Cost to Rebuild Jeep 3.7L

in-too-deep

Well-known Member
Morning! Noticing the "06 Gr. Cherokee burning a little oil. Not a ton of blue smoke or reading low on the dipstick, but I can smell it and see black crap on the snow under the tailpipe. Only 145k miles so I"m more than a little frustrated. What do you think would be a ballpark price to have an engine shop rebuild it? I would remove and re-install the engine myself. Thank you.
 
Might be cheaper and easier to replace it with a lower mileage engine from a wrecked jeep.. They're out there..
 
You can look up a price on Jasper's website. Personally I would buy a rebuild unless you want to stay with the original engine. A rebuild would save you less down time rather than waiting to get your original rebuilt.

I myself would go with a rebuild because your original may have non fixable problems and you may end up paying for work that has been done to it up to when they find the non fixable problem.

The rebuild would also have a warranty etc.
I've had good luck with Jasper's engines
Jasper
 
I don't know about rebuilding costs, but I have worked on the 3.7 engines.
What are you considering to be excessive oil consumption? Are you having to add oil frequently between oil changes? Say more than a quart in 3000 miles? Do you smell the characteristic burned oil smell in the exhaust?
A bit of black in the snow under the tailpipe can come from more than one source, and is not necessarily an indication of oil consumption. Starting a cold engine is accompanied by a rich mixture that allows some soot to form. A cold catalytic converter will not remove that.
Now consider: you spend a lot of money on a rebuild, your time and labor, and when it is all done and re-assembled, you still have black crap dripping out of the tailpipe. What then?
 
Is it making any bearing noise? If not, I wouldn't worry about it until it's using oil. Like a quart in 500 miles. I'm betting there is nothing wrong with it.
 
It's the smell more than anything. I understand the soot from the very cold starts, on the other hand, like I said in my post, I don't see the consumption so bad on the dipstick, but the stink is there. Guess I'm just being cautious and bracing for the worst.
 
Are you sure it's not just an oil leak? Seeping oil on a manifold or PCV hose collapsed/clogged causing the crankcase to vent to the outside?
 
Yep I looked and looked for something like that. Especially a leaking valve cover gasket, but no such luck.
 
If the shop pulls the motor about $4000, if you pull the motor about $3000.
I rebuilt a 350 chevy cost $3000 till I decided to put fuel injection that added $3000.
 
Keep running it till the weather warms up. Then recheck it. Could be you are noticing something that is the result of the extra time it's idled warming up in the winter.

Rick
 
You may be on to something there. Or maybe just cold, stiff valve stem seals. Finally outta that darn deep freeze. Yesterday sure was nice, huh?
 
The black stuff under the end of the tailpipe might just be condensation and soot, similar to wet stacking on a diesel engine. That was real common on older carburated cars in cold weather. In cold weather most car engines still run rich until they reach full operating temperature. Check under the oil fill cap for moisture. If there is a lot of condensation under that cap think about changing the oil or working the engine enough to evaporate the moisture out of the oil.

Your engine is starting to show some age, but with good maintanence it may have another 100,000 miles or more in it before it needs to be rebuilt. As others have said, see what it does in warm weather and until then enjoy your Jeep.
 
Sorry to contradict, Roy, but the 3.7s are scarce in the used market. Also the Mopar 2.7s. Yes they are out there, but they are rare- and expensive when you find them.
 
Not sure about the engine rebuild. But I am getting the 4 speed tranny in my 05 liberty worked on now. Could cost up to $1900. It has the forever familiar torque converter shutter at 170,000 miles.

Did you check the rear main seal? Any oil spots on the ground? If you can smell it, it has to be a leak somewhere that is burning off.
 
(quoted from post at 20:16:47 01/13/14) Yep I looked and looked for something like that. Especially a leaking valve cover gasket, but no such luck.

Those valve cover gaskets do leak directly on the exhaust manifold... About the only way you will see it is by looking at the very rear from the bottom at the rear of the cyl. head... Then you have to look hard to see were the covers leak... There also 2 crank case vent hoses that crack and leak...
 
Not familiar with that engine, but if I was going to make decisions about it, I would do the appropriate tests first. Like a compression test and checking the computer for any codes.

In general, does it run OK? Does it always start OK? How many miles will it go before you have to add a quart of oil? What is the smell like? If it is dripping something, what is it?

With today"s computer managed engines, often problems can be diagnosed from the electronics with a scan tool. And maybe it would be worth it to go to the Jeep dealer to have them run a diagnostic on their expensive and sophisticated machine. Your problem might be something that is relatively minor and inexpensive to fix.

The decision to replace an engine, rebuild an engine or get rid of a vehicle usually comes down to how the rest of the vehicle is. If the vehicle is in good condition, it might make sense to replace a bad engine.

But first I would figure out what is wrong. I would wonder about valve seals if the compression is good and there are no exterior leaks. I also would wonder if there might be some kind of problem with the PCV system. Maybe the catalytic converter is bad. Or it could be something else. Engines last much longer these days with fuel injection than they did with carburetion.

Often a machine will run a LONG time after it starts using oil. Oil is lots less expensive than replacing or rebuilding engines.

I hope you can figure it out and make it work OK cheaply. Good to see you posting! How is Miss Minesota? Good luck!
 
Another thing, typically if a modern engine is swilling much oil, it will contaminate the 02 sensor(s) and set a trouble code(s).
 
I don't think it's really using much, but that smell and soot on the snow put me in panic mode. I still want to look harder for leaky valve cover gaskets, too. Maybe it's as simple as that. Always starts and runs greats with no codes. Haven't documented the oil consumption. Miss Minnesota is great but she's Mrs. Minnesota now, and we have a 3.5 month old Mini-Minnesota daughter. Thank you for asking.
 
I don't think I'd push the panic button just yet... keep an eye on it. If you're not seeing it down on the stick and the antifreeze is not disappearing... I'd suggest that it's probably just some condensation slobber... or mabey a slight leak on the manifold. Either way I doubt it would do you any good to tear it down. It'd need to burn a LOT of oil to bother me.

Rod
 

Nope. It's getting a whole new $3K Jasper transmission, torque converter, and a cooler flush. There were pieces all in the pan when they took it off. Several codes on the scanner also.
 
(quoted from post at 23:42:58 01/17/14)
Nope. It's getting a whole new $3K Jasper transmission, torque converter, and a cooler flush. There were pieces all in the pan when they took it off. Several codes on the scanner also.

JD flushing the cooler is questionable and I will explain why...

The last transmission I rebuilt came back with the same issue it had before I rebuilt it about 6 mo before. I checked flow thru the cooler and it was stopped up. The question was were did the contamination come from was it from the original were I flushed the cooler are was it from the rebuild... I don't know and don't know how I would ever know...

I bit the bullet and installed a Chrysler reman along with a new cooler and guess what I had the same issue right off the bat. Chrysler thought they had me pined down when the question came up did I flush the cooler. I said I replaced it with a new Chrysler cooler its on the same ticket when I brought the trans from ya the contamination came from your trans... It was a hard learned experience so all I do not get a new cooler so now I will know...

That cooler saved my arse, if I did have contamination I knew were it came from :wink: This trans was known for converter clutch issues and that's were the contamination was coming from... I had to replace the PCM to take care of a power train module issue that me are Chrysler never could confirm as the issue but the PCM did fix it... Its gone and I never want to see another one I lost my arse on it...
 

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