2002 Jeep Wrangler, 6 Cylinder

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Hi, y'all,
I bought an '02 Wrangler with the 6 cylinder.
No owner's manual.

Anybody know the correct oil capacity with filter, and grade?
I assume 5W-30...and read somewhere 6 US quarts I think.

Thanks!

Rob

Jeep.jpg
 
The 4.0 is and old school flat tappet AMC I6. I am running the new QS Defy 10w30 in my XJ right now with a purolator classic filter. It runs as smooth and quiet as a 16 year motor could run.
 
5.5 quarts with the OEM "shorty" filter, a full 6 quarts if you use an FL-1A equivalent filter (which I do on my 4.0s, and strongly recommend- I use the Pure One PL30001.)

The 4.0 is not a picky eater when it comes to oil, so it will probably be happy with whatever you put in it. The factory spec is 5w30 but a huge number of Jeepers, myself included, get great results (both scientific such as used oil analyses, and subjective such as engine "sound and feel") using 40-weight diesel engine oils. My preference there is Rotella T6 5w40, and I run it to at least 6000 miles (usually more like 7000 to 9000) with the large sized P1 oil filter.

The 4.0 talks a lot- its a noisy engine. You can hear lifter tick and piston slap routinely, but its not a problem. They just never gave it any sound-deadening valve cover or oil pan.

Your 2002 should be past the time when cylinder head cracking was more common than it should have been (2000 through mid-year 2001) so no worries there. You pretty much have a 300,000+ mile engine if you give it decent maintenance. 200k if you abuse the heck out of it.

Welcome to the world of Jeeps! Join JeepForum.com (or one of the others) if you haven't already. You'll have to wade through a certain number of kids asking what kewl light bar to put on, but there's also a lot of great nuts-and-bolts tech, too.
 
I know engine swaps are popular with that car. I have given some thought to doing one up as a hobby. What are the hot setups?
 
The oil pan might be different on my XJ, but the FL1A requires me to put in 6.5 quarts to get to the top of the dipstick.

I've been running Rotella 5w40 in mine .. Doesn't shear off as bad as synthetic and dino 5w30s. I offroad with mine regularly in the summer and it gets beat pretty hard.

Edit: Well, running 4 quarts of Rotella T6. Whatever else i have laying around goes in. I think now i have 4 quarts T6, 1 quart 5w20, 1 quart 5w30 and whatever was left in a 0w-20 jug from my car.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
I know engine swaps are popular with that car. I have given some thought to doing one up as a hobby. What are the hot setups?


Putting an AMC 258 crank into a 4.0 block, thereby stroking it to 4.7 liters is about the hottest swap I consistently read about.

Some people have dropped the 4-cylinder Cummins B-series (basically a B5.9 minus two cylinders and used in delivery trucks) into Wranglers as well.

Then there's the usual boring chevy 350 or mopar 318 swap, but unless its an almost non-streetable build, it really doesn't offer much advantage over the stroker 4.7.
 
Thanks guys. I did find the OM after all. It was in the big console catch-all.
I used the big, fat Mopar filter but AAP near me was out of PYB in 10W-30 so I used 6 qts 5W-30. (I wanted to stay with PYB.)
It is definitely quieter in the valve train now during warmup. The old filter was a Valvoline branded 3" diameter about the size of a Wix 51516. It looked a bit undersized compared to the recommended Mopar job.

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I'd worry more about the stock axles with those monster tires.

Diffys been re-geared to maintain approprate ratios, if that helps.

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
...Then there's the usual boring chevy 350 or mopar 318 swap...

First Jepp I ever rode in as a kid was a Willys built with a 455 Olds and helicopter tires. No kidding.


cheers,
Rob
 
Originally Posted By: salv
The 4.0 is and old school flat tappet AMC I6. I am running the new QS Defy 10w30 in my XJ right now with a purolator classic filter. It runs as smooth and quiet as a 16 year motor could run.


I do not think that is true anymore. It was a long time ago, but do not think it was in 2002.

The engine is pretty bullet proof unless of course a piston skirt cracks or breaks off. I know that was a problem in 2001, and I think into 2002, but am not positive.

It takes 6 QTs and 10W30. I run PU in mine.
 
It's got 142K miles on it. I don't think a skirt is going to break off if it hasn't by now.
I'll keep the 5W in there and change to 10W next time. Thanks again.
 
There is no mileage limit on piston skirt issue's with the 4.0. There are tons of threads on the Jeep sites with piston skirt going out from around 70,000 to 180,000 miles from what I've read. If it goes it goes. I'm not to worry about my own though.

The head cracking issue was fixed sometime in mid to late 2001, but the same casting number was retained. The "fixed" heads have "TUPY" cast in the center where the cracks used to occur.

My 4.0 takes 6 qts. OEM for my area all year round calls for 10w30.
 
I see.
On the oil, I may try QS Defy next OC. Just found out about it...Been out of the loop for a while.
 
