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Engine Rebuilds

black89xj

black89xj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Sleeping near Seattle
I am considering rebuilding my motor. Its a 4.0 and has 324,000 miles on the clock. Its a little tired but still runs great and uses little oil. Most of the work would be rings and anything else that needs replacement.

How much do rebuilds cost?? Just the machine shop work, I can do the R&R myself.

What about long blocks??? Cost, and are there any good sources here in the PNW?? Including Tri-Cities, Spokane, Portland, Yakima, Puget Sound.

Any suggestions for machine shops for the rebuild work in the region?

--Karl
 
theres a guy outside of prosser who does good work, my dad just took his truck in.

as far as blocks....my brother knows way too many folks...his father in law builds custom hot rods....i can give em a call or email and ask.
 
Karl,

You must have hit my jeep harder than you think if you are thinking about rebuilding your engine:) Maybe you should see the Doc!

I just recently looked into doing this myself and here is what I found and suggest.

I was going to buy a Long Block used (rebuildable) for about $100 or so (craigs list, local paper, parting out rigs, etc).

Take it apart and get all the machine work done (I was looking into a stroker kit, and all of the machine work I wanted done I could have done for less than $500 locally). I recommed walking into each of the local parts stores and asking the people behind the counter who THEY recommend, they usually have a good idea of who is the best, you can compar prices from there.

Then put it all back together in your own time with what ever parts you choose (stock, aftermarket, stroker, etc).

I believe you should be able to do it all for between $1000-$1500 depending on how much needs to be done and if you do it all yourself (exept machine work).
If you want to do it as a stroker then you should add about $300-$500 to that price.
I know of a local place over here on the cooler side of the state where they will do the whole thing for you for about $2000-$2500 as a comparison (but would not expect that quality of parts to be as good as doing it yourself).

Hope that provides some insight.
Michael
 
John, isn't that cheating;)

For the cost of rebuilding yours you could probably even have John do the complete swap for ya!!

Michael
 
Well Michael, I'll guess I'll have to find a tougher jeep than yours to impale my self on next time! ;-) I'm having John put that motor he has in my rig next week. He's going to do a few other things along the way.........I just hope that you guys wont keep teasing me over the clickclickclick from my motor anymore! ;-)

It really is worth it putting a new motor in my ride. It'll last a long time, even if I lift it....

--k
 
black89xj said:
Well Michael, I'll guess I'll have to find a tougher jeep than yours to impale my self on next time! ;-) I'm having John put that motor he has in my rig next week. He's going to do a few other things along the way.........I just hope that you guys wont keep teasing me over the clickclickclick from my motor anymore! ;-)

It really is worth it putting a new motor in my ride. It'll last a long time, even if I lift it....

--k
Click to expand...

Can't beat that deal. And least it won't sound like a diesel anymore. :D
 
12GaugeXJ said:
Can't beat that deal. And least it won't sound like a diesel anymore. :D
Click to expand...

A Cummins at that!!!!

;-)

BTW Hans, you start building a set of bumpers for me yet????? (I just gotta get a pair of those curb feelers.........)

--k
 
Updating this thread...

I took my jeep from the dry wilds of the Great Stinkin' Desert National Monument and Nuclear Waste Dump, aka "The Death Valley of Warshington State", over to a not-so-green Seattle to have John give me a motor transplant. For what he wanted for the motor, it was (and is) a bargain.

I showed John the numbers from my compression test a month or so ago, he looked at the motor, under it, ran it up.......

"Typical 4-litre valve train noise. They all have piston slap and lifter noises from time to time. I'd just put new rocker arms and pushrods in it and drive it another 200,000 miles. I'd love to sell you that motor but, you dont need it."

So thats what we did. New pushrods, rockers and associated hardware. There was wear on the moving parts, all of it even and normal. Everything was clean. You could see the wear on the ball heads on the pushrods--the heads were banged down some. The new ones are probably 1/8" or longer than the old.

So how did it turn out? It is a lot_quieter, but still has some of the "clack-clack-clack" at idle. Idles smoothly and runs strong. Nothing wrong with it.....and, I saved myself big wampum over the cost of the R&R, and even bigger wampum over the cost of a long block and DIY. Much Bigger Wampum over the cost of a new rig.

It was also good to have someone evaluate it who has worked on a lot of these motors.

Too be honest, I'm not going to worry about it anymore. If I get really_bored and I am so_motivated, I may take the valve cover off, run the engine and listen to it with a stethescope to figure out what/where that noise is coming from. At this point, it would be an academic exercise.

