What did you work on today?

[Bustedaw11]

Hehe, I am rippin' down an '08 Wrangler right now too. You're right, the 3.8L shoulda NEVER even been considered for these things. Too much unsprung weight in stock fashion with to low of gearing, then you start throwing a lift kit and bigger wheel/tire combos and it's just a recipe for disaster (which usually comes in the form of spun bottom bearings).
View attachment 370831

Why you gotta copy me bro? this is actually a 3.6L so it's even worse.
Cat clogged on left bank and took put the head. Probably could have done a head but insurance paid for a new motor so that's what I'm doing.

@Johnny b me to man me too...

 

[ScaleJunkie]

Why you gotta copy me bro? this is actually a 3.6L so it's even worse.
Cat clogged on left bank and took put the head. Probably could have done a head but insurance paid for a new motor so that's what I'm doing.

@Johnny b me to man me too...

View attachment 370844

Na man, you're copying me! Cool that insurance covered it.

 

[Bustedaw11]

Went to the exb brace spacers on the Notorious. Totally different rig now.... Ready to handle anything!

 

[speeding_Infraction]

Finally getting to this today. Everything under is unbolted as well. Exhaust off, torque converter bolts out, bell housing bolts etc. Trans us hung. Just a bit more on the left side head and this dodge CARAVAN engine that has no business in this bay will be out.

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Please take off those angry eyes lol... Might run a little better

 

[ScaleJunkie]

Why you gotta copy me bro? this is actually a 3.6L so it's even worse.
Cat clogged on left bank and took put the head. Probably could have done a head but insurance paid for a new motor so that's what I'm doing.

@Johnny b me to man me too...

View attachment 370844

3.6....3.8.......same smell.

 

[Bustedaw11]

Please take off those angry eyes lol... Might run a little better

I hate those with a passion. Not my ride thankfully so not my issue.

I'm also not a fan of rimz on jeeps. They should be a 15 or a 16 and that is it. Real jeeps don't have van motors and giant rimzzzz. This is a mall crawler at its finest.

@ScaleJunkie yes 3.6 or 3.8 both suck. Atleast the 3.8 only has 1 camshaft and not 4.

 

[speeding_Infraction]

16" wheels are all you need. Sidewall for dayz

 

[ScaleJunkie]

I hate those with a passion. Not my ride thankfully so not my issue.

I'm also not a fan of rimz on jeeps. They should be a 15 or a 16 and that is it. Real jeeps don't have van motors and giant rimzzzz. This is a mall crawler at its finest.

@ScaleJunkie yes 3.6 or 3.8 both suck. Atleast the 3.8 only has 1 camshaft and not 4.

That's true. The Pentastar really does suck but I've replaced a lot more 3.8l than 3.6l. Now timing chain issues, 3.6 all day. Stretching, breaking guides and chains, bad phasers and tensioners failling.

 

[Johnny b]

What do you gearheads think of the Chrysler 3.7l in my liberty? Are they junk also or I just get lucky? 231k miles and running strong.

 

[332_RC]

That's true. The Pentastar really does suck but I've replaced a lot more 3.8l than 3.6l. Now timing chain issues, 3.6 all day. Stretching, breaking guides and chains, bad phasers and tensioners failling.

My 2013 Charger V6 Pentastar started to have rocker arm noise at 133k. Traded it for a new 2018 Charger 5.7 Hemi, had the lifter 'tick' pre-installed. 56k on it now.

 

[332_RC]

Little more progress. Removed the liquid mask for the grill & windows & painted them black. Masked off the headlights & scallops so I can still see the lines to paint them a different color. Man I hope this all works.

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More progress. Translucent orange(3 coats) down yesterday, then backed with bright silver(2 coats) today. This will only be the headlights & scallops. Grill is black. Liquid mask still in place on the rest of the shell. WIP

 

[Bustedaw11]

What do you gearheads think of the Chrysler 3.7l in my liberty? Are they junk also or I just get lucky? 231k miles and running strong.

