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check out my blown engine

xjfrancis

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Portland, Oregon
so I was just driving down the highway today and POP! the car dies and I pull over to the side of the road. I get out to see what the damage was and it was immediately apparent. The puddle of oil on the gravel is what gave it away. Here’s what happened.

http://www.jeeps-offroad.com/reader-rigs/album67/IMG_1403

http://www.jeeps-offroad.com/reader-rigs/album67/IMG_1405

So I guess I have a blown engine. Funny thing is, is that I just took it into the dealership about a week ago for an overheating problem and 50 miles later my engine blows. When I took it in they said that my hoses were worn out and my thermostat was going bad and since I have no way to do my own maintenance down here at school at asu i had them fix it for about 400.

So I need your input on what I should do. Do you think I might have a case against the dealership or is that out of the question? Also what is the best option for the repair? I know that having the dealership fix it will cost me a fortune. What are the options for dropping a different engine in, or a rebuilt one? Any suggestions are helpful. thanks Craig.

if you want to know it is a 6 cly 96' with 89000
 
Only 89,000 miles? wow...don't know if you have any recourse against the dealer though. Exactly what work did they do?

Might want to get hold of some of the locals in the www.azvjc.org and see if they can cough up an engine
 
Yes, I'd say you have a blown engine.

Recourse against the dealer is questionable, but I suppose you could always call and try to make a case for getting at least the labor and diagnostic cost back.
 
It is just frustrating to know that I took it in and they put some sh!t in my car that I probably didn't need and didn't fix the problem and if they knew what they were doing I might have been able to prevent this mess.
 
50 miles later? hmmm the engines shouldn't blow out of the blue like that. Kind of makes you wonder. If the dealership agrees to examine the "evidence" to determine responsibility, you might want to make sure that someone independent is overseeing that :D
 
those are'nt dents, they are holes. you can see in the first pic that there is some other part sticking out of the middle hole, or at leat thats what i think it is
 
I'd guess you spun a bearing. Lacking lubrication, the journal heated up and was about ready to seize. This put increased load on the engine, causing the over-heating. The dealership techs failed to diagnose this condition; looking for more common, superficial causes instead. After they finished their "throw parts at the problem" work, you continued to drive it with the bad bearing and ultimately threw a rod.

It would be difficult to pin this failure on the work they did, but it's surprising they wouldn't detect an internal problem being that close to total failure.

Wouldn't hurt to hit them up with a guilt trip and see what happens.
 
MaXJohnson said:
I'd guess you spun a bearing. Lacking lubrication, the journal heated up and was about ready to seize. This put increased load on the engine, causing the over-heating. The dealership techs failed to diagnose this condition; looking for more common, superficial causes instead. After they finished their "throw parts at the problem" work, you continued to drive it with the bad bearing and ultimately threw a rod.

I don't know about lacking lubrication. I was watching my oil and if anything I had about a half a quart too mach. I do agree with you about the throwing a rod though. Thanks for the info though.
 
well oiled steering system you got there. Thats good
 
IMG_1405.sized.jpg

Tell me more about your oil filter mod - what did you do to get it vertical like that?
 
It certainly looks like you've thrown a rod. The question is why?
The overheating problem might be the clue; if it was severe, it's just possible that a rod bearing was toasted and it eventually spun and let go. Another possibility is that a rod bolt could have broken.
Either way, you're looking at a complete engine rebuild so as Weasel said, it's a good opportunity to build it into a stroker.
 
xjfrancis said:
I don't know about lacking lubrication. I was watching my oil and if anything I had about a half a quart too mach. I do agree with you about the throwing a rod though. Thanks for the info though.

I wasn't trying to say you were low on oil. When the bearing spins out of position, the oil hole doesn't line up with the oil passage, so that specific bearing doesn't get oiled. When this happens, the bearing and journal heat up. The expansion due to heat reduces the clearance, causes excessive drag. The motor has to work harder to overcome the drag; hence the overheating sympton. A good stereo can help cover this up so the driver is less aware of the problem.
 
The cheapest course of action would be to find a junkyard motor of the same year. Find a local 4x4 club that might be willing to help and swap it out, yank the old, put the new one in and start swapping parts. The big part of the job is removing the hood, getting the old motor out, new motor in and the hood back on. After that it's a one man operation of swapping parts. Not something you want to do outside this time of year though. Take pictures and label every connection with tape/magic marker and a number or number letter.
If you have it done by someone you are looking at a ballpark of around $2500-$3000 bucks for say a Jasper rebuilt or other short or long block [long block is an almost complete motor including head, water pump, short block is block minus head and all the other stuff].
Hmmm, we got any body in portland that could help ??
Another option that might be viable, find a high school or votec that has an evening automotive class and enroll. They will have all the tools, knowledge and support to pull it, disassemble, send it out for cleaning and then rebuild it as your class project. I did a body shop course here like that, unfortunately I did not get to do any painting as the new booths were not finished.
Your other option is to find a beater and drive that for a while till you get the money to get your jeep fixed.
 
I've got a twin for that engine! Mine blew at 127K, but it was making noise for about 10K before that. Sounded like piston slap up until about 50-100 miles before it went, then got progressively louder until the big bang. I was trying to nurse it along until I had time to rebuild but waited too long. I ended up with low-mile boneyard engine that worked out great.
 
If U have some green and U don't want to just have a stock motor put in there. Here is a bolt in long block stroker 4.6L 260 hp Golen block:

http://www.golensengineservice.com/

Base price is $3,300, not cheap but it I would rather spend a little more and get this block then a stock one if I had some $ laying around. My jeep has 206K but still runs good, when it goes I'm looking into a stroker motor for it.
Troy
 
You say your going to ASU? Have you checked out the local Arizona XJ club? We're all over the valley and many of the members are very knowledgeable about engines. One of best is Joe, he opened is own shop just recently and I would recommend you talk to him about this. His shop is Absolute Offroad in Phoenix. I am not an employee nor otherwise endorsed by him, just expressing my opinion and help a fellow jeeper out. What dealer(stealer)ship did you go to?
 
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