I have been trying to collect historical data on export model engine failures to assist the investigation into problem areas with the VM2.8.

I have one major failure report so far:

Failure # 1: A 2006 KJ CRD 2.8 dropped a valve on number 1 cylinder, by the time the driver had stopped the motor the influx of water had punched a hole through the liner and the block casting making the engine completly knackered, the head was smacked around though all the injectors were ok and 3 of the glow plugs were still good. He salvaged some bits and pieces, that was at [b]85,000 kms, or 52,501 miles. The replacement engine he bought from a wrecker had done 81000 kms, it has now done 103 000 kms and going very nice. Before fitting the new second hand motor he had the timing belt, pullies, and tensioner done, and also fitted new front and rear seals[/b]

I have asked some followup questions, like what condition were the rockers in, especially the #1 cylinder rockers. I also want to know the date of the failure to establish the age of the timing belt. I wll report back with any new information. Obviously, a failure at that relatively low mileage, is inside the Export Timing Belt Service interval (100,000kms) but it may have been over five years old and contributed to the failure. More to come.

Glen,

Can you find out if the failed cylinder had the tip of the glow plug missing? I have seen a few engines with dropped valves from the ceramic glow plugs.

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I will check that out.

Darby's did that - almost brand new - I think he had it 3-4 months.

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Thought he lost the valve keepers on a valve?

Additional Info on that failure #1 listed above:

No apparent Glow Plug break.

There was no (apparent) damage to any rockers, one of the valves in Cylinder #1 had broken about 10 mm from the head of the valve. He had already had a new timing belt installed (because of the age of the vehicle when he bought it) and the car had done about 2000 klm with a new belt. So the Timing belt was changed at about 83000 klm and there was no observable belt damage at all in the failure. He is unsure of its history prior to his purchase and only had the car for about 8 months and had only driven it on the odd occasion. There is no damage at all to any other cylinders or head other than the firing chamber/cylinder liner of number 1.

My view: It might be easy to assume that the timing belt replacement job led to the failure, through improper tensioning (or tensioner backout) the belt slacked off enough to jump and hence the broken valve due to cylinder impact. Unfortunately we don't have the old engine to examine in detail, and it's hard to see how there could have been a valve strike without it damaging the rocker.

I am trolling back through the years on the AusJeep KJ forum to try and locate engine failure threads. Here is another one.

Failure #2:

Owner just had the timing belt changed on his 2007 2.8 KJ CRD worked great for a hundred kms but stopped for the night and next day would not start i noticed fumes or smoke coming out of air box.
Rang the mechanic who fitted the timing belt he thinks maybe belt has slipped.

Mechanic subsequently told the owner that the timing belt has slipped and broken all the rockers.


I have no further info on this one as the owner disappeared off the local Forum after this incident. Again it raises concerns abotu the quality of timing belt replacement jobs and those that undertake them without know the engine very well. There is no info as to whether this was a Jeep service mechanic or someone else.

In searching through the local Ausjeep KJ Forum history I have found several other cases of timing belt failure and subsequent engine damage, but of these, two were on older 2.5L engines near the 100,000kms service interval but over the age limit for the belt. These were happening back in 2009 and earlier. Awareness of the timing belt issues seem to have reduced the reported failures since then as people got onto changing them quickly after they heard these report.

There was one very comprehensive report on a 2.5L CRD failure and rebuild by Indiedog, who rebuilt his engine after a timing belt break at 110kmph. All the rockers were gone and had to be replaced, he also had to replace a number of valves and other components. He had the help of George at VM UK and did a very good job for a reasonable cost to return it to the road.

Interestingly, in my search I found just as many or more KJ V6 engine failures (mainly due to head gaskets). Of course more V6s were probably sold here than CRDs and the Forum population is not representative of the overall ownership of KJ owners. I will try and find out from Chrysler Jeep Australia just how many KJs were sold here from introduction to runout and the breakdown of engine type, this will help with establishing a perspective.