Man there are good and bad ones when it comes to any motor from any manufacturer. It doesn't even matter.

My gripe with the 3.6 or 3.8 in the jeep is that they don't make good wheeling motors. They cannot pull offroad tires well and they have a ton of timing chain/ rocker issues and thats without pegging them off limiter in a mud hole....

I'm a jeep guy. It makes me sick to know I'm gonna throw a chain, or rocker off if I tried to properly run one of these motors in a jeep doin offroad stuff.

Is your 3.7 a good motor? My answer is it is for you! You've got 230,000 out of it and it's still going strong. That's all that matters man.
I whine about this new stuff because it saddens me to see where my passion has gone. What brought me to liking cars doesn't exist for me anymore.
The manufacturers that I used to respect aren't there anymore. They are but they've ruined about everything they make.

I can tell you that I don't believe I've ever actually had to work on a 3.7 jeep.. the 3.7 is the 6cl version of my 4.7 v8 in my dakota. While I don't like the engine (because it's got 3 chains and 2 ohv cams so it's a pain to work on and costly to repair) I can with confidence say I have ran my 4.7 to the absolute ground and it's still kicking. The transmission is another story. I've got a bad torque converter that if I drive over 5 miles refuses to come out of lockup when I slow down and it's killing the truck when I stop.. my fix is to floor it and see how long it'll last.. I don't give a single crap about that engine/trans in my truck. When it goes ill fix it.
Never buy a mechanics car/truck

 

[Doom!]

More progress. Translucent orange(3 coats) down yesterday, then backed with bright silver(2 coats) today. This will only be the headlights & scallops. Grill is black. Liquid mask still in place on the rest of the shell. WIP

View attachment 370945

View attachment 370946

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Gettin' closer, I'm probably as anxious as you are to see it finished!

 

[Johnny b]

Man there are good and bad ones when it comes to any motor from any manufacturer. It doesn't even matter.

My gripe with the 3.6 or 3.8 in the jeep is that they don't make good wheeling motors. They cannot pull offroad tires well and they have a ton of timing chain/ rocker issues and thats without pegging them off limiter in a mud hole....

I'm a jeep guy. It makes me sick to know I'm gonna throw a chain, or rocker off if I tried to properly run one of these motors in a jeep doin offroad stuff.

Is your 3.7 a good motor? My answer is it is for you! You've got 230,000 out of it and it's still going strong. That's all that matters man.
I whine about this new stuff because it saddens me to see where my passion has gone. What brought me to liking cars doesn't exist for me anymore.
The manufacturers that I used to respect aren't there anymore. They are but they've ruined about everything they make.

I can tell you that I don't believe I've ever actually had to work on a 3.7 jeep.. the 3.7 is the 6cl version of my 4.7 v8 in my dakota. While I don't like the engine (because it's got 3 chains and 2 ohv cams so it's a pain to work on and costly to repair) I can with confidence say I have ran my 4.7 to the absolute ground and it's still kicking. The transmission is another story. I've got a bad torque converter that if I drive over 5 miles refuses to come out of lockup when I slow down and it's killing the truck when I stop.. my fix is to floor it and see how long it'll last.. I don't give a single crap about that engine/trans in my truck. When it goes ill fix it.
Never buy a mechanics car/truck

Trans has been golden so far. I drop the pan about every 40k, replace trans filter and replenish Trans fluid. Never had a flush.

 

[ScaleJunkie]

What do you gearheads think of the Chrysler 3.7l in my liberty? Are they junk also or I just get lucky? 231k miles and running strong.

Busted makes a good point about why mechanics think and feel the way we do. To add to what he said, we see the worst of vehicles, and if you come from dealer environments like I have for much of my 20 years doing this you see the same cars with pretty much the same problems + all the crazy stuff that no other shop will touch.

