New to Jeeps

[Slowrider]

Hello all,

I’m new to Jeeps. I bought this 2006 Liberty Renegade back in December for cheap. It ran rough and had a lot of warning lights on. The suspension was shot and I found that the engine has low compression. I plan on either rebuilding the 3.7 or buying a reman to replace it with. It also has bad bearings in the rear and the brakes were shot. I put all new suspension under it and all new brakes and a new to me rear axle assembly. Now I just need to find a machine shop to get a general quote on machine work for the heads and block to decide if I rebuild or buy reman. Now I need to see how much it will cost to have the rockers fixed as they are pretty rusty. I’ve never been a Mopar fan (not had good luck in the past) but this jeep has been the easiest car I have ever worked on. This is supposed to be for my oldest as he will be driving soon but I’m thinking of getting another one only in a manual for myself or the younger one when they start driving.

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[Jeremy-WI]

You might like it until you have to replace upstream oxygen sensors
My 06 Renegade is blue and likely to be missing drivers side fog light. Has 185k on it.
The 2006 might frustrate a kid as it has advanced traction control so no burnouts but it is fairly safe cornering in snow

 

[Slowrider]

Both upstream o2 have already been replaced. That and rear backing plates were the two things I had a shop do while trying to diag the rear end noise and the rough running. The jeep is not for burnouts. If the kid want to do burnout he can use my truck 2010 Chevy Colorado with the 5.3v8. It’s about to get a new truck Norris cam if all goes well.

 

[ccg2301]

Hi and welcome, nice looking jeep, I'm sure you'll find this forum helpful if you have any questions as I did.

 

[Slowrider]

Hi and welcome, nice looking jeep, I'm sure you'll find this forum helpful if you have any questions as I did.

Thanks. I’m sure I will. I have already dove in and started reading a bunch. I’m glad to see that this forum is fairly active. Most the other forums I’m on have either closed up shop or are pretty much there due to FB groups which I don’t really like as most are not very helpful as they are a reason to make fun of someone not as knowledgeable as the keyboard experts .

 

[lfhoward]

You’ve brought that flat-hooded Liberty back from the dead! Nice work so far. Hope the engine work goes smoothly for you.

 

[Slowrider]

You’ve brought that flat-hooded Liberty back from the dead! Nice work so far. Hope the engine work goes smoothly for you.

Yeah me too. I’m going to be calling some machine shops to see if it will be cheaper to rebuild vs buy a reman. I would love to rebuild it and get the kids out there to help. I’ve built a few SBCs before and a couple 4l60s so I’m not afraid to do it. Just comes done to price. I was going to rebuild/ replace the trans while I was at it so I know they are both good. It currently has 246,000 miles on it. It runs like crap until it warms up then it runs great and shifts great.

 

[derekj]

Any luck on rebuild quotes?

 

[Slowrider]

Any luck on rebuild quotes?

Yeah I’ve got a quote for 300 for block items and 450 for heads. If crank needs work that will be a bit more. So if the machine shop costs $1000 and the rebuild kit is $750ish and then my time to rebuild it. That is still cheaper than a reman engine. I’m toying with the idea of getting a JY one to rebuild so when I go to pull it out it will be a weekend or two job to swap them.

 

[derekj]

Yeah I’ve got a quote for 300 for block items and 450 for heads. If crank needs work that will be a bit more. So if the machine shop costs $1000 and the rebuild kit is $750ish and then my time to rebuild it. That is still cheaper than a reman engine. I’m toying with the idea of getting a JY one to rebuild so when I go to pull it out it will be a weekend or two job to swap them.

I did that once with an old Ranger - pulled one out of a donor car and rebuilt it while still driving the other one until it was ready for the new engine.

 

[Slowrider]

I did that once with an old Ranger - pulled one out of a donor car and rebuilt it while still driving the other one until it was ready for the new engine.

Yeah the only reason I’m debating that is I remember when I V8 swapped an S10 way back when. I pulled the stock engine out and did not have the V8 built yet and it took forever waiting on the machine shop I chose (that one had a bunch of preferred customers that would bring stuff in last minute and get to the front of the line). Just trying to find a JY that has an 06 with a bad engine I can get for cheap. Most want 1k for an engine of unknown history.

 

[Slowrider]

I called a few JY in my area and one has a core that they will pull for me for $400 or they have a “running” on with 150-175k on it that they will pull for me for $800. I’m thinking the core as that a lot of unknown maintenance miles on the “running” one.