Bought the Comanche! what do I do with a seized engine?

[sevenn07]

And how much would that probably cost? And that would mean a rebreak in period right?

[JeepcoMJ]

And how much would that probably cost? And that would mean a rebreak in period right?

 

few hundredish, and yes a 2,500 mile break-in period with oil change @ 500 miles, then @ 1500, then 2500.

 

and if you wish to switch to synthetic, you start with dino lube, then switch to mixed for the next few oil changes, then full synthetic.

[sevenn07]

Thank yo for being so helpful. You are hitting every last question right on the nail head.

[BORDENCOMANCHE]

Apologize, I'm ripped... :D

 

From what I have been told, what I have learned, and what I know, the I6 is a BULLETPROOF motor. Every mech' in the area has an extreme respect for the motor up here.

 

Its usually the componants and relays and little electrical BS that is attached to the motor, which it relys on to run, that break down.

 

Like these guys said, before you go wasting all your time, and eventually ALL your money (cause a manche is a money hungry pig, worse then my wife), do what they said.

 

*takes another drink of beer*

 

I haven't read anything yet about what you have tried, to many times I see people buy a "new" vehicle and go throwing a whole pile of money at it, which you shouldn't do with this truck, 'cause resale is really low, that is if you don't send her to the grave yourself.

 

Try a bunch of stuff, and give us a detailed report of what you find, promise you we can help you fix it. .

 

Please for your wallets sake just don't 'haul off and rebuild it, because as soon as you do, either the manche's magic touch will make you upgrade something else, or miracously something else will break, and before you know it, your divorced (and broke).

 

*more beer*

 

You lube up those cylinders and give her a shove and I am betting she will cough up whatever crap thats in her throat. Crashing into something then letting it sit doesn't cease motors. Just makes for a really really hard start.

 

(Sidenote: seen on the tube last night that a couple of guys rewired an old '20 - '30 something and force fed it gas and it fired right up)

 

Welcome to the club, Ryan.

[mfpdm]

Welcome to the Club. :cheers:

 

I'm like the rest that op to see if you can free it up. I've had experience in two different versions of "it won't run". First time plugging all the plug wires in solved that one. However I was told that the following one just needed a head gasket. :shake:

 

 

Even if you get it freed up and it blows up on you shortly after, you shouldn't be out too much coin.

 

:cheers:

[Geonovast]

 

My brother's 4.0 did something similar... although it just cracked the cylinder wall, and the piston completely disintegrated.

 

Same cylinder too.

[sevenn07]

Ok I got the Jeep to my house. I haven't had a lot of time. So I took out the plugs and there seemed to be no rust. Maybe some on the plug threads but some idiot before me had already taken them out and just left the plug wires off so I have no clue on the sequence. So now where do I go from here? I tried to start it but never had a battery with enough charge to really throw the starter. I did hook up jumper cables but again it just clicked like it didn't have enough juice. But I expect it to be seized. So what are my next steps?

[jimoshel]

Soak the engine with PB. Forget about the starter until you can turn it over by hand.

[JeepcoMJ]

put a decent battery in it and hook it to a charger, let it charge, and try to start it.

 

 

replace battery wire terminals, clean all battery wire connections.

 

 

THEN start thinking about whether it's seized or not.

 

...if you're not gonna test something right, don't do it at all. sounds like you didn't try to hard to get it to turn over on juice (sorry to bust balls...just being honest)

[streetjeep2.5]

Yup!

Before you do ANYTHING, plugs out, Tranny in Neutral, 19mm socket and breaker bar, and see if it turns. If it does, PB the cyl's for the fun of it and do what was said about this process in an earlier post, get a good battery, and after cleaning the plugs and probably the dist cap, etc, wire 'er back up and see what happens. Don't wanna hear that you fired it up only to hear a big POOF! and the hood blows off because something in the engine tried to meet up with the space shuttle in orbit! :grrrr:

 

BTW, :smart: on a 4.0 cyl's are 1 to 6 front to back, firing order is 1,5,3,6,2,4, and if you look straight down at the distributor cap, 1 is at the very bottom, and wires go on clockwise, so plug wire from the plug in cyl 1 goes on the very bottom, plug wire from cyl 5 one the one to the left of bottom one, and etc.

