decision on rebuilding engine

heres my situation my engine is the 4.0L inline 6 with almost 192,000 miles on it. It still runs great, not a single problem yet, but i think its gettin near time to rebuild it. On a high school budget im lookin to go the cheapest best way possible with this one. my first question is it possible for me to get a newer high ouput jeep motor and swap it with my same tranny and has anyone ever done it? I would go with a small blck v8 but no money. My next question is what is a general price for getting this engine rebuilt. i have been considering tackling the project after christmas but i dont think i will do things correctly. I figured out that damn front suspension when i did my lift but this seems more complicated. Final question is for anyone in the vancouver/portland area. Do u know of a place that does engine rebuilds for cheap but does a decent job. All advice and help would be greatly appreciated. THanks a lot.

My daily driver is an '88 XJ with 240,000 miles on the clock. I figure it'll be due for a rebuild somewhere between 300k and 350k

Save your money. Unless you're having problems indicating imminent self-destruction, that engine should have a LOOOONG way to go.

Second that, don't touch the engine if you don't have to.

On a high school budget, the cheapest way is to keep your dirty little hands away from the engine...and make sure someone else (parents) is driving it when it does die!

One of my old XJ's had 270,000+ on it when I sold it to a friend. He crashed it around 278,000 I think, and it still ran great. Wasn't even cared for that well.

Here is a site I found that offers a rebuilt 4.0 for your year model xj. The link will point to 1993 model but you can navigate to your specific year model. These engines claim to come with 7 year/70,000 mile warranties. around $1200 for mine and they have performance options available.


http://www.discount-auto-parts-store.com/rebuilt_engines/jeep-cherokee-1993-engines---AMC-242LB-1.html

inline six's run for ever, my mother had a 91 cherokee with close to 300 k miles on it, it ran great, we sold it to some young kid last year, the kid used it to drive from new jersey to conneticut regularly, it just died a few weeks ago when it got into a acident, some the cheapest way to go is drive it till it dies and then worry bout it. But you should be able to go to a junkyard or used parts store and get and engine and all the wiring an computers and stuff fairly cheaply form a late model cherokee, last year when i still had my yj is looking into swaping a low milage I-6 into it, went to a local parts store called S&L and got a great price, for the moter, wiring and computer it was 800 mbucks and best of all the motor only had 15000 miles on it, it came from a cherokee that a tree fell on. So im sure you can find a deal like that around you. That and it should be a fairly easy swap.

If it ain't broke...don't fix it...if it has good oil pressure, no wierd noises, don't use too much oil, and runs good...yer good to go.

Save the money for something useful...like regular maintenance.

I second MudDog, the I-6 seems to just keep on going. Though they can be neglected and hurt. They don´t often die. I´ve seen them run anoth 60-80,000 miles (another five years) with some serious clanks and noise isssues (serious piston slap).
Mine seems to enjoy, baths and regular fluid changes. Always seems to run a little better after some attention. Talk to your motor, show it some attention and be happy, you have a reliable old friend.

my XJ rolled over to 322K miles on the engine/transmission on my way home from paragon last saturday.

save your money for the axles/t-case/driveshafts/u-joints

those will break many times over before you even so much as hurt the engine (unless you do something dumb like try driving through water higher than the Jeep, or driving w/ no oil)

this is comin from someone on a "living on his own college-kid budget"


trust me, you don't know what broke IS until you have to pay rent/bills and have a Jeep addiction.

oh, and I know for a fact that 70K of the miles put on my drivetrain were NOT "easy" miles, and I don't change the oil when I should (usually run 7K-10K mile changes.

unless you hear the distinct sound of bearing knock, it just needs gas + oil to run.

Mine is at 136k miles and runs like new. Don't worry about it until pistons shoot through the hood. That usually means a new ring job. :laugh3: