Oil pump, need answer asap

So there's an 01 Cherokee locally on Craigslist, 96k miles, asking $2500 cash, however it has a bad oil pump. They have the parts for it, just not the time to fix.

It would have to be towed...

How hard is the oil pump to replace and where is it even located?

Thanks

located in oil pan on bottom of engine. Fairly straight forward to change.

I'd be a little leary of changing it and assuming everything's fine. If they were driving it when the pump failed, it's probably gonna need new bearings (crank, rod, cam) at the least and likely new rings and a cylinder hone as well.

I would go take a look at it in person and look real close at the oil pressure sender. I ran into a similar deal a few years ago that the sender was bad and the shop was telling the guy it needed a motor baised on the fact that the gauge was not working.

Some shops will do shady things like that to make a quick buck.

If the pump did fail I would really be curious as to why. As well as how much driving was done on the engine after they deemed it bad. Most idiot lights will only come on around 5psi or less and by then the damage is already done internally.

The guy selling it works at Big O Tires and has done normal routine maintenance.

Story behind the oil pump...

They were on their way up to a friend's cabin in the mountains, wife noticed that there wasn't much power even when stepping on it. Then a lifter noise occurred, husband said to pull over. So I would venture a guess that 20miles or more were driven.

He was in the process of trying to get a new oil pump in. He sent the unit to his mechanic to get the tube thing that comes from the pump out to put into the new one.

After reading some of these posts it makes me a little wary about pulling the trigger on this Jeep... internal engine damage i'm not familiar with fixing and don't want to buy something that might turn into a headache =/

Sucks because it's only got 96k, 2nd owner, brand new A/Ts and in good condish...

Bdiddy11 said:

They were on their way up to a friend's cabin in the mountains, wife noticed that there wasn't much power even when stepping on it. Then a lifter noise occurred,

Click to expand...

That isn't good. Either get him to lower the price or walk. It probably needs a new engine. And he works at a tire shop but can't install an oil pump pickup?

I'd walk away. He works at a tire shop, so we can assume he could handle the oil pump r&r (mounting lo-pros on a large wheel with tps sensors is harder). He's probably selling it rather than fixing it because he is afraid of the internal engine damage himself.

The loss of power he described was probably due to the lack of lubrication, i.e. metal rubbing on metal.

As stated before you're probably looking at main bearings and rod bearings at the least. New rings are likely needed (compression/leak down test can tell you this). The valvetrain noise is troublesome also, if it ran withough pressure for very long you could be looking at lifters, camshaft, etc. depending on the extent of the damage.

Unless you plan on a stroker build or want to learn how to rebuild an engine, steer clear.

Figured as much.

Thanks for all the responses.

Too bad it wasn't a different mechanical issue non engine related =/

Figure you gotta get a used motor. Tell him that and low-ball him.

I'd rather not hassle with it if it needs that much engine work or a replacement... kinda defeats the purpose of a motor with 96k =)

I'll just continue my search for another Cherokee.

Let me make you feel better--it probably has a head casting 0331 and it was likely going to crack between cylinders 3 and 4 anyway.

joe_peters said:

Let me make you feel better--it probably has a head casting 0331 and it was likely going to crack between cylinders 3 and 4 anyway.

Click to expand...

It might even have been the coolant in the oil from the cracked head that caused the initial problem.