reman. engine for cheap questions

I own an 85 xj wagoneer with a carb. 2.5 inline four. I am going to be replacing my engine and need some opinions on the matter. I seen on e-bay that there is a remanufactured crate engine as a long block for $899.99 plus shipping of $100.00 flat rate anywhere shipped. It comes with the complete gasket set and oil pump. It also does not come with a warranty!!!!! This is what scares me away from it. It is coming from a good company that has been around for 36 years they said and is a reliable company they say. The company that I will be purchasing it from is Engines Direct. I just don't like the non warranty part of it. They said that if I install it and it does not hook up or run properly that they will take it back. My other choice is a used engine that has 98,000 on it with compression ratings of 140-145 on all four. Is that good compression? It comes with a 90 day warranty and an asking price of $350.00. I don't know which way to go and any advice on either of these options is greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time for the replies

Compression ratings of 140-145 is great..... seams a little to good for an engine with 98,000 on the ticker. I could be wrong here. I'm use to ratings between 100-120 ish.

Thanks for the info but I am still on the debation on which way to go. Reman. or the used engine. I would like to do it right the first time but money is an issue. If I need to get the money for the new engine I can but I don't like to borrow.

Again I am looking for peoples opinions on what they would do in this situation so I can get a better idea of what I should do. So please let me know what you think.

Whats wrong with your current engine ? The 2.5 is pretty easy to work on, if yours is just worn out I would suggest the motor from the local yard. Then take your engine and tear it down, carry the block and head to a local machine shop and have it boiled clean, take the crank too and have that cleaned up. Then rebuild it. The only real specialty tool you will need are a good torque wrench and some hand tools, ring compressor for putting the pistons back in.
But I do have to ask again, whats wrong with your current engine ?
As for cut and dried opinons, alot depends on the condition of the Jeep, that has alot to do with how much you want to invest in it..

My engine is going through alot of oil!!! I leak it from the valve cover and have alot of blow by. There is alot of oil coming from the hose at the back of the valve cover. My plugs are fouling out because of the oil rings letting oil through them and also I have a very bad knock in the lower and at medium rpm's there is a higher up knock on the engine. I think that a rod is about to go. I do not drive it like this anymore because there is no power at all. I beat this engine very hard because it is my trail only rig. I am very hard on my truck. I only overheated it once and it just started to bubble and I shut it off. I have never had a cooling problem with my engine even after a few trips through the local mud hole. So maybe buying the used one might be a good place to start and break down my old motor and rebuilt it. Any other suggestions are welcome. Please let me know what you think.

As money is an issue, I would probably spend $350 on the used motor rather than the $1K on an unwarranted reman. I replaced my 4.0 last spring with a reman for the same reasons you want to replace your 2.5L. I found several other parts that needed or would be beneficial to replace while I had the engine out (water pump, engine mounts, harmonic balancer, etc). Depending on how many miles your rig has (mine had 174K), you may find yourself in a similar situation. The lower cost engine will leave you with a better budget to cover any "suprises" that may await you. I also kept the old engine to rebuild someday in the future.