I had a '93 ZJ with the 4.0. it made a racket. when I bought it, it required 1 qt of oil per week and 1/2 gall coolant every 2 weeks. I put a lot of love into it and drove it until it had over 240k. I have always regretted getting out of it, but at that age it was a lot to stay on top of.

The piston skirt issue seems to be more prevalent among folks that live north of 4000 rpm. I saw it happen with a family member's '94. He drove it like a slingshot and it put up with it for a while before grenading on a road trip.

I've read similar too. "Keep it below 4k" seemed a good rule of thumb.

M
 
One of the things I'd love to do, that will never happen, is put together a 4.7 5 speed cherokee.

Or maybe a 4.7 5 speed XJ/TJ/YJ that goes off road!

I really like the old 4.0


Originally Posted By: river_rat
Thanks guys. I did find the OM after all. It was in the big console catch-all.
I used the big, fat Mopar filter but AAP near me was out of PYB in 10W-30 so I used 6 qts 5W-30. (I wanted to stay with PYB.)
It is definitely quieter in the valve train now during warmup. The old filter was a Valvoline branded 3" diameter about the size of a Wix 51516. It looked a bit undersized compared to the recommended Mopar job.

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I'd worry more about the stock axles with those monster tires.

Diffys been re-geared to maintain approprate ratios, if that helps.

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
...Then there's the usual boring chevy 350 or mopar 318 swap...

First Jepp I ever rode in as a kid was a Willys built with a 455 Olds and helicopter tires. No kidding.


cheers,
Rob


That might actually make the problem worse. The problem is all the torque you're applying to the axle shafts wit hthe big tires off road. Clutch drops or going balls to the wall is a sure way to break things.

In the front, you'll blow a U joint before anything, which will ruin the inner and outer shaft, but it's drivewable. If you snap a rear axle shaft on the dana 35, the wheel, hub, brake kind of fall out.

I'm only on 31s and I've managed to blow a U joint in the grass! But that was a farce.
 
Nice Jeep. I have a few ranging from a '59 CJ5 to a 4.0L powered tube buggy.

As I use my old stash of SAE30 aned 10W40's, I've been replacing them with 5 and 10W30's in the GRP III flavor.

I'm currently running QS Q-Torquepower 5W30 in my 2.5L powered '92 trail Jeep on 38's. It works great, even up around 5+K RPM.

I recommend researching and joining a local club for the camaraderie and legal places to recreate. Have fun with it.
 
Originally Posted By: meep

The piston skirt issue seems to be more prevalent among folks that live north of 4000 rpm. I saw it happen with a family member's '94. He drove it like a slingshot and it put up with it for a while before grenading on a road trip.

I've read similar too. "Keep it below 4k" seemed a good rule of thumb.

M


There's absolutely no reason to spin a 4.0 above 4k, except briefly during passing. There's NO more power up there anyway- its a tractor engine, and should be driven like one. That's one reason I like the 5-speed stick XJ so much more than the automatic. With the stick you can just lug the snot out of the 4.0 and it loves it. The automatic is always downshifting and it just does...not...help anything. Except to make more noise and make the engine unhappy. The fact that the 4.0 isn't happy at higher RPM is a bit hidden, though, because like all inline sixes it remains glassy smooth at all RPM levels.

To be honest, I rarely even read about 4.0 piston skirt issues, but then I have zero interest in "mudding" and that's where the high-RPM failures of all 4x4 engines tend to happen. In rock-crawling- which I love- its all about idle to 2000 RPM and maximum torque. Mudding is definitely an application where a shorter-stroke V8 set up for high RPM would be a good swap.
 
Like someone has said , join a good Jeep forum. I am on the Jeep Wrangler forum which further breaks down into the TJ, JK, CJ, and so on. The TJ which I think where you would fall into came with either a 2.5L four or your 4.0L six. My daughter has a '98 2.5L and I dream of a engine transplant. Everything has been put into a TJ from a New Hemi 5.7 or 6.1L, the new Chevy LS series, and the good old Chevy 350. A TV Truck show put a 4.2 Jeep Cherokee six in one they were working on which would probably be the easiest and most straight forward engine install. The forums have some good write ups by owners who give you a step by step detailed live experience of their stories of how I did it.
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
There's absolutely no reason to spin a 4.0 above 4k...


Maybe not in Texas.
wink.gif




Despite the doo dee conditions that we sometimes wheel in, I haven't seen many 4.0L piston issues in this neck of the woods. In addition, I spin my 2.5L to 5K once in a while if I'm climbing in compound low. She can take it.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim Spahr
Like someone has said , join a good Jeep forum. I am on the Jeep Wrangler forum...


The problem with WF is that there's a lot of inexperience and junk to sift through. Maybe I'm just getting old but I hate having to go through ten "how do I install a shackle lift or budget boost" threads to see something worthwhile.

Stay away from Pirate4x4 too, until you get more hardcore. LOL!
 
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