Thanks, John.
 
black89xj said:
Updating this thread...

I took my jeep from the dry wilds of the Great Stinkin' Desert National Monument and Nuclear Waste Dump, aka "The Death Valley of Warshington State", over to a not-so-green Seattle to have John give me a motor transplant. For what he wanted for the motor, it was (and is) a bargain.

I showed John the numbers from my compression test a month or so ago, he looked at the motor, under it, ran it up.......

"Typical 4-litre valve train noise. They all have piston slap and lifter noises from time to time. I'd just put new rocker arms and pushrods in it and drive it another 200,000 miles. I'd love to sell you that motor but, you dont need it."

So thats what we did. New pushrods, rockers and associated hardware. There was wear on the moving parts, all of it even and normal. Everything was clean. You could see the wear on the ball heads on the pushrods--the heads were banged down some. The new ones are probably 1/8" or longer than the old.

So how did it turn out? It is a lot_quieter, but still has some of the "clack-clack-clack" at idle. Idles smoothly and runs strong. Nothing wrong with it.....and, I saved myself big wampum over the cost of the R&R, and even bigger wampum over the cost of a long block and DIY. Much Bigger Wampum over the cost of a new rig.

It was also good to have someone evaluate it who has worked on a lot of these motors.

Too be honest, I'm not going to worry about it anymore. If I get really_bored and I am so_motivated, I may take the valve cover off, run the engine and listen to it with a stethescope to figure out what/where that noise is coming from. At this point, it would be an academic exercise.

Thanks, John.
Click to expand...


I'm having a similar problem, jeep knocks, has supper low oil pressure after warming up, and now it's starting to make even more noise. I think the main bearings maybe going out due to the low oil pressure. I changed out the oil pump and was told it wasn't the sending unit cause of the fact that it changes with the rpms. How much was it for the rocker arms, pushrods and similar hardware? Anyone think this may help me? Thanks guys
 
PoSxJ said:
I'm having a similar problem, jeep knocks, has supper low oil pressure after warming up, and now it's starting to make even more noise. I think the main bearings maybe going out due to the low oil pressure. I changed out the oil pump and was told it wasn't the sending unit cause of the fact that it changes with the rpms. How much was it for the rocker arms, pushrods and similar hardware? Anyone think this may help me? Thanks guys
Click to expand...

If it has low oil pressure and is knocking then pushrods and rockers wont help it. My oil pressure is fine. My "clack-clack-clack" comes from under the valve cover. To me, always sounded like "tappet clatter". Sounds like (from what you describe) low-end troubles, mine were (are) upper engine. Sounds like you are heading for a new motor. (oh sorry bad pun...)

Just how low is the oil pressure???
 
Last edited:
PoSxJ said:
I'm having a similar problem, jeep knocks, has supper low oil pressure after warming up, and now it's starting to make even more noise. I think the main bearings maybe going out due to the low oil pressure. I changed out the oil pump and was told it wasn't the sending unit cause of the fact that it changes with the rpms. How much was it for the rocker arms, pushrods and similar hardware? Anyone think this may help me? Thanks guys
Click to expand...

What is your idea of Low oil pressure?
How many miles on the engine?
What has, has not been done to it?
What kind of "knock"?
What makes you think it needs work other than low oil pressure and "knock"?

Michael
 
John's DA MAN!!

Good to hear. More money to put into those skids:)
and does this mean the lift is on order:)

Michael
 
black89xj said:
If it has low oil pressure and is knocking then pushrods and rockers wont help it. My oil pressure is fine. My "clack-clack-clack" comes from under the valve cover. To me, always sounded like "tappet clatter". Sounds like (from what you describe) low-end troubles, mine were (are) upper engine. Sounds like you are heading for a new motor. (oh sorry bad pun...)

Just how low is the oil pressure???
Click to expand...

Well when it first starts up after not being run for a couple hours it's right at 40. After running and driving for about 20 mins, and it warms up it goes down to about 10-20. Then after about an hour of running (on, off, then on again) it drops to 0 at idle. It goes up and down with the rpms. This is why I was told that it wasn't the sending unit. The new oil pump help prolong the dropping after run for a while, but didn't solve the problem. I don't know much about the internal workings of an engine. I was thinking about changing out the main bearings. I've been told you can do that while the motor is still in the jeep. Pull the oil pan and change them from there. If anyone has any ideas, i'm open to anything. It's been getting worse over the last 6 months.
 
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