 

Oh, yea. :waving: WELCOME TO THE MADNESS!

 

And, before doing too much, swing in to a parts store and get Chilton Repair Manual #40602 to cover Wagoneer/Comanche/Cherokee. Got a WEALTH of necessary info as you join with the rest of of in committing :bowdown: Comanche Idolatry!

[terrawombat]

How certain are you that it's seized? You said you tried to jump it and you just got a 'click'. Almost makes me wonder if maybe just the starter is dead.

 

Regardless, try turning the thing over by hand using the bolt on the crank pulley - I think someone mentioned what size it is (19mm?). This should be your very next step. If you can confirm that the engine is indeed seized, then it's time to go the cheap route and dump PB blaster in the spark plug holes and work the thing loose. Sounds like you either need a new battery or a charger to give some life back to the one you've got.

[sevenn07]

Ok I appreciate again the answers. I agree with the statement about not doing it completely right. I do need to. I believe the right pulley to crank on is the bottom one. (I know it is a stupid question but just to make sure. I tried to turn it and only got the bolt to tighten. Do I need to remove the belt? And would it turn if a bearing is seized? I will try this asap but work has not let me have a chance to try again. If I get it to turn I hope to start a build thread and start posting pics.

[JeepcoMJ]

Ok I appreciate again the answers. I agree with the statement about not doing it completely right. I do need to. I believe the right pulley to crank on is the bottom one. (I know it is a stupid question but just to make sure. I tried to turn it and only got the bolt to tighten. Do I need to remove the belt? And would it turn if a bearing is seized? I will try this asap but work has not let me have a chance to try again. If I get it to turn I hope to start a build thread and start posting pics.

 

 

the lowest, and biggest pulley which is dead center on the lower part of the motor, just above the oil pan...that is the pulley (harmonic balancer) to try and turn. you'll crank it towards the driver side.

 

if that's the one you tried, the engine is seized...UNLESS you forgot to put it in neutral first.

[Eagle]

I tried to turn it and only got the bolt to tighten.

Did you remove the spark plugs? Did you squirt a LOT of PB Blaster into the cylinders a day or two before you tried to turn it?

[streetjeep2.5]

Yea, belts off. No sense in turning stuff you don't need to. Plugs out, PB in, Trans in Neutral. A good sized breaker bar is needed, not just a socket wrench. If you don't have a breaker bar, a piece of pipe over the handle of the socket wrench will do. BTW, if you are using a socket wrench, best not use a 3/8 inch drive! Use a 1/2 inch drive! Could break your 3/8.

[BORDENCOMANCHE]

I am still leaning that she's not siezed.

[sevenn07]

Ok I got some PB Blaster and it will have sat a couple days tomorrow. Being mothers day I didn't get much time to spend on the Jeep. I hope to get to peak at it a bit tomorrow. I finally got the belt loosened. I liked to never find all the bolts holding the power steering pulley. Much less get a wrench on them. I hope that this will do the trick. I checked all the bearings on everything but the engine and they were all good. So whatever is not moving has to do with the engine. I am seriously wondering if it is a bearing but if it is it can be replaced no biggie (I hope!) Again thank yo for the help and lets hope tomorrow for a post with good news :cheers:

[streetjeep2.5]

:popcorn:

[sevenn07]

OK the long awaited update!

 

I got out saturday and did ever last thing I knew to break the engine loose and didn't succeed.

 

Well now I have the engine removal and tear down in progress. I hope to get the engine pulled and find the problem. The engine had a new starter on it so someone has tried working on it before.

 

Now my question is do I need to post the pics? Do I need to start a build thread? Even though it may not be a build, maybe a bust.

 

Oh and does an 89 have the possibility of being fuel injected. It seems to have a fuel rail system on it. Or can a carbed engine have that?

 

Oh and can a Dana 60 be put in one of these bad boys? It is $200 but I figure he will want more than that now that he knows how much its worth. It is an old military Dana 60. It is the front axle and I believe it has 4.55s. Could this work or no not at all?

[Eagle]

I don't understand why you are removing the engine BEFORE you know what's wrong with it. It would make a lot more sense to pull the head, inspect the cylinders, maybe cut the carbon ridge and hone the walls, and then tap each pistol with a wooden block to try freeing them up before you go through all the work of removing the engine. Many years ago I was given an old Javelin with a frozen engine. That's what I did. It freed up, I slapped in a new head gasket, and used it as my daily driver for over a year.

