1995 I6 Failure

I am the original owner of a 1995 Wrangler Sahara I6 3 spd. auto.
It currently has 74K miles. The maintenance has been performed regularly. Yesterday it suffered a catastrophic lower end failure. It will be Monday before the shop starts the teardown. At the time of failure:
1: 70 to 75 mph on freeway
2: oil pressure 55 to 60 psi.
3: temp 200 to 210 F
4: No unusual noise to indicate impending failure
Has anyone experienced a similar occurence?
Thanks!

I have heard that some of the I-6 from 1995 and earlier could suffer a crank walk problem. Seems less likely since you have an automatic transmission.

Aiiee that's bad news indeed. Lower end failure, blah. Any news from the shop? It's been a couple weeks.

I am interested in this, as its the same engine as mine. But I got manual transmission.

What is crank walk?

The teardown as yet has not started. I requested that the shop not start until the 25th. I'm still attempting to deal with DaimlerChrysler. I maintain that a properly maintained engine (which this is) should not fail at 74K. I am curious as to what will be found inside of the engine. Something has tied a knot in the end of the dipstick. It cannot be removed.

Well it sounds like the bottom end flew apart. It's will be really hard to determine if it had crank walk if the entire bottom end came apart. When my engine died my connecting rod broke and put a nice hole in the side of the block. So I bought a working engine with 110k miles and it had a terrible blow-by problem. So I built a stroker out of it. If Chrysler won't cover the loss and you want to keep the jeep, it's a great chance to build a stroker engine, especially if the engine is still useable. Good luck man!!


J.E.E.P. = Just Enjoy Every Problem or Just Empty Every Pocket

Good luck with Chrysler; I agree that a well maintained engine should last, especially the 4.0. Hopefully you've got the maintenance records.

Let us know what happens....

I do plan on keeping the Jeep. I doubt the engine is usable judging from the coolant mixed with the motor oil that was draining onto the shoulder of the road. Probably won't go radical with a rebuild because it's my daily driver in bad weather.
I have literally every receipt for every part, accessory, maintenance item and labor since I took delivery of the vehicle. I've made copies of all and made a small bound booklet which I presented to the shop. That's one reason I'm so ticked with DC. The Zone Rep wouldn't even come to the dealership and inspect the machine. I was hoping the rep would look at the overall condition of the Jeep, the damage to the engine and the maintenance records. Nope, 10 years old, nothing they can do. I've asked everyone that I've spoken with at DC if they are telling me that 74K is all I should expect from one of their engines and they won't give me an answer. I sent two letters to Corporate last week. I'm anxious to see IF they respond and HOW they respond.

Awesome receipts. Hope someone responds, but at 10 years old I wouldn't hold your breath....


(But I'd still like to hear what they have to say)

I have heard that some of the I-6 from 1995 and earlier could suffer a crank walk problem. Seems less likely since you have an automatic transmission.
Have any idea where i hook an external iol pressure guage to make sure i am getting prerssure to my top end. 89 jeep wrangler 6cyl

Any news from the shop

Just tonight picked up my Jeep. $5100. No help from Daimler Chrysler. They're hung up on the age of the vehicle. #5 rod broke in the middle, a six inch diameter hole was made and the camshaft was broke in half. (And just for kicks, a small hole was made in the oil pan) If I can figure how to reduce my photos to the required size, I'll post a couple. That engine was a WRECK!
The dealer didn't quite follow the rules of this state when it came to proper notification of an increase in the repair estimate. I'm working on that. And I haven't given up on dealing with DC. Between e-mails and letters at least I'll improve on my typing.

Broken rod on the highway....not good....

Let me guess....they gave you an estimate for the complete repair, then went and did a whole lot of work and put extra charges on the bill that were not run by you before you arrived. No call from Joe the repair guy saying, "well, you have a ()*&^ that's broken, it's $$$ to fix is that ok to do".

You should only be on the hook for what they quoted you, since you didn't give the approval for the additional work. (I'm taking it that they were putting in a new engine, or rebuilding the old one). Time to call the BBB.

