Looking at replacement 4-litre engines for my 2000 XJ. Two local shops have told me the "death rattle" in my engine requires a rebuild, but there appears to be no local machine shop in Anchorage to do the necessary machine work. Does anybody have anything good to say about S&J Engines, Titan Engines, or Jasper Engines?
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Replacement engines
- Thread starter Ken M
- Start date
RCP Phx
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Phoenix,Az
I find it hard to believe there are no machine shops, but the cost of shipping is going to be your w I rst nightmare. Most shops also want your core which means more shipping!
Unclewolverine
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Kansas
A lot of things can make a hell of a racket on these engines, with them being in just fine condition. What is the noise and where is it coming from? The average person can put a new set of rod bearings in these in a day and get another 50k miles out of it.
cruiser54
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Prescott, Az
All those rebuilders are a crap shoot.
Never heard of 4.0s having "death rattle". could be as simple as loose flexplate bolts.
What is your degree of aptitude for working on cars? You may be better off diagnosing this yourself. We can help.
Never heard of 4.0s having "death rattle". could be as simple as loose flexplate bolts.
What is your degree of aptitude for working on cars? You may be better off diagnosing this yourself. We can help.
The 'Death Rattle" could be a lot of things. Mine was a cracked piston skirt. Sort of sounded like a collapsed lifter. Then the skirt came off. Sounded like a rod was going to come through the block. I would check the torque converter bolts or nuts as suggested previously first. Then check the valve train.
Unclewolverine
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Kansas
Mine has has had a knock in the valve train tor 100k. It gets so bad in winter that you would swear a rod is coming through the block within minutes. Still keeps rolling with minimal oil usage!
- Location
- Rainy side of Washington
We caught Titan using sockpuppet accounts on this very forum to try and discredit people who had issues with their builds, so I would avoid them.
Jasper is a large but fairly low quality rebuilder. Roll of the dice.
S&J I have heard good things about overall, they're who BJs off-road uses for their AMC V8 builds on their website. But I have never used them myself.
Personally I would probably get a good 91-99 XJ short block and put a 02.5-06 TUPY 0331 out of a TJ or WJ on it and drop it in. Much cheaper and direct bolt up.
Jasper is a large but fairly low quality rebuilder. Roll of the dice.
S&J I have heard good things about overall, they're who BJs off-road uses for their AMC V8 builds on their website. But I have never used them myself.
Personally I would probably get a good 91-99 XJ short block and put a 02.5-06 TUPY 0331 out of a TJ or WJ on it and drop it in. Much cheaper and direct bolt up.
- Location
- Waukegan, IL
^What he said