[Geonovast]

All 4.0s are multi port fuel injected.

 

The only carbed MJ to roll out of the factory was in 86, and only the 2.8L V6.

 

Pull the head and figure out what's going on in there.

 

A small suggestion... whether you pull the motor or not. With the head off, it's not that hard to get at those two top torx bolts on the trans bellhousing. Personally, even if I wasn't pulling the motor now, I would yank those out and get some real bolts in there. This will make your life a ton easier if you do ever need to pull the motor or trans in the future.

[sevenn07]

I don't understand why you are removing the engine BEFORE you know what's wrong with it. It would make a lot more sense to pull the head, inspect the cylinders, maybe cut the carbon ridge and hone the walls, and then tap each pistol with a wooden block to try freeing them up before you go through all the work of removing the engine. Many years ago I was given an old Javelin with a frozen engine. That's what I did. It freed up, I slapped in a new head gasket, and used it as my daily driver for over a year.

 

I completely agree but the point in even buying the MJ for me was to tear the engine down. I may regret having it off the chasis before beating and banging on it but I plan on completely tearing it down and cleaning it and such. It is just for me to learn and hopefully in the end have a toy. But if not then so be it. I appreciate your concern and please keep giving me advice. Even if I could be to hard headed to listen :hmm: But I plan on doing what you just said but without it on the chasis.

 

Oh and thanks for the tips on the bolts. I will see what I can't do.

 

Thank yall all so much. I appreciate all the help so far!

[Automan2164]

You keep referring to it "off the chassis"... You do know that the frame and the body are one piece on the Comanche, right?

 

Rob L. :dunno:

[Eagle]

I completely agree but the point in even buying the MJ for me was to tear the engine down. I may regret having it off the chasis before beating and banging on it but I plan on completely tearing it down and cleaning it and such.

Rebuilding an engine is a good way to learn and I'm all in favor of that. However, that is NOT what you indicated when you started this discussion, and frankly if you had stated from the beginijng that you planned to pull the engine and do a complete overhaul you would have saved several of us a lot of time we wasted trying to guilde you in accomplishing what you originally asked about -- getting it running:

 

I just bought the Comanche (previously mentioned in Comanche Find post) for $125. Now before I said it was not running. Well come to find out after I paid for it, she tells me the engine is seized. I was quite upset because before I bought it I asked if it was burnt up or just not running. Well she said it just wasn't running but today after I paid for it she found out otherwise.

 

So my question to you is can I possibly unseize it. I am going to try no matter what. I can get more that 125 out of the metal on it at a scrap yard or part it out.

[sevenn07]

I completely agree but the point in even buying the MJ for me was to tear the engine down. I may regret having it off the chasis before beating and banging on it but I plan on completely tearing it down and cleaning it and such.

Rebuilding an engine is a good way to learn and I'm all in favor of that. However, that is NOT what you indicated when you started this discussion, and frankly if you had stated from the beginijng that you planned to pull the engine and do a complete overhaul you would have saved several of us a lot of time we wasted trying to guilde you in accomplishing what you originally asked about -- getting it running:

 

I just bought the Comanche (previously mentioned in Comanche Find post) for $125. Now before I said it was not running. Well come to find out after I paid for it, she tells me the engine is seized. I was quite upset because before I bought it I asked if it was burnt up or just not running. Well she said it just wasn't running but today after I paid for it she found out otherwise.

 

 

So my question to you is can I possibly unseize it. I am going to try no matter what. I can get more that 125 out of the metal on it at a scrap yard or part it out.

 

I apologize for this very much. Do you think it would be better to just get the truck running without pulling the engine and such? I mean it is not an I have to. But if it would be in my best interest to just leave it in the bay and work from there I am game. I will honestly say I am not used to doing this type work. And all the time you have wasted helping me has been greatly appreciated. I have tried to head every bit of advise short of throwing the engine away. I couldn't have done what I have without the help of yall! I can't begin to tell yall how much I appreciate it and how glad I am that I was brought here. The level of kindness has been great and I don't want anyone to be mad or look down on me for what I have done. I really have been thankful for all the help!