Man, you must have had the dealership bugged! Here's the timeline:
Monday 26 April, work started, shop manager calls me at work about midday and requests $2000 to order the short block, gave him a credit card #. No mention was made of an increase in the estimate. Shop manager told me it would probably be two or three days for the short block to arrive.
Tuesday 26 April, on arriving home from work, found a message on my machine from the shop asking me to call or drop by. On arriving at the shop, found the short block bolted into my Jeep. At that time the shop manager tells me the new estimate is $5100, an increase of 24.4%. Well, since the job was half complete, I okayed the quote. At this point I'm grinding my teeth and jamming my hands into my pockets to prevent myself from saying/doing something "inappropriate."
In addition to the engine work, I had requested a brake inspection be performed and to give me a quote before starting any brake work.
Wednesday 27 April, after work I receive a call from the shop manager. He tells me I need EVERYTHING and it will cost $800! I tell him the HELL with the brakes and to button it up. I hung up the phone and sat down at the computer. Filed a complaint with the Ohio AG. I have a case number and am pursuing. After that, I looked in the nearest mirror to see if a flashing arrow with the word "sucker" was hanging over my head. (HA, HA)
Some times you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you!

Man, I've got to quit posting late at night. I just looked at my last post and caught a mistake. It should read Monday 25 (not 26) April.
Also, I did get a response from corporate. A woman identifying herself a the "senior representative" for Dr. Zetsche phoned me to tell me that there was nothing they could do because the Jeep was 10 years old. She wouldn't tell me that a failure at 74,000 was normal and no one has responded in writing. Guess they don't want to go on record telling a customer to take a hike!

I wouldn't have approved the revised estimate. I'd have tried to make them stick to the original estimat......they weren't doing any additional work.

And $800 for brakes? Please, you can do that in your backyard, screw the stealership.

Yea, if I was planning on keeping the Jeep I would put it up on jack stands in my garage and do the brakes. Silly me, I thought that since I took a dry one on the engine repair that the shop would get serious on the brakes.
For a brief moment I thought about "discussing" the increase in the estimate but I didn't want to tie up the car for Lord knows how long. Decided to get the State Attorney General involved.
I'm not finished with DC. I got nothing but time. Sure don't have any money!(HA, HA)

Ha.... no money. Me either.

Let us know how the Att Gen'l turns out.

I wouldn't expect too much from any manufacture when the vehicle is out of warranty. I once had a block crack on a Trans am with only 9000 miles. Yes, 9000. But the car was out of warranty for 3 or 4 years. I talked to Pontiac corporate for weeks. Bottom line, no $$.

Hello everyone. Here's a final update for those who initially were following this saga.
Today I received an e-mail from the office of the Ohio Atty. General. In a nutshell, I'm out of luck. (unless I wish to pay for an attorney) According to the e-mail, the Atty. Gen. thinks that there may have been a violation of state law but no, they don't investigate every complaint. They offer non binding mediation. Only when a pattern of complaints are logged do they get interested enough to act in an official capacity.
So much for that!
I sold the Jeep to a guy at work and he seems to be enjoying it. Better him than me.
With $3.50/gal. gasoline I couldn't afford to use it for my daily driver anyway.
And so ends my tale of woe. Just thought I'd let you all know how it turned out.

I hate shops that do that. Canadian Tire does that alot. But their front desk employees get commission, to rack up the charges. Also their quality work is sub-standard sometimes. For $5100, you could buy a crate engine, judging by www.jegs.com prices you could easily get a new crate engine for that price. However quadratec also sells the 4.0L I6 engine for way less then that. Whenever I take my jeep to a mechanic I always take it to a few places first. Or atleast phone around for a quick price check. However I like to jump into repairs myself. Also for $5grand you could buy a whole new rig, and rebuild original engine yourself.

Oh another thing is, mechanics have a book that tell them how many hours it takes to do a certain job. However all mechanics can do the job in 3/4 to 1/2 the time the book states.

I cannot see how brakes can cost $800, unless they are buying every part from the dealership.

They are ripping you off BIG TIME. You were marked from a mile away.