widwesternjeepz
New Member
Hey all! New to the forum, found you guys doing a google search looking for info. Not a good day here....
Get a call from the girlfriend she said her 2003 Sport with the 3.7L started flashing the CEL and running like crap, so rough she said it was shaking and scaring her.
She made it across town, about four blocks from where the problem started and got home. It has a P0302 cyl 2 misfire, i pulled the plug and replaced, i swapped the coil with cyl 4, still no change.
I can unplug the coil on cyl 2 while the engine is running and there is no change in its behavior, shaking, rough, etc. But if i pull the coil plug on any other cylinder while running then it nearly stalls out, so i know the problem is cyl #2 and its not a spark problem.
I fear its a broken valve spring. It started pouring rain here so i didn't get to pulling the plug and checking compression on that cylinder but i am betting its going to be a broken spring, local shops have seen it before and i know another KJ owner that went through this. Problem is it always ends up being a $2k repair job and pulling the head, etc.
I don't want to pull the dang head for a single spring. Going to check compression and if its dead on that cylinder i will get to pulling the valve cover. I can get the spring and rocker cheap locally from a dealer, about $20 in parts is all, the question is, how do you keep the valve up to swap the spring, its not going to work using air pressure because it won't close with the broken spring from what i read online. I was thinking the old rope trick that i have used on engines before, stuff it full of rope then hand crank it around to TDC and go to work. Will that work?
What about compressing the new spring? Will that be a nightmare or what? I don't have a spring compressor anymore, last one i had i gave to a buddy that needed it, i don't know if it would work on the 3.7L anyway looking at the pictures in the service manual. Anyone else here that has done this that can suggest a compressor for the job??
Thanks!
Get a call from the girlfriend she said her 2003 Sport with the 3.7L started flashing the CEL and running like crap, so rough she said it was shaking and scaring her.
She made it across town, about four blocks from where the problem started and got home. It has a P0302 cyl 2 misfire, i pulled the plug and replaced, i swapped the coil with cyl 4, still no change.
I can unplug the coil on cyl 2 while the engine is running and there is no change in its behavior, shaking, rough, etc. But if i pull the coil plug on any other cylinder while running then it nearly stalls out, so i know the problem is cyl #2 and its not a spark problem.
I fear its a broken valve spring. It started pouring rain here so i didn't get to pulling the plug and checking compression on that cylinder but i am betting its going to be a broken spring, local shops have seen it before and i know another KJ owner that went through this. Problem is it always ends up being a $2k repair job and pulling the head, etc.
I don't want to pull the dang head for a single spring. Going to check compression and if its dead on that cylinder i will get to pulling the valve cover. I can get the spring and rocker cheap locally from a dealer, about $20 in parts is all, the question is, how do you keep the valve up to swap the spring, its not going to work using air pressure because it won't close with the broken spring from what i read online. I was thinking the old rope trick that i have used on engines before, stuff it full of rope then hand crank it around to TDC and go to work. Will that work?
What about compressing the new spring? Will that be a nightmare or what? I don't have a spring compressor anymore, last one i had i gave to a buddy that needed it, i don't know if it would work on the 3.7L anyway looking at the pictures in the service manual. Anyone else here that has done this that can suggest a compressor for the job??
Thanks!