Dead jeep advice

lordjose

lordjose

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Oct 4, 2016
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Ok so went out playing the the snow last night and motor died had to tow down off the ridge backwards about 5 miles before we could get turned around now she's in the driveway on the trailer dead [emoji26]

she will turn over doesn't sound like there's compression
Pulled the distributor cap and turned it over and found rotor was not turning
This makes me think timing chain broke
Now I'm wondering would the pistons hit the valves and bend or break anything if the timing chain broke?
Any suggestions or advice would be great
Oh it's a 1998 jeep tj 4.0


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Doesn't sound like there's any easy way out of this one, you're not gonna know if you damaged valves unless you pull the head. Or replace the timing chain and do a compression test on all the cylinders. And I would pull the distributor out to verify that it's not broken somehow.
 
sgtjdgelinas said:
And I would pull the distributor out to verify that it's not broken somehow.
Click to expand...
Do that before you do anything else. It may be as simple as the roll pin in the drive gear sheared and is not turning the shaft. Especially if the bushing in the distributor has been making any noise.

After you pull the distributor, post up the results.
 
Engine has about 120000 on it no codes Distributor looks good and from some research they say its a noniterferance motor ... keeping my fingers crossed no damage to the valves so now on to timing chain I will keep you guys posted

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The 4.0L is a non-interference engine so no worries about valves colliding with each other or into the pistons.
 
I would do a quick compression check 1st just because it's the easiest. If you have compression in all cylinders, timing chain isn't broke. Then pull the distibutor, make sure it's not broke internally. On 2nd thought, maybe just pulling the distributor 1st is easier. My chain had about 3/4 inch slop at 137k, but they don't break often. You might be able to look through the oil cap to see if the rockers are moving while cranking engine, I don't remember if there is a baffle in the valve cover...that would verify a non broken chain as well.
 
So this is where I'm at so far
8e9cde8afc1f51f5607120544247bf5d.jpg


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Wow... Take the head off and see if there's any damage internally. You may be looking at a full rebuild.
 
Ok so I still have to drop the oil pan today to clean all up the carnage had to call it quit when it started snowing again ..... done with snow I'll keep everyone posted

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If you end up needing an entirely new engine, I know you can get crate 4.0s (fully remanufactured) for around $2000 last time I looked.
 
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