Knee Deep in the Dead...Jeep.

Such is life, for a DIY (aka not paying some <REDACTED> chump) mechanic

 

That does not look like as much fun as the SBC or FE Fords in the days of yore. Of course when we HAD to work on them they were not fun either.

 

Almost no room in there.. I spent three hours getting a single 10mm nut off the far back corner of the exhaust manifold cover. Oof.

 

Looks fun!

What do you need to do?

 

V8 what capacity is it?

 

Mopar 4.7L (JTEC). It was consuming a little coolant for several years and we would just top it up every other month or so.. a few weeks ago it started consuming A LOT of coolant, exhaust was smoky/steamy AF and smelled of coolant, AND refused to re-start once warmed up. Likely culprit is blown head gasket. Engine has ~170k miles, so will likely replace the cam chains/guides/tensioners/etc too ($$$).

After finally getting that 10mm nut off the exhaust manifold heat shield, next was removing the manifold/exhaust connector bolts (2 on each bank). Not going well...Another 4-5 hours yesterday & got ONE off.. the 2nd started to back out then seized up at the end of the threads and the nut now just spins.. Used the Oxy torch to make a 90° bend in a small needle nose vice grip to hold the nut.. still no dice, vice grip just pops off as soon as I start torquing.

This morning I ran to the HW store and got some Dremel cut-off wheels, & of <REDACTED> course, the new cutoff wheels require a fancy quick release mandrel, and the new mandrel needs a collet size I don't have... FFS! So far, I've spent more in specialty tools for this job than actual replacement parts. There is VERY little space to work and not even sure I can get the dremmel up there. As an insurance policy I also went to harbor freight and picked up this tiny 3" bench grinder with a flex-hose style die grinder attachment.. much smaller than the dremmel and hopefully that works if the dremel wont fit.

 

8+ hours of <REDACTED> around.

 

Rusted bolts and difficult access to it a right pain it can be. You will get it sorted @slackard been there .

 

I've had the unfortunate experience of working on vehicles where it was easier and quicker to simply drop the lump and box out for any major engine work.
I say 'unfortunate', because the best teacher is experience and next time I knew better.

 

The times l wish l had a car lift.

 

Welp, both heads have cracks, & found water in no less than 4 of 8 cylinders. ~$2k worth of parts now on order.

Decent price on new casting heads from Clearwater Cylinder Heads of Clearwater FL. Call tags for core return included.

Going the extra mile and replacing timing chains and cogs (Cloyes), along with all new gaskets and head bolts (Mahle).

 

Jeep (04 WJ, 4.7) is back rolling again.. Installed new-casting heads & cams from Clearwater & the complete Cloyes timing chain kit. The biggest challenge again was the exhaust flange nuts.. nearly impossible to install without 2 people, long arms and tiny hands.

Here are the original sparkplugs, with 194246mi. Look at those gaps...the electrodes are near wore down to the nub.


Shiny new-casting heads w/cams from Clearwater






Valve covers & intake back on and all timed up with the all new Cloyes timing chain kit (cogs, guides, chains & tensioners)


I saved the best (aka worst) for last. The exhaust flange nuts were impossible to install & had to make these clip-nuts. Hopefully I never have to take them off again!





And here it is, first start after buttoning everything up.. total downtime ~4 weeks & ~40 hrs wrenching.


Now back to motorbikes!

 

Good idea with the copper wire.

 

.0625 steel welding wire (ER70s). Copper plated for corrosion protection & supposedly improves weld quality.