The 3.7 and 4.7 are pretty tough engines tbh, as long as you stay on top of oil changes and cooling system maintenance. They do have timing chain issues where they stretch, the guides wear out or break, and the hydraulic tensioners failing. When they designed these engines, (the 3.7 is basically the same as the 4.7 just missing the back 2 cylinders) they overlooked a few things. All vehicles suffer from inherent design flaws, it's nothing new. The oil drain passages are too small, and the engines tend to run hotter than others and this can lead to sludging. The cylinder heads have issues with dropping valve seats, which will destroy the cylinder head and likely the piston in the cylinder it happens in. I have seen many cases where a seat dropped and it didn't damage the piston though.

The cooling system passages from block to head are also undersized, and has issues with thermostats sticking if the coolant is not changed on schedual as well as sludging. Chrysler uses HOAT (Hybrid Organic Acid Technology) coolant in the Liberty which is known to turn into a gelatinous substance once it starts to break down (GM has this same problem with Dex-Cool). This usually starts to collect and gum up the heater core first and can be an early indicator the system needs to be pressure flushed. Seeing as how you are in Florida, you may not have noticed a loss of heat from your vents. As the system gets more clogged, the engine runs hotter and if the thermostat decides to stick and you overheat, it's very likely and common to warp the cylinder heads.

The 42RLE trans has overheating issues, which likely stem from engine and cooling system issues, because the trans cooler is made into the radiator is a "dual core" setup. I always recomend installing an external cooler on the automatics.

The issues this motor was born with can be avoided for the most part just by staying on top of regular maintenance, and I have seen a bunch of Libertys with over 400,000 on them.

My 2013 Charger V6 Pentastar started to have rocker arm noise at 133k. Traded it for a new 2018 Charger 5.7 Hemi, had the lifter 'tick' pre-installed. 56k on it now.

Lmao, pre installed tick. That tick could be something as simple as an exhaust leak, the 5.7l starting around 09 started having issues with the lifters (specifically the lifter roller), they would seize and take out the camshaft lobe. I'm not sure if there is still an issue finding the parts but at one time, the camshaft and lifters were on intergalactic backorder, for years.

Man there are good and bad ones when it comes to any motor from any manufacturer. It doesn't even matter.

My gripe with the 3.6 or 3.8 in the jeep is that they don't make good wheeling motors. They cannot pull offroad tires well and they have a ton of timing chain/ rocker issues and thats without pegging them off limiter in a mud hole....

I'm a jeep guy. It makes me sick to know I'm gonna throw a chain, or rocker off if I tried to properly run one of these motors in a jeep doin offroad stuff.

Is your 3.7 a good motor? My answer is it is for you! You've got 230,000 out of it and it's still going strong. That's all that matters man.
I whine about this new stuff because it saddens me to see where my passion has gone. What brought me to liking cars doesn't exist for me anymore.
The manufacturers that I used to respect aren't there anymore. They are but they've ruined about everything they make.

I can tell you that I don't believe I've ever actually had to work on a 3.7 jeep.. the 3.7 is the 6cl version of my 4.7 v8 in my dakota. While I don't like the engine (because it's got 3 chains and 2 ohv cams so it's a pain to work on and costly to repair) I can with confidence say I have ran my 4.7 to the absolute ground and it's still kicking. The transmission is another story. I've got a bad torque converter that if I drive over 5 miles refuses to come out of lockup when I slow down and it's killing the truck when I stop.. my fix is to floor it and see how long it'll last.. I don't give a single crap about that engine/trans in my truck. When it goes ill fix it.
Never buy a mechanics car/truck

You got that right.

Trans has been golden so far. I drop the pan about every 40k, replace trans filter and replenish Trans fluid. Never had a flush.

Don't, dropping the pan and putting a fresh filter and fluid is all you need to do. As the miles tick on and the trans goes though normal wear, clutch material becomes suspended in the fluid, and actually helps to maintain friction between the plates, and when you use a pressurized machine to flush the entire system you blow all that out. More times than not flushing will cause the trans, especially one with as many miles as yours, to slip or stop pulling all together.

Sorry for the long winded respose, just felt I should be thorough.

