Engine replacement yes/no

MALiberty · **Posted:** Fri Jul 27, 2012 7:48 am

dieselenthusiast wrote:

MALiberty wrote:

SharperEdgeEngines has what they state is a completely rebuilt motor... they said they and Jasper are the only two companies that actually replace all the internals with updated parts thereby (they say) repairing all the known issues. They want $2,899 for this motor with a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty and they are BBB A- rated....

Do they have a required list of shops who must install the engine in order to validate the engine warranty? That's what I like about the dealer, they warranty the engine and the install, and there are no pointing fingers.

No required list of shops/installers but a list of install requirements which is also on their web site.

MALiberty · **Posted:** Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:00 pm

Update: So another option surfaced. I called a good friend who is very practical to run things by him. The outcome is he has a couple of friends who are ASE mechanics and have been working on cars since hey were 14 (now in 40"s) professionally they work for a big outfit. They work on motors for fun and a few bucks to keep them in their dirt track race car hobby. We talked and one of them had a class recently where the jeep 3.7L motor was discussed. He said they have had sludging and bad lubrication issues... esp the 2002.... and when they run low on oil they are prone to jump timing as there is a hydrolic tensioner on the timing chain... when it jumps timing the piston will hit the value and bend it often causing the symptoms my jeep has.

They agreed to take it apart and see if it's this simple as maybe only the heads have to come off..... good price and parts at cost....

Anyone else heard of the jumping timing issue? Make sense?

Tx

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:12 pm

That's good info. Thanks for sharing.

ihatemybike · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:15 am

Hadn't heard about that problem yet. Eugene was rather clean when I had it apart, hopefully yours is too.

MALiberty · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 3:36 pm

yellocoyote wrote:

This happened with my '02 KJ last year. Ended up being a dropped valve seat on the passenger side bank. :

So the two mechanics who are pretty much bailing me out have done quite a bit of research in advance. While they were at the shop where they get heads resurfaced etc... the guy there told them he sees more than a few of these motors with dropped valve seats; apparently pretty common and what you had said Jayme. If that's the case then maybe it'll be a much cheaper fix. :JEEPIN:

Thanks to everyone who weighed in and offered both advice and support....

JJ

ihatemybike · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 3:42 pm

When I was looking into the repair I had a couple shops refer to the dropped valve seats as "The Curse of the Chrysler Point 7s", seems the 4.7L V8 also drop valve seats.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 3:47 pm

MALiberty wrote:

He said they have had sludging and bad lubrication issues... esp the 2002.... and when they run low on oil they are prone to jump timing as there is a hydrolic tensioner on the timing chain... when it jumps timing the piston will hit the value and bend it often causing the symptoms my jeep has.

Eugene is a 2002.

ihatemybike · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 3:52 pm

Yeah, I saw that. Eugene showed no signs of sludging when I had the head apart.

MALiberty · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:21 pm

Thanks for all the great input and feedback Aaron, it is greatly appreciated!

JJ

MALiberty · **Posted:** Sun Aug 05, 2012 7:58 am

BUMP... Update: The heads are off and according to my mechanic, the valve seat in the #2 cyl passenger side seems to have disintrgrated (sp) and some of it apparently clanged around in the cyl scoring the inside and apparently damaging the piston as well. It appears the chunks prob shot out the exhaust port. So.... we're looking at replacement of a piston and rod and milling of the cyl after sending the block out... and two heads.... or a used or reman long block.... which I looked at already..... . He told me that his research found commentary that if/when these 3.7's heat up/overheat, that is when they are prone to have valve seat issues....

More to follow I'm sure....

MALiberty · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:40 am

So here's some images of the #2 cyl with the dropped valve seat which banged around in the cyl damaging the head and piston before being blown out the exhaust port.

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p55 ... veseat.jpg

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p55 ... veseat.jpg

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p55 ... linder.jpg

Thought folks might find this interesting....

ihatemybike · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:47 am

Don't see much damage to the cylinder wall in those pics, but then the straight down shot might hide it. What I see so far is repair the head and swap in new piston/rod. Wish you were closer so I could see it in person.

MALiberty · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:56 am

Aaron.... you are right it is hard to see the cyl wall with that view but it is scratched up quite a bit. What we're going to do is have his machine shop take a look and see if

(1) they think it'll be ok as it (he said if it didn't have all the computers etc... if some oil blew by it wouldn't matter but hate to get it back together and have an issue)
(2) maybe just hone it
(3) sleeve it
(4) use a used replacement block he has

The goal here is to save $$. In any event a valve job, new piston and rod, bearing, rings, seals , gaskets etc...etc going in.

Thanks for the interest...

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:08 pm

Hmmmm, so you have 114,000 on the motor.............. What kind of oil were you using?

MALiberty · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:26 pm

dieselenthusiast wrote:

Hmmmm, so you have 114,000 on the motor.............. What kind of oil were you using?

Pretty much whatever was being used at the shop... we got the jeep with 90k approximately. Why... looks too dirty... looks too clean? Just curious.... Tx

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:11 pm

MALiberty wrote:

Pretty much whatever was being used at the shop... we got the jeep with 90k approximately. Why... looks too dirty... looks too clean? Just curious.... Tx

I’m attempting to problem solve. It’s great that you’re in the midst of getting your Jeep repaired, but I would like to know what caused your problem to prevent it from happening again. Based on what you've said, the mechanical failure is most likely not a mishap. I was investigating a little further based on your comments below:

MALiberty wrote:

they have had sludging and bad lubrication issues... and when they run low on oil they are prone to jump timing as there is a hydrolic tensioner on the timing chain... when it jumps timing the piston will hit the value and bend it often causing the symptoms my jeep has.

MALiberty · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:08 pm

I think from what the two guys working on it researched and found out and what is on the internet and what yellowcoyote said in her earlier post is that the 02 and 03 motors are also prone to overheating (aluminim on steel construction) and when they do (not sure if once or several times and even if is enough to push a guage up) is that when they heat up they often drop a valve seat... also noted discussions that is appears at least anecdotally, to very often be the #2 cyl. I also know my daughter (it's her jeep) let the oil run low and was waaaayyy overdue for an oil change.

These issues are certainly some of the reason the 02 and 03 motors are not interchangable with other years....

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:17 am

MALiberty, any updates?

MALiberty · **Posted:** Sat Aug 11, 2012 1:51 pm

Nothing new here... thanks for asking. The current status is the mail guy working on my motor is going on vacation Sun for the week however he plans on dropping the block off at his machine shop today so the guy can really look it over and best offer an opinion as to the best course... honing, sleeving or use a block he has access to....

More as available.... appreciate the interests and input.... as an aside I have learned a lot of info about this motor that I never knew and if I had I prob would not have bought it 2 years back..... oh well... into it now!

JJ

MALiberty · **Posted:** Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:23 am

Making progress.... found the piston to be more damaged than it looked from the top... pic links here:
http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p55 ... nkout2.jpg
http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p55 ... nkout1.jpg

Took block to machine shop... #2 cyl needs sleeve so here's what we're doing:

#2 cyl sleeve (inc clean block and hone other 5 cyl
replace piston and rod
polish crankshaft
replace right side head ; left side valve job
re-ring all cyls, replace rod and main bearings
plugs, oil/filter, anti freeze etc....

Might be done by next weekend.... more to come

Engine replacement yes/no

Who is online