So I need a new engine

1515art

TJ Enthusiast
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2018
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600
Location
Las Vegas
After two weeks this morning the shop says my Jeep is all back in one piece and they’ll call me in an hour or so to tell me to come pick it up. Four hours later I get a call from the shop owner and when they started it up it was making a terrible noise... what a surprise, I told them I thought it was fried when dropping it off, anyway one of the pistons came apart and the cylinders cracked too. He‘ll credit me some of the work he’s done and says he’s found a good used low miles 4.0 he can drop in there for me for and additional 3700 not including the 1200 I already paid complete, or whatever I want to do? My options, go with the 3700, buy a stroker, tow it to a different shop, sell as is/parts as a good no rust rubicon with everything else good or fairly new Project Jeep. Stroker engine will run a little over 6K plus the labor putting it in, I’d really like to go the hemi swap but I can’t find a shop to do the work. What’s it worth now vs the different engine options?
 
$3700 for a used engine seems too much on top of what you've already spent. I'd tow it to another shop or get quotes and use that to negotiate a better price. You can probably get a re-manufactured short block for $1300 and have it installed or if the head is toast too a long block for under $2k. Several thousand for installation seems very high. I wouldn't get a stroker or part it out but that's just me.
 
I agree as well, that is a ton of money. If I hadn't installed a doubler, I would have been into my diesel swap for less than $3000. Admittedly I'm doing it myself, but still. I've seen good used engines on Facebook Marketplace for less than $750. You could get an engine off of car-parts.com that comes with a guarantee for under $1000 easily.
 
Seemed high to me also and well the shop reviews are only so so plus they didn’t do a very good job checking the cylinders out when they had the head off if I’m going to put in a new engine this isn’t the shop I want to use. Another shop in town has great reviews and will put a brand new 4 year warranty engine in complete tax and labor for 6K, why wouldn’t you use a stroker engine, cost, reliability or something else?
 
If I was in your scenario, I would buy a Golen Stroker if I had the cash on hand. More power (270 hp) and a reliably manufactured engine. Should provide years of service.

Golen is also known for building supercharged 4.0/4.6 strokers good for 400hp, so if you think you might want even more power in the future, I'm sure they could build it to survive forced induction if you decide to add a supercharger. 400hp should put you well in the power range of most V8 swaps.
 
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As long as I’m spending money I’m leaning toward the Golden Stroker at least the Tj should handle the hills a bit better if I’m pulling a small trailer. The super charged engine would be nice but at probably twice the cost and then there’s the stock tranny would probably suffer the consequences of a lead foot, think I’d better pass on that.
 
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I had a piston sleeve shatter on my XJ years back. I picked up a used junkyard motor with 50k on it (documented) for just over $1K. They put it on a tire and I trucked it home. Put it on a stand via cherry picker and paid a buddy $100 and all the beer he could drink to help me swap it out. We did the swap in one night. $3700 plus what you've already got into it is too much. These aren't complex engines. If I can do it half drunk in one night then....
 
Got my engine completely rebuilt for $1300. Had a broken piston skirt. Pulled it over a weekend and put it back in over a weekend. If you have the basic tools, plastic baggies, and rent a cherry picker to tow it to a shop it’s really not that bad. If the block or head is cracked then go with a golen. Wish I could have done that but money at the time was not there. Good luck with what you choose
 
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Whatever else you do, I wouldn't let the current shop even put air in my tires.

They had the head off and put it all back together and it immediately blows up and they want to charge you $1200? WTF?

Any chance that whatever they did trashed the piston & cylinder?

In any case, if there was a problem of that sort it should have been obvious with the head off. So they eihter missed something obvious or caused the failure. What am I missing?
 
I spent around $2k on a ported head and mini stroker parts and then $1.3k for the machine shop work and long block assembly. Installed myself but getting the machine work and the head work done took a couple of months to line up. On my Cherokee I spent $3k from ATK and it wasn't a stroker but I was able to swap it in a weekend and ship the core back. I highly recommend a mini stroker.
 
I just had a Golen 4.6 installed a few weeks back and I'm glad I went down that road for a few reasons, If there's anything I've learnt about customising the TJ over the last two decades it's KISS! (Keep It Simple Stupid). Particularly as my TJ is not only a daily driver but my only mode of transport other then my four little fury legs 🐾 but it was more about what I didn't want than anything else:
  • I didn't want what is already poor eco to become completely inappropriate as a daily driver.
  • I didn't want to have legal issues updating my engine number with registration papers.
  • I didn't want an engine that was going to prematurely break what's behind it.
  • I didn't need or want tire shredding power because I love the skinny pedal and I'm too young to die.
  • I didn't have room in my hole to do it myself so the swap needed to be as simple and inexpensive as possible.
As if the TJ wasn't already a hoot, It's a lot more fun to drive now and I can rest assured I'm not going to have reliability issues - I mean that's the main reasons I've bought two brand new TJ's in the first place - because when I'm 200k's or more from the nearest telegraph poll...

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First love 97 auto
the last thing you need is problems getting back home to your comfy little hole right?

I was a little disappointed as first and felt the power upgrade should be more noticable but it's early days at this point and each time I drive it it seems to get better. Today I reset the ECU and now I can really feel it. If I floor it in second around a corner I start losing traction, chirping tires and even a little push back into the seat, so that's nice! :giggle: And before you ask 3" lift, 33x10's, 4.56, NV3550.

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Second & curent love 01 manwel
 
I've got those Hurricane fender flares as well. Going to be painting them this summer. They haven't aged well in the sun. Heat treating didn't work for very long. I can't imagine what yours are doing in the hot Aussie summer heat.
Not too bad after about 3-4 years but I have a small garage next to my Wombat hole so perhaps that's why.
I was thinking about painting mine too but once I do that their going to get scratched up the moment I hit the bush so I've resisted the temptation to paint.
 
At that price, you are getting stroked! But not in a good way. It seems the cutting edge wizardry of your inline six was more technology than that shop could handle. Ask yourself this question. Is your vehicle better or worse than before they worked on it? Yank it out of there and bring it to a real shop. You can get a remanufactured engine with a warranty and still be ahead. Why should they charge you anything? They accomplished nothing.
 
Did you request specifically what you wanted done to your Jeep or did you ask the the shop to perform diagnostics and repair? If the shop performed tasks you specified I can understand a large shop bill even if they didn’t rectify the problem but if not I would think a very small fee for diagnostic would be fair.
 
I agree, these guys tear down an engine put it back together incorrectly, it blows up, and now they want to charge you to fix it again.

I would be hesitant to pay them a dime before deal was made to take it to a good mechanic. I would also insist on a reduced charge.

How was the engine before you dropped it off?
 
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