2000 XJ Cherokee 2.5 Diesel - Starter Problems.

[Merv]

Hi All,

First of all, little history on this Jeep. its a '00 XJ Cherokee 2.5 Turbo Diesel with 117k on the clock. I bought it with the motor in bits, was sitting in a shed for close to 18months with no heads. After a few weeks gathering parts together, gaskets, head bolts, 1 new head, new radiator and new water pump and some replacement sensors and other little bits I started the job, cleaned existing heads and valves, made everything shiny. Last week I put the heads on and reassembled everything minus the cooling system, fuel system and injectors and piping and turned the motor over by hand, no issues motor turns fine and easily. I didn't want to turn it over before I put the heads on in case I lifted a sleeve. I went to use the starter... This is where I stopped.. Starter motor makes a click and nothing else.

Has anyone else encountered this issue with the starter making a click but not actually engaging? Is there a way to kick it into life? I would very much like to avoid changing the starter, it doesn't look like a very nice job.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

[Deezelweazel]

Welcome,I can see two problems:
1-The cylinder sleeves must (or better should have been) locked during that long storage. A lifted sleeve will result in head gasket fail .

2-Can you turn the crank with a 41mm ring wrench or nut in the Clockwise direction now??

Check point two first. Then check the starter or the battery if they get hot.
Then recharge or better replace the battery first.

After that give the starter a smack with a hammer - this might help a bit.


Hopefully you didn't scratch the heads from below- the golden shiny color is a heat treatment. Replacing only one head is gambling at it's best.Assuming you replaced head number four, head number three still is pre-damaged.

[Merv]

Cheers for the response Deezelweazel, it looks like it had issues with number 1. Head was corroded from within and valves were pitted badly. Heads for 2,3 and 4 looked good. There were no scratches on the surfaces thankfully.

I checked the height of each sleeve before i put the heads back on. All were exactly the same height with the outer ring of the sleeve flush with the deck. I lined the walls with oil, did heads up finger tight then used the manifolds to line the heads up. I then torqued them down. Then put the rockers/push rods in, and turned the motor over.. Motor turns easily and all valves move nicely. From what i can see the motor looks good.

At the moment solenoid just goes click. I shall try giving it a knock after I take the heat shield off and a new battery. Shall post with an update.

[Deezelweazel]

Good, good, good! That sounds really good. A head damage in cylinder 1 is very rare- make sure you run 50% coolant to avoid corrosion of the welch plugs.

All done nicely- did you lube the pushrods? Moly grease dab is also ok- it will dissolve when heating up.
You didn't do the re-tightening process, right? Don't forget it after the engine is once warmed up (20 minutes engine run)and cooled completly down again.
Loosen one screw at a time, releasing it completly, then tightening it with 30 Nm torque plus rotation of 120°. The side screws do not need retightening , if you want to check them use a torque of 90 Nm.

Then there is an additional retightening procedure if you have 4 single head gaskets.
No additional third (!)retightening after 20.000km or 150 up to 200 hours, if you have a single head gasket.

This is the latest VM advice on torquing the heads!
I guess, It's just a bad battery. Have fun with that beauty- any pics?
Deezel

[Merv]

Yeah i have not done the whole retightening process, just the first stage. Second stage i need to get it hot (haven't got it started yet!)

I've put a new 680cca battery in, no crank just a click. So after some looking and trying to figure out how to get to the starter, i thought the easiest way would be to take the manifolds off. Ive taken all the manifold nuts off again, and then loosened two of the three nuts where the the turbo bolts to the manifold but there is one behind near the firewall underneath the manifold which i cannot get hold of. I disconnected the flange where exhaust meets the turbo so the whole manifold moves. How do I get to the turbo off so i can access the starter??

Anyone have experience with getting the starter out of one of these? Its got me stumped.

[Deezelweazel]

Stop it !
You are doing more damage than good. I'm at work now- can't help you at the moment.

There is an easy way to get the starter out.

[The Smiths]

all the manifold needs to go back on.

You work from underneath, undo the 3 bolts holding the starter in place and remove bracket from the end of it - jack the engine and undo the engine mount on the engine - you should then be able to push this back away from the engine and you can just get the starter out with a lot of twisting.

Some claim to able to get it out without undoing the engine mount - I've done quite a few and never managed this.......