I have a 96 4.0 I'm in the process of rebuilding my engine and while disassembling I found a hole in the block behind the cam sprocket. It looks like a chunk busted out of the block. There was no metal at all in the oil pan or under the timing chain cover. I also looked in the lifter valley and there wasn't any there either. It looked really thin around the top portion of the hole. Now the part I'm most worried about is how it got there and are there cracks around it that I can't see.

Has anyone that has rebuilt a 4.0 seen this? Is this a casting issue? Is this weldable? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

uh...yea you can't fix that. Find a new block.

 

You was getting coolant in the oil huh.
Serious issue there, looks like it rusted out.
Guess the bodies aren't the only thing to rust away. :eek
Time to scavenge a new block as was said.

 

Yeah I figured. Thanks for the quick response.

No I got water in the engine and it was a good excuse to build a stroker. I ran until I pulled the motor.

 

Well that was easy! I found a complete running engine for $90. Now time for a quick tear down and see if anything is wrong before the guy skips town.

 

I got the engine tore apart and found a hole in the same spot. So I searched and seen a hole in the same spot on cybershots stroker build. I then went to the junkyard and looked at 4 engines and they all had a hole in the same spot. Apparently it's supposed to be there. My guess for the reasoning behind it is to get oil on the timing chain.

 

Mine didnt have one there when i rebuilt it...

 

I will have to take a look at my block when I get to work in the morning I will snap a picture and post it in this thread

 

WOW.... Ive never seen that. but Ive never looked for it.

 

I wonder if that was because yours was a Renix?

Thanks I would really appreciate that.

Yeah I didn't see it when I pulled my cam out. It was kind of right below the lip where the timing chain cover bolts to the block.

 

Hi I was wondering if that hole affected your stroker build in any way? I am just now in the process of doing a stroker build on my 96 xj and noticed a hole in the same spot.

 

It's a 9 year old thread. Except for dukie564, the most recently any of the participants has been on the forum is about 7 years ago.

I'm kind of thinking you aren't going to get an answer.

Here's what you do:

Start a new thread. Mention and link to this thread so people will know what you are talking about. To link to it, just copy the URL and paste it into your new thread, like this:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/hol...rocket-111607/

 

The hole is normal and is from the factory so don't see why it would cause a issue

 

I’ll post some pictures just want to make sure this holes normal doesn’t look rusted out but definitely looks like metal broke haha! Thanks

 

Its normal. Dont worry about it.