps. I have no interest in offroading. The Grand Cherokee is the perfect car for my needs. I would love to go offroading in a jeep owned by someone else though. I like the 4x4 because we do get snow occasionally and its useful.

Firestorm500

Oh, don't get me wrong. I have spent plenty of money on plenty of vehicles before. New, used, doing restorations, etc.

I have paid cash for my last several (used) vehicles, then spent more in getting them to where I want them to be. Many times. I don't want to go plunk down $40,000+ for a new Jeep either. I haven't had to make a regular payment on a car in eight years or so.

It is enjoyable for me to personalize them. I don't gook them up with unnecessary things.

Your problem is not going to be mechanical things necessarily, although if you keep something long enough you will have to replace wear items from time to time.

Without definitive proof otherwise, I would assume the engine you pulled was the original one for your Grand. Most people will just trade a tired vehicle in, like they did on yours, and get something newer. And make more payments.

One thing for sure, you can't drive for free.

If your Jeep ends up getting totalled, you will never recover your investment in it. But it's that way on a newer vehicle too.

Speaking of Wranglers, it's amazing to me the prices they get for those things new or used. Wow.

BTW, after the initial break-in period, changing your oil every 3,000 miles is too soon. A waste of time, money, and resources. The most engine wear comes in the first 3,000 miles after changing your oil.

nwagtmustang

I know wranglers go for alot of money. I was just saying that if a person puts 5 or 10k into their wrangler or xj it does not mean they will get that when or if they decide to sell it. Obviously by my screen name I was into mustangs. I did long tube headers with shorty xpipe and so many other things. Only because I got enjoyment oit of it. I never expected to get back what I paid into it.

The thing about my jeep is that I got cheap from a private person. I only paid $2500. Another 4500 for the engine so im invested in this Cherokee. If I keep it long term it will pay off. Of course if I known I was going to need a new engine then I might have taken that 7k and bought a newer jeep. However who knows what problems that car may have.

Firestorm500

That's why I said in an earlier post to get rid of it as is and get something newer with that money.

But it's your money and your Jeep. Education doesn't come cheap.