ExpatMJGuy

So, my original 130k Mi Cherokee was a 99. After it being up north during the beginning of its life, the belly of the body is so rusty that it resembles swiss cheese. I found a cherry southern rust-free body 2001 Limited. The 2001 PO's daughter decided to drive it the last few miles home when it started overheating. They repaired the head gasket and drove it but after that it was never the same. It just would slowly overheat until the engine just finally gave out. I decided to move my 99 driveline into the 2001.

So I have my 99 engine in the 01. I created brackets for the newer ignition coil setup, and migrated the 2000+ PreCat exhaust onto the engine. Had a bit of a debacle with setting the timing sensor at first but I got it started.

Since I migrated the engine there's a ticking noise that has formed. I'll try to post a video this evening with the sound. There was no tick when I pulled the 99 in before disassembly. Sounds like it's coming from the front of the engine. It's a strange tick because one minute it's there and the next minute it's gone when at idle but it's not super crazy. It's light enough that when you rev the vehicle at idle I really don't hear it. It's for sure it's worse when the engine has a load on it. Especially when it's climbing a hill. Climbing hills it's as noisy as a diesel engine. You can hear it for sure with the windows closed. The tick is in line with the RPMs of the engine so it's not a driveline tick. Troubleshooting, I've sprayed wd-40 on the accessory belt pullies and the tick has remained. It sounded better when I removed the belts but again since it comes and goes at idle it can just be tricking me. I swapped my mechanical fan since I had a spare. Sounded better at idle to me but when I put it on the road the sound was for sure still there. I doubt it's the flywheel bolts because I just put this thing back together and torqued the bolts during reassembly. It's been on the road maybe 5 miles since the swap as I don't want the tick to cause problems. So... Since it's worse under load I suspect the exhaust and intake manifold gasket. Especially since I was an idiot and recycled the gasket off the 2001 engine. It's a metal gasket that came off in one piece and I figured it was recently swapped out when they did the head gasket. Looking back this was probably a mistake. I just ordered a Mahle MS16315gasket off Rock Auto. It cross references a 99-01 model year.

So... When researching before creating this thread I found some scarce information on making or needing some sort of adapter for the mating the California Emissions PreCat on the 0630 head of the 99 engine. Also looking parts the Mopar gasket was limited to 2000 and 2001 and the Mahle and other aftermarkets was 99 to 2001. What's the difference between the gaskets? Was looking for any information on this that anyone might have.

If anyone has any troubleshooting ideas for sure they'd be appreciated.

Oh PS I also had to put a new store-bought starter on too because I'm an idiot and dropped the original on disassembly and damaged it. The one off the 99 had the threads come out with of one of the mounting bolts on disassembly. I doubt it has anything to do with the tick but it whines on startup after 2 starters, so I'm assuming it will need shimming. Thought I'd throw it in for situational awareness.

Rogue4x4

Have you put a mechanic's stethoscope anywhere to try and pinpoint the source?

ExpatMJGuy

I don't have a mechanic's stethoscope but I did try the pry bar to the ear trick. Nothing that I can distinguish.

tech

Can it be a exhaust leak at the manifold ? you can use a heater hose to your ear and the other end to look for the leak .

ExpatMJGuy

This is actually exactly what I was thinking. Exhaust leak at the exhaust manifold gasket and one of the few shortcuts I took recycling the old gasket. The closest I’ve gotten is a sound with the pry bar on the intake manifold (because it’s hard to get to the actual exhaust manifold) near the number 2 cyl. Heard the tick listening on intake 2 then tried to get closer and totally lost the sound even when I went back to the same spot. But at idle without load it gets louder and quieter kind of randomly. At times when idling the engine sounds almost normal an others loud enough to definitively say that ain’t right. Again, worse under load… and it does seem worse idling at initial startup and seems better after it warms up.

Shot a quick video with my phone this evening, but haven’t had time to transfer it from my phone to my computer and upload it. Been a busy day. I’ll try to put it up tomorrow morning and link it.