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$#!@ im been hydrolocked!

rehab

NAXJA Forum User
Location
The Citadel, SC
my 4.0 got hydrolocked and now i have a faint ticking noise in the cylinder head. what do you guys think i broke? could i have busted a valve? what would a bent connecting rod sound like? also it was puffing blue smoke when i reved it after i got all the water out. do you think i should just rebuild the motor? it has 160K on it.
 
rehab said:
my 4.0 got hydrolocked and now i have a faint ticking noise in the cylinder head. what do you guys think i broke? could i have busted a valve? what would a bent connecting rod sound like? also it was puffing blue smoke when i reved it after i got all the water out. do you think i should just rebuild the motor? it has 160K on it.
Could be any of the things you described.
Nothing good comes from hydolock......

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well, it depends. A tear down is most likely necessary to find out what's wrong on the inside. Then it's go from there. I can tell you right now (im going through it). that a professional rebuild will cost a minimum of 500-700 bucks. If I had to do it again, I would opt for a reman with a warranty.
 
I did the same about 4-5 months ago. The motor had a faint rod knock upon start up that went a way after 30 seconds. The motor probably would have lasted a while being that it is a 4.0. But it had high milaeage such as yours and my decision was to rip it out and rebuild. $1700 and 40 hours work later I am very happy with my decision. It seems kind of pricey but I bought a rebuilder from the boneyard for $250 tore it apart and had the head rebuit with a 3 angle valve job, the block was bored and a few other machine shop things for $400. $700 through summit racing for a small cam, high volume oil and water pumps and other misc items. New radiator and electric fan and nickle and dime things (hoses, belts, motor mounts, blah blah blah). I worked the bugs out and took it to Barnwell Mounain in Gilmer, Tx. and she did great. The motor now has about 450 miles on it and this was a no brainer decision.
You could probably do a rebuild using your block and going back with oe parts for less than $1000. I think that rebuilding at this point would be the right thing, especially if yours is a DD. Mine is a trail only but the rebuild is a great piece of mind.
 
afd516 said:
I did the same about 4-5 months ago. The motor had a faint rod knock upon start up that went a way after 30 seconds. The motor probably would have lasted a while being that it is a 4.0. But it had high milaeage such as yours and my decision was to rip it out and rebuild. $1700 and 40 hours work later I am very happy with my decision. It seems kind of pricey but I bought a rebuilder from the boneyard for $250 tore it apart and had the head rebuit with a 3 angle valve job, the block was bored and a few other machine shop things for $400. $700 through summit racing for a small cam, high volume oil and water pumps and other misc items. New radiator and electric fan and nickle and dime things (hoses, belts, motor mounts, blah blah blah). I worked the bugs out and took it to Barnwell Mounain in Gilmer, Tx. and she did great. The motor now has about 450 miles on it and this was a no brainer decision.
You could probably do a rebuild using your block and going back with oe parts for less than $1000. I think that rebuilding at this point would be the right thing, especially if yours is a DD. Mine is a trail only but the rebuild is a great piece of mind.

1700?!? Damn, I was told worse case scenereo 800 bucks for mine. Thats for everything, head, cam, pistons, bearing, block bore, crank work...everything....
 
imma honky said:
1700?!? Damn, I was told worse case scenereo 800 bucks for mine. Thats for everything, head, cam, pistons, bearing, block bore, crank work...everything....
I built mine starting with buying an old motor instead of using the one I had in the xj. This way I could drive my xj until I was ready to do the actual engine swap. Building a motor, any motor, is usually going to be more expensive if you piece mill it. That is the option I chose to do. If you have the machine work done and buy after market parts (cam, high volume water and oil pumps, the good gaskets (felpro), and replace the radiator, radiator fan, all ignition components, all belts and hoses, mounts, header and new exaust, everything, this is why it becomes pricey. My xj is an 89 and so everything was worn and needed replacement. I also wanted a little more than stock. Now if you buy a crate long block that is already done and you can reuse most of your factory parts and do the work yourself then yes $800 is a fiesible price.

