1fatxl

Hi Everyone,
Recently bought teenaged son a 97 Cherokee with a straight 6. The other day he called saying it sounds alot like my big Cummins diesel. He claims to have gotten gas and started to take off at a stoplight and it started making the noise so he took it and parked it till dad could rescue again, about 3/4 mile i would guess. After waisting time with a mech, I decided to ge the book and just look into it myself. looked under the valve cover and there is no oil comeing up thru rods or anything. My guess oil pump quit. This common? I took it apart and got a new high volume pump installed. My main concern now is that there was about a teaspoon to tablespoon worth of shavings in the bottom of the pan, little flakes that look like panned gold or something. The pump itself was cracked around one of the bolt holes when i removed it. I did smack the rods and couldn't see any signs of movement. I guess the main question is is any shavings normal or is this engine toasted. Button her up and just go for it?

Abovetimberline

It is not normal for pumps to go out but it does happen,the shavings are not normal and more than likley bearing material. Weather you should run it or not depends on what you plan on doing with this motor,if you want to rebuild it,I would not run it,you could cause alot more damage,if you plan on getting another motor,then no big deal.

SeriousOffroad

I'd pul the motor and rebuild it. I bet even money that the bearings are toast.

vistacruiser

Would have been the prime time to check when the pan was off ... pull the splash shield and have easy access to main saddles and con rods. The 'gold' in the pan is likely engine bearing material OR possibly bearing and gear trash from INSIDE the broken pump. You can always hope, right?

Not clear ... have you buttoned it back up yet? If so, how does it sound, run now?

1fatxl

The pan is back on, but havent changed the filter or put oil back in.
I started it up before i took it apart, and it soundedlike just very noisy lifters, like they didnt have oil, that is when i pulled valve cover and found no oil coming up thru.

richxj89

you may have saved it just in time. this happened to me and i thought for sure the motor was trashed. i put a new oil pump in to see if i could get some more time out of it till i got a new motor. i was between 0 and 5 pounds warm underthrottle. now i am at 50-60 pounds. and only a slight top end tap. you may be ok put some oil in her and fire it up.
you seen the cash for clunkers videos? there are cherokees that ran for like 7 min with no oil under full throttle lol

vistacruiser

this is a tough deal ... I hate pulling the pan on these, myself ... but you would NOT want to trash the crank or con rods if no damage has already been done ... won't be nearly as hard to fix correctly if you can just replace a few worn engine bearings.

Wish I had a better suggestion but, if I were you, I'd pull that pan back off and check a couple of rod caps and main saddles ... Did you use a new pan gasket? The originals are prone to failure.

One other thing ... see if you can get the old OP apart and discover what's gone wrong inside ... you may find the source of the 'gold' right there ...

1fatxl

Good idea, i'll dig it out of the trash, see if anythings up with the old one tonite after work.

98 JeepJeep

you can count on the crank needing to be turned..........was the truck in a accident at all? i Pulled a 302 out of a ford explorer that was hit on the left front tire. The oil pump was laying in the pan when i took it off.

1fatxl

Ok, got the truck started, oil pressurre up to about 60 psi now. Still have a noise on the top end like Richxj, but don't really hear it much under the unit. Hopefully we dodged a bullet, time will tell, Sounds now like one or two lifters havent pumped up. How hard to change out lifters? Another prob, oil pan leaking around three bolts right in front of the starter. Amazingly I used my considerable strength to strip those three bolts,one after the other, you'd think Id learn, anyone got an idea how to fix that? oil oozing from around the bolts.

fantic238

Did you use a screwdriver to separate the oil pan from the block? Then probably you have slightly bent the edge of the oil pan where it leaks. Take the bolts off and with a wrench extention or similiar and a hammer gently beat on the flat surface against the block where the bolts sit, to straighten it.

McRay

If you have the old oil filter cut it into see how much medal in the filter. It sounds like you may have save the engine. Was your oil pickup partly stop up. I thank that oil is pump threw the oil filter then to engine. I look for oil diagram did not find one. Someone here will probably know the ans.

vistacruiser

Last time I had the pan off of mine, I ended up replacing it altogether. Didn't even notice until I was gettin' ready to put it all back together ... bent where it met the block on the right side. My theory was that it had been done at some point by a tow truck winching it up onto the bed. Hooks must have been misplaced. Tried to bend it back but ... forget about it ... VERY strong steel ...

I used one of those Melling HV pumps too ... wonderful to see all that OP too, isn't it?

lifter replacement as follows

Retain all the components in the same order as removed.

REMOVAL


1.Remove the engine cylinder head.
2.Remove the push rods.


Fig.37 Hydraulic Valve Tappet Removal- Installation Tool



3.Remove the tappets through the push rod openings in the cylinder block with a Hydraulic Valve Tappet Removal/Installation Tool.
INSTALLATION
It is not necessary to charge the tappets with engine oil. They will charge themselves within a very short period of engine operation.


1.Dip each tappet in Mopar Engine Oil Supplement, or equivalent.
2.Use hydraulic Valve Tappet Removal/Installation Tool to install each tappet in the same bore from where it was originally removed.
3.Install the cylinder head assembly.
4.Install the push rods in their original locations.
5.Install the rocker arms and bridge and pivot assemblies at their original locations. Loosely install the capscrews at each bridge.
6.Tighten the capscrews alternately, one turn at a time, to avoid damaging the bridges. Tighten the capscrews to 28 Nm (21 ft. lbs.) torque.
7.Pour the remaining Mopar Engine Oil Supplement, or equivalent over the entire valve actuating assembly. The Mopar Engine Oil Supplement, or equivalent must remain with the engine oil for at least 1609 km (1,000 miles) . The oil supplement need not be drained until the next scheduled oil change.
8.Install the engine cylinder head cover.

1fatxl

The pan "seems" fine, looks like oil is coming out around the actual bolts, which are all three stripped, when i screw things up I like to do it right,hey no use stopping at one when three is sooo much more fun to deal with. So I wonder if I can somehow get those tapped a little larger and tighten it all up.

High volume pump great, only a buck more at napa, with the pickup too. I thot that was a good deal.

i did not find but a few "flakes" stuck to the pickup, and like i said a teaspoon or tablespoon full in the corner of the pan, will get at the filterr and old pump hopefully tonite after work.

OH, lifter replacement looks like not too much fun. I think, i will hope that the lifter takes a little while to pump up, I put in 20w-50 to try and help it if the bearings had a little slop. Seems we've gotten lucky so far, except that pan leaking thing, Im thinking let her run and tell the kid start saving for that next motor.

vistacruiser

where you can get to the lifters via the intake mfld, the L-6 requires a head pull. Big job ...

Don't know exactly how badly the bolts are stripped BUT ... you could try just tapping the holes to see if you can push some metal back into place so a bolt could hold... torque is not much on 'em. If not and you can only get a small bite on the block, you might consider getting some appropriate size studs and mounting them with some green loctite or even JBweld ... a solid stud in there might help to pull that pan back in tight to the block and stop the leak .... of course....if there is room to drill, there is always a helicoil ... more work but the BEST repair possible for a stripped out bolt