Jeep Cherokee engine rebuild

Jeep Cherokee engine rebuild

Author
Discussion

priley

Original Poster:

505 posts

195 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
Hi, a friend has had an engine failed on their Jeep, I think it’s a cambelt failure. Can anyone advise whether it’s worth pursuing (10 year old car 70k miles)? And if so, anyone in or around Essex who might be able to help. Thanks!

E-bmw

9,976 posts

159 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
TBH it is entirely dependant on how much the car is worth to its owner & how much it costs (yes, I know I am stating the obvious) as in, I have just swapped engine in my V40 1.6D.

The car is worth around £5k, and to pay someone to do it was going to cost £3-5K without adding value to the car.

I bought a lower mileage engine for £730 & including fitting cam belt, clutch, aux belt etc it cost me around £1.3k to do myself, which was the only option over selling for spares/repair.

priley

Original Poster:

505 posts

195 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
Thanks for responding. Your comments mirror what I was thinking. I think it’s a fine balance between scrapping it and spending say, £5k, to get the same car back, albeit possibly with a new cambelt/clutch etc. I think they really want their car back though. But the other issue seems to be finding someone willing to take the work on.

E-bmw

9,976 posts

159 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
priley said:
But the other issue seems to be finding someone willing to take the work on.
Correct, my experience with quotes to pay someone just wasn't viable, if I weren't able to do it myself it would have been sold for nothing to someone that can.

The issue is it will take a diy mechanic 3+ days to do unless you do 12 hour days (took me 4 of 6 - 7 hour days & another 1/2 day when I had a resultant issue.

A driveway mechanic would likely charge £1000 just to do the job & there is the cambelt/clutch/gaskets etc to change & pretty much no guarantee.

Good luck in your hunt though, if you can get someone to do it it will likely be the best option.

ETA. An engine swap is probably a better option (as was my pricing above) as a cambelt fail can cause unknown deeply hidden damage for the future.

Edited by E-bmw on Wednesday 6th March 20:15

Yabu

2,067 posts

208 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
priley said:
Hi, a friend has had an engine failed on their Jeep, I think it’s a cambelt failure. Can anyone advise whether it’s worth pursuing (10 year old car 70k miles)? And if so, anyone in or around Essex who might be able to help. Thanks!
When you say “I think it’s cambelt failure” is that you looking at the car or them telling you it might be the cam belt?

Do you know what engine/engine code is in the car? Is it an “interference” engine?

priley

Original Poster:

505 posts

195 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
They’ve just been told it’s a ‘catastrophic engine failure’ by the dealer (who they always had it serviced by incidentally), so I just assumed cambelt. I’ll ask if they have any fault codes etc.

richhead

1,658 posts

18 months

Wednesday 6th March
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fault code for cambelt failing lol.
Seriously, if diy isnt an option its not really a go, if diy then get second hand engine, replace belts etc and hope for the best, not a hard job fitting an engine, just nuts and bolts really, no skill involved apart from maybe timing belt. special tools may be required for the belt.

tr7v8

7,306 posts

235 months

Wednesday 6th March
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Talk to Terry at A1 Chrysler on the number I PM'd you tomorrow. He's a 25 year Chrysler tech and he'll know what's involved.
He's in Higham near Gravesend so just across the river from you. He has a contact who can move if as required if needed.

InitialDave

12,236 posts

126 months

Thursday 7th March
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priley said:
They’ve just been told it’s a ‘catastrophic engine failure’ by the dealer (who they always had it serviced by incidentally), so I just assumed cambelt. I’ll ask if they have any fault codes etc.
It could be any number of things, yes, including cambelt failure.

While the nature of the failure would affect the options for rebuilding, if the easiest choice is swapping in a good used engine, it kind of doesn't matter why it's dead as long as they're correct that it's dead dead, as the solution is "take it out and replace it".

Of course, if internal components are now external components, it's fairly unequivocal.

priley

Original Poster:

505 posts

195 months

Thursday 7th March
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies everyone. And thanks tr7v8 for the number, he sounds ideal.