All I was getting at is, depending on what you want, as we all know, anything can become more expensive than you may initially plan for. Not just axles, tires, wheels and suspensions. Motors are also included in this expensive hobby of ours.
 
if you go reman, do NOT buy from ReCon.

they make junk.

granted it was 2.8L V6s in my 86 XJ, but I went through 3 of them before the warranty ran up.

one knocked like hell from day one, one spun a cam bearing after 800mi and the last leaked outta the rear cam seal.

on top of that, I'm not the only one to have complaints against ReCon. can't believe they're still in business. I wish I could suck at my job that much and not get fired.
 
afd516 said:
I built mine starting with buying an old motor instead of using the one I had in the xj. This way I could drive my xj until I was ready to do the actual engine swap. Building a motor, any motor, is usually going to be more expensive if you piece mill it. That is the option I chose to do. If you have the machine work done and buy after market parts (cam, high volume water and oil pumps, the good gaskets (felpro), and replace the radiator, radiator fan, all ignition components, all belts and hoses, mounts, header and new exaust, everything, this is why it becomes pricey. My xj is an 89 and so everything was worn and needed replacement. I also wanted a little more than stock. Now if you buy a crate long block that is already done and you can reuse most of your factory parts and do the work yourself then yes $800 is a fiesible price.

All I was getting at is, depending on what you want, as we all know, anything can become more expensive than you may initially plan for. Not just axles, tires, wheels and suspensions. Motors are also included in this expensive hobby of ours.

mines not a reman. It's being rebuilt by the machine shop (most of it anyways). I am peiceing things back together just like you, replacing old worn out stuff. I wish I had gone reman though.
 
cmotsvt said:
Go reman v. rebuild. You get a warranty and a big company to back their work.

Why would you want a reman ?? Most places that do remans only replace the parts that don't fall into spec.

Thats a load. If your gonna take it out, do it right. A good rebuild shop stands behind their work. Plain and simple.
 
one thing you can try doing..... add alittle gear oil to your normal oil.... spray some wd 40 in each cylinder (gets rid of any rust), then after running the motor for a couple of minutes, put a little bit of motor oil in each cylinder..... this will make the rings and valves seal alittle better...... oh wait, you arent trying to sell it to some punk, never mind, replace it
 
ErikL said:
one thing you can try doing..... add alittle gear oil to your normal oil.... spray some wd 40 in each cylinder (gets rid of any rust), then after running the motor for a couple of minutes, put a little bit of motor oil in each cylinder..... this will make the rings and valves seal alittle better...... oh wait, you arent trying to sell it to some punk, never mind, replace it
I was gonna say what the hell is this shmoo talking about!!! I may of spent alot but I would rather of done that then take this idiots advice.

Until I read the last sentence. LOL!! Take his advice, what ever you do and however you go about it, the bottom line is REPLACE IT!!!
 
rehab said:
my 4.0 got hydrolocked and now i have a faint ticking noise in the cylinder head. what do you guys think i broke? could i have busted a valve? what would a bent connecting rod sound like? also it was puffing blue smoke when i reved it after i got all the water out. do you think i should just rebuild the motor? it has 160K on it.

You have five possible options:

1. Do a stock rebuild on the existing engine.
2. Rebuild existing engine into a 4.6 stroker.
3. Buy a good low mileage junkyard motor and drop it in.
4. Buy a newly reconditioned 4.0 long block.
5. Buy a 4.6 stroker long block.

Options 3, 4, and 5 would keep down time to a minimum and out of the three, option 3 would be cheapest so that seems the most sensible route.
You'd still have your old engine as a spare so you could rebuild that one (option 1 or 2) as your time and budget allow.
 
I just replaced my 2.5 a few weeks ago with a motor from the good old junkyard and it held up for what I needed it to. It has a connecting rod knock now when it gets warm but I will run this engine into the ground because I will be taking my original engine to a good shop and have it rebuilt with some aftermarket parts. So for my opinion on this I would go with the used low mile engine for now and get started on the rebuild of the original engine so you can do what you want to it. Good luck with your decision.

Kim.
 
85xjwoody said:
So for my opinion on this I would go with the used low mile engine for now and get started on the rebuild of the original engine so you can do what you want to it.

Another wise person has spoken. :D
 
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