 

[Littlemotor]

Busted makes a good point about why mechanics think and feel the way we do. To add to what he said, we see the worst of vehicles, and if you come from dealer environments like I have for much of my 20 years doing this you see the same cars with pretty much the same problems + all the crazy stuff that no other shop will touch.

The 3.7 and 4.7 are pretty tough engines tbh, as long as you stay on top of oil changes and cooling system maintenance. They do have timing chain issues where they stretch, the guides wear out or break, and the hydraulic tensioners failing. When they designed these engines, (the 3.7 is basically the same as the 4.7 just missing the back 2 cylinders) they overlooked a few things. All vehicles suffer from inherent design flaws, it's nothing new. The oil drain passages are too small, and the engines tend to run hotter than others and this can lead to sludging. The cylinder heads have issues with dropping valve seats, which will destroy the cylinder head and likely the piston in the cylinder it happens in. I have seen many cases where a seat dropped and it didn't damage the piston though.

The cooling system passages from block to head are also undersized, and has issues with thermostats sticking if the coolant is not changed on schedual as well as sludging. Chrysler uses HOAT (Hybrid Organic Acid Technology) coolant in the Liberty which is known to turn into a gelatinous substance once it starts to break down. This usually starts to collect and gum up the heater core first and can be an early indicator the system needs to be pressure flushed. Seeing as how you are in Florida, you may not have noticed a loss of heat from your vents. As the system gets more clogged, the engine runs hotter and if the thermostat decides to stick and you overheat, it's very likely and common to warp the cylinder heads.

The 42RLE trans has overheating issues, which likely stem from engine and cooling system issues, because the trans cooler is made into the radiator is a "dual core" setup. I always recomend installing an external cooler on the automatics.

The issues this motor was born with can be avoided for the most part just by staying on top of regular maintenance, and I have seen a bunch of Libertys with over 400,000 on them.



Lmao, pre installed tick. That tick could be something as simple as an exhaust leak, the 5.7l starting around 09 started having issues with the lifters, they would seize and take out the camshaft lobe. I'm not sure if there is still an issue finding the parts but at one time, the camshaft and lifters where on intergalactic backorder, for years.

You got that right.


Don't, dropping the pan and putting a freah filter and fluid is all you need to do. As the miles tick on and the trans goes though normal wear, clutch material becomes suspended in the fluid, and actually helps to maintain friction between the plates, and when you use a pressurized machine to flush the entire system you blow all that out. More times than not flushing will cause the trans, especially one with as many miles as yours, to slip or stop pulling all together.

Sorry for the long winded respose, just felt I should be thorough.

^^^^alllllllll of THIS.

 

[Bustedaw11]

^^^^alllllllll of THIS.

Nailed it.

 

[Johnny b]

Nailed it.

Thanks guys for the sharing of your knowledge. I'm far from a mechanic but have replaced many parts myself and have kept her out of shops. So easy to work on. I'm guessing that's maybe why she's still running strong. No offense, as I respect good honest mechanics, but these knuckleheads down here don't touch my rides.

 

[ScaleJunkie]

Thanks guys for the sharing of your knowledge. I'm far from a mechanic but have replaced many parts myself and have kept her out of shops. So easy to work on. I'm guessing that's maybe why she's still running strong. No offense, as I respect good honest mechanics, but these knuckleheads down here don't touch my rides.

I don't blame you, trust and believe and I'm sure these other guy will agree, there are far too many guys out there wrenching that have NO biz doing this job, or dishonest guys which pisses me off even more.

 

[Bustedaw11]

I don't blame you, trust and believe and I'm sure these other guy will agree, there are far too many guys out there wrenching that have NO biz doing this job, or dishonest guys which pisses me off even more.

I agree fully. This is why I stopped working for other people. I can't do shady.

I've never had any work on a vehicle of mine. Ever. I even do my own alignments.

This crap ain't hard. There are videos online to guide anyone. I'm always telling people to do the little stuff I know they can so they don't have to pay me to. Usually just makes them like me more and bring me even more work