jeepcruiser

Ok so our neighbor moved and said we could keep his 2000 jeep cherokee. It looked really good except the engine light was on and the code came up as a cylinder 5 misfire. The engine had a rough idol, but was only rough at low rpm. When driven fast you couldn't even tell. I changed the spark plugs and the cylinder 5 boot, nothing. Swicthed fuel injectors from one cylinder to the other, nothing same code. Then I changed the entire coil rail, nothing. I then removed the oil cap and noticed smoke puffing out and also noticed small traces of oil in the air filter. I won't be able to work on it till Monday so I just wanted to make a list of things to look for. Already have planned cleaning the tubes from the air filter to engine. I was pissed cause my dad said the engine was done but this is the 4.0 inline and only has 114,000 miles. Aren't these engines supposed to last forever? IDK how it was maintained so that could be it. New to forums hopefully I can help as much as you guys help me. Thanks.

HCCAFan

Give you 300 for it right now.

xjmarc

I got 350.
Take the gas cap off and put it back on. Don't ask but it works sometimes, my buddys WJ had the same code and this fixed it.

darknezz

500...

no but for real where are my neighbors just giving away cars, non the less a 2000 cherokee!

I highly doubt the engine is shot, but it might have a cracked head as it is a 2000...
Before you continue to blindly dump money into it though get a compression test.


The smoke from the valve cover is most likely clogged pcv lines, clean the tubes like you said.

Other than that for cheap get a couple cans of carb cleaner and clean the throttle body real good and everything else around there, idle air control valve ect.. Check all the vacuum lines for leaks.

alloutperform

$600 and i'll pick it up.....an injector will cause an isolated misfire..and yes the 4.0 will go 300,000+ if cared for...however the 2000s have a bad cylinder head casting and that may be your issue check for milky oil,cloudy coolant,and/or low compression in that cylinder...if you do have an issue and decide to off it..DO NOT JUNK IT SELL IT HERE TO SOMEONE CLOSE...I'm in mass. own asmall repair and custom shop and will gladly help if you are from the area...worst case it's the head

DaveVmax

could likely be valve seals too

jeepcruiser

Well he kinda of owed us but still pretty cool. I was thinking of fixing it up and taking it to the trails with our quads so no deal. Yeah I read a lot of threads here but nothing conclusive. Where can I get the compression test? Cost? Do it myself maybe?

jeepcruiser

Well since I'm on here might us well ask about the 4x4. Have only tried the low 4x4 and it works in reverse but then I switched it to drive and it makes a loud "grinding noise" or like if it was trying to go but the gears were stuck. Any suggestions where to start?

alloutperform

in short..go to autozone they have the tool, just a hose with a gauge compression tester....should be cheap like $20 screw it into spark plug hole, turn it over watch gauge, compare to other cylinders... should be around 130psi

AMG

You can get a compression tester from an auto parts store. You will screw it into each cylinders spark plug port, then crank the engine a few times. Check the pressure on the gauge, it should be around 130 psi ( correct me if i'm wrong) All cylinders should be about the same pressure.

alloutperform

first off how many selections do you have on the 4x4 lever?

darknezz

could be u joints or need the oil changed in the diff. lets stick with one thing at a time though.

its pretty easy to do a compression test yourself, the tool is like 20-40 bucks.

Compression test

alloutperform

x2...er wait

jeepcruiser

2high
4low
Nuetral
4high

I belive that's how it looks.

AMG

You could start by checking the gear oil, look to see if it is filled to the right level, quality of the oil, and look for chunks of metal in the oil.