Originally Posted by xcspeedy (Post 588045)

Hey guys, I have a 1999 Jeep Cherokee with over 200,000 miles. I know these engines are known for going up and over 400,000+ but since I don't have much history and the previous owner didn't care for it, I was looking into a diesel swap. I've poured over the Mercedes engine swaps into these and was keen on doing that when my engine gave up.

But my dad had informed me that for the Jeep to be legal the engine has to be out of a car from 1999 or newer. I know there is the 2.8 and 3.0L CRD that came in the Liberty and Grand Cherokee but those engines are worth more that the truck is. So my question is what engine is a good swap into my Cherokee that isn't over kill or underpowered, or is it even worth it?

Thanks

Originally Posted by xcspeedy (Post 588440)

I know the CRD engine is great, its just that coming across a used one, or one at a decent price is rare. Right now the cheapest I've seen is about $4k which is what I have invested into my rig with a lift and tires, etc.

Originally Posted by xcspeedy (Post 588572)

Thats what bothers me, I'm guessing I have to hope it holds out till it becomes a dedicated trail rig. Unless anyone knows where I could pick up a CRD engine for a decent price. Thanks

Originally Posted by Benzer1 (Post 588558)

I personally think the OM617 is the best bang for the buck. Get an adapter kit for a 700R4 and you'll be good to go. Vlado has one in his Wrangler, FTE has one in a Jeep almost identical to mine. Check out their threads, those guys do great work, their conversions look factory!!!

John

Originally Posted by xcspeedy (Post 588641)

from doing some digging i found that the law the prohibits the swap of an older engine into new car is for a gas to gas swap, and says nothing about diesel! So i think i just found a loop hole that will allow me to do this with the merc engine.

---AutoMerged DoublePost---



I found a 700R4 transmission not to far from me with 30k miles for next to nothing and a engine also for a decent price. You wouldn't happen to know what transfer case would possibly work thats driver side drop? Its almost 5am and i should get to sleep rather than searching for hours more

Originally Posted by xcspeedy (Post 589023)

Thanks that helps me big time. Another issue I just thought of is my Jeep is a week end wheeler and sooner or later will tip the scales at 5000 pounds. Will the mercedes diesel keep up with this weight?

Originally Posted by FTE (Post 589099)

Not sure, but I'll let you know how mine does when I hook my ski boat to it!

Originally Posted by xcspeedy (Post 589538)

Has anyone done any mild or serious off roading with one of these engines?

Originally Posted by seaglf (Post 631785)

Get one of the 3 liter CRD that where in the late model 2007 Cherokees, the are Mercedes and are aluminum v6 block, only 460 lbs. 215 hp 376 ft lbs and came in several vehicles including sprinter vans. I have seen them on ebay as low as 5000 used. And you could even get the 7 speed transmission that comes on some of them. Anyway if you are concerned about spending 4000 you should forget the whole deal. unless you want a high mileage 0617 from a used vehicle. below is a om617 rebuilt form just one seller, they want 7000.
Mercedes Rebuilt Engines

Originally Posted by CheaperJeeper (Post 632009)

For this kind of project a $4k, $5k, or $7k engine would be ridiculous. A CRD from a 2007 or newer GRAND Cherokee would be sweet, but the engine would be worth about twice what the rest of the vehicle is worth. If you're going to spend that kind of money, buy a Liberty or Grand Cherokee with the diesel already in it and call it a day.

For an old Cherokee, a 200k mile OM617 out of a mid 80's SDL can be had for less than a grand and is just about right for an XJ with 100k-200k on the clock. The old OM617s are known to routinely run over 300k, and 350k-400k isn't that uncommon. So, you put a 200k mile engine into a mid 90's XJ and drive it for another 100k. That's how you'll get more than your money's worth out of it.

Originally Posted by seaglf (Post 632306)

the cheapest om617 Ive seen on ebay was 2000, with 170 thousand miles, but I guess thats still cheaper, and they are really good engines...

Originally Posted by seaglf (Post 632306)

...but he has a 99 Cherokee so has to use a a 99 or newer engine " he says". They had the 2.7 strait 5 in sprinters of that year, Mercedes-Benz OM647 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_OM612_which may be found for around 2000 on ebay.

Originally Posted by seaglf (Post 632306)

Anyway does anyone know where I can find out more info on the regulations for a diesel swap. I live in Texas but would like a 50 state legal swap. I haven't really seen any treads on here that addresses that issue.
I saw a website where you can put a smaller tractor engine in a full size Ford and get 40 miles per gallon, and I have seen allot of diesel conversions on here. I would like to put that OM 642 with the 7 speed in a 2007 Wrangler Unlimited, But I just don't know any thing about the street legality of such swaps.

Originally Posted by CheaperJeeper (Post 633117)

WOW! Where are you looking? I bought two of them last year off CraigsList complete with stock trannies attached and only paid $200 for one and $300 for the other. The $300 one I got from a wrecking yard and it came out of an 85 SDL with about 150k on it IIRC. It went right into my 84 300CD.



My bad, I didn't re-read the whole thread and forgot that one little tidbit. I have the same problem here in WA, and found the available diesels in the late 90's/early 2000's range to be slim pickins and way too expensive.

That being the case then I'd say the best option would be to pick up a good low mileage stock 4.0L out of a wrecked Cherokee to drop into the 99. Anything newer than 91 will bolt right in - though you'd have to swap all your intake, exhaust, sensors, etc. off the 99 onto an older one to keep the OBDII computer happy.

Once the swap is done, if you really want a diesel XJ, then sell it and buy an older Cherokee that is a good "body donor" (nice body but bad or worn out engine) to use as the base for buiding your diesel Cherokee. That's the direction I went. Depending on the year you can put in an OM617 turbo (5 cyl - 85 or older), OM602 turbo (5 cyl - 87-93), OM603 turbo (6 cyl - 86-95), or even an OM606 turbo (6 cyl - 95 to present). Any of those except the OM606 should be able to be had for less than $2k if you shop around, and the older ones (up to about 1990 or so) should be under a grand with 100k-150k on them (100k is just good and broken in for an MB diesel).



Go to the web site of the agency that issues the plates in your state for the Texas regs. It will be pretty difficult to find a reference that covers the regs for all states since they are all different. However, if you look up the California regs that would probably be about the best you can do - because any rig that qualifies as legal in Cali will be legal in all 49 of the other states... :tu: