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Oil light on, ticking/clicking noise, loss of acceleration
Stock XJ Cherokee Tech. All XJ Non-modified/stock questions go hereXJ (84-01)
All OEM related XJ specific tech. Examples, no start, general maintenance or anything that's stock.
Anyone who says 'oh I've got 300k on my engine and it's still strong!' Is either lying or meticulously maintaining their car.
Originally Posted by 6Cylinder
the pump is just 2 gears that generate the flow of oil. Those gears can become out of sync
Originally Posted by 6Cylinder
Such as being in the 'problematic 0331' head range,
Originally Posted by 6Cylinder
I have never owned a Jeep before and had mine for all of 3 days before I tore it apart. **** I have driven my XJ twice.
Sorry to hear the bad news Stabs. If it were me, three things. Pull the inspection plate and check the bolts from the torque converter to the flex-plate. Also, take a really darn good look at the front harmonic balancer pulley. (good light and maybe a mirror?) The rubber part is known to fail. And last, pull the valve cover, make sure all the push-rods are on the rockers. Not sayen you don't have other issues, but taking an hr. to check that stuff makes sense to me. Pardon me if that is redundant.
Pretty sure you can use blocks from 87 to 01, and heads from 87 to 99. (I'm not 100% on 00,01 blocks, might be issues with power steering pump/ac compressor mounts?) (see Cruisers HO swap)
My 90 Renix waz purring like a kitten at 280K before being hit hard in the rear by an idiot. Just got 22MPG driving it 300 miles home the other day, with it's **** all puckered! (I'll still use it for logging)
The more I thought about this the more I wonder if the shop that did your oil pan gasket knocked your oil pump pickup loose.
While I wouldn't be surprised, and I'm not defending the shop - this has been going on for awhile (the random, slight flickering of oil light at idle when engine gets warm) and wasn't doing it any more or less after the gasket/rms was done. It was a good month after that, and I would think that if that was the case, it would have not only happened sooner, but the light would have stayed solid a lot more, and shown different symptoms.
Originally Posted by DFlintstone
Sorry to hear the bad news Stabs. If it were me, three things. Pull the inspection plate and check the bolts from the torque converter to the flex-plate. Also, take a really darn good look at the front harmonic balancer pulley. (good light and maybe a mirror?) The rubber part is known to fail. And last, pull the valve cover, make sure all the push-rods are on the rockers. Not sayen you don't have other issues, but taking an hr. to check that stuff makes sense to me. Pardon me if that is redundant.
I will be talking to the shop about these things, but unfortunately I am pretty much at the mercy of this shop. The only other choice I have is to put it up in storage, as is, for as long as it takes until I have a garage. Not exactly ideal. If in fact they can give me as good of a deal as he had mentioned, they're probably my best bet as far as shops around here go anyway.
I don't see why pulling the inspection plate and checking would be an issue, as they would probably have to get under and get into that area to prep for a swap anyway. Also they might wind up using the valve cover off of this one anyway if they go with an older head, since I cleaned this one up pretty nice - in that case there's no reason they couldn't take it off beforehand and check things out.
Ya she's donesky. Pretty dissapointing. Idk if I've heard of many of these biting it so early.
I'll have more details and $$ numbers by tomorrow. If its too crazy and the shop tries to give me a run around I'll store the thing somewhere for awhile.
I'm really trying not to be a downer about this but it sucks when everyone rolls their eyes about you reworking an old vehicle as you try to stand up to the fact that they're the greatest American vehicle made in the last 30 years, and then literally every single thing about the vehicle goes wrong. After this, there's nothing else to break. I've never had more problems with a vehicle in my life. Not by a long shot. And I haven't even had it 2 years. You can just feel the 100s of "I told you so's". My gmc on the other hand doesn't owe me a dime and has been as rock solid as my last 4 4.3l's.
I still love her though.
Last edited by Stabsthedrama; 03-23-2015 at 02:16 PM.
Ya she's donesky. Pretty dissapointing. Idk if I've heard of many of these biting it so early. I'll have more details and $$ numbers by tomorrow. If its too crazy and the shop tries to give me a run around I'll store the thing somewhere for awhile. I'm really trying not to be a downer about this but it sucks when everyone rolls their eyes about you reworking an old vehicle as you try to stand up to the fact that they're the greatest American vehicle made in the last 30 years, and then literally every single thing about the vehicle goes wrong. After this, there's nothing else to break. I've never had more problems with a vehicle in my life. Not by a long shot. And I haven't even had it 2 years. You can just feel the 100s of "I told you so's". My gmc on the other hand doesn't owe me a dime and has been as rock solid as my last 4 4.3l's. I still love her though.
In the end, it's just an old vehicle. This isn't like putting your beloved family dog down at an early age.
Chalk this one up as bad luck and move on. This kind of stuff happens.
Well as I said earlier, you don't know what went on in its previous life when you buy one used.
Most of the XJ 4.0s I see in salvage yards have around 220-235K on them. If they are not wrecked, you have to assume something major expensive happened to them. Probably an engine.
Of the ones that are wrecked, the great majority ran into something, mashing the front cap. Very few are hit in the back, and almost no side hits or rollovers that were the primary cause.
On the other hand, I see a great many XJs and ZJs chugging around my area. They are rough looking, but still going with indifferent to no maintenance. Since I live in the mid-South, rust doesn't get them around here. Unless they were imported from up North.
Last edited by Firestorm500; 03-23-2015 at 04:00 PM.
In the end, it's just an old vehicle. This isn't like putting your beloved family dog down at an early age.
Chalk this one up as bad luck and move on. This kind of stuff happens.
Sigh....I know. It's not the first engine I've gone through, probably the 4th I've had go on me in my life from various causes of old age. I suppose I'm taking this one to heart a lot more since I really cut my teeth on a lot of vehicle maintenance with it. It was my baby, and I learned a lot working on it. This is the main reason I want to keep it going, forgetting the cost.
As annoyed as I am, I obviously love working on them or I wouldn't be on this forum so much. Everything is so simplified and manageable with some PB Blaster and a BFH.
03-23-2015, 03:30 AM
