Help identifying engine

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smdellin

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Dec 7, 2023
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Indiana
So I came a cross a 89 Wrangler from an estate sale. Working on identifying the motor as it is a 4.0, obviously an upgrade.

I found 0331 on the head, 53010328 on block driver and 501MX28 on block passenger. My best guess is a 2005 TJ motor. Thoughts?

Unfortunately, looks like some one was trying to wire in a Mega Squirt with GM distributor, it's a mess. Before proper research I bought a 95 engine harness, which I don't think will work.
 
Sounds like a project someone started and couldn’t finish. That does sound like an 05 TJ engine.

If I bought that Jeep, I’d scrap the motor and megasquirt in it and find a 99 and earlier TJ motor or 01 and older XJ motor. The 00+ TJ block is completely different with different holes for different brackets and none of it is common to YJ. 99 and older TJ is common to YJ and all XJs are common to YJ as well. Only thing is a TJ motor and 96+ XJ motor won’t have the hole in the cyl head for the YJ coolant temp sending unit.

Sorry that doesn’t exactly help you get the thing going, and I don’t know what state it’s in. If it isn’t running, then what I suggested is what I’d do because it will be difficult to get the accessories all happy if they aren’t already.
 
machoheadgames said:
Sounds like a project someone started and couldn’t finish. That does sound like an 05 TJ engine.

If I bought that Jeep, I’d scrap the motor and megasquirt in it and find a 99 and earlier TJ motor or 01 and older XJ motor. The 00+ TJ block is completely different with different holes for different brackets and none of it is common to YJ. 99 and older TJ is common to YJ and all XJs are common to YJ as well. Only thing is a TJ motor and 96+ XJ motor won’t have the hole in the cyl head for the YJ coolant temp sending unit.

Sorry that doesn’t exactly help you get the thing going, and I don’t know what state it’s in. If it isn’t running, then what I suggested is what I’d do because it will be difficult to get the accessories all happy if they aren’t already.
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Motor looks freshly rebuilt and fully complete under the hood except the wiring under the hood is a mess. I was thinking I could reverse it all back with a complete harness, cam sensor, coil packs and 05 PCM. Speedo could be cabled, not sure of tach or gage solutions yet. Looks like I have a lot of research ahead.
 
I mean you can probably get it running, but it will be a lot of work and rewiring. The updated block relocated the AC to be below power steering. If you don’t have AC then that will be alright. The alternator is on the same side and in the same location, uses a very different alternator with different wiring. Definitely need the TJ wiring for that and will need to adapt it to the YJ body, as in powering the YJ PDC and such.

Water pump is a newer 5 bolt design (better) and uses a spin on fan clutch instead of 4-bolt. Those are actual improvements so not a bad gig there. Engine mount brackets are different but will land in the same place so no issues there.

Wiring is going to be your biggest issue. Find a place to fit the TJ pcm and then do whatever needs to be done to the wiring to make it happy.

The speedo isn’t too bad. 1991 had cable speedo but fuel injection so it used a hybrid speed sensor which reported electrical speed data to the PCM and worked a cable signal to the cabled speedo gauge. The 1991 is a reed switch (2-wire) and the 92+ is a Hall effect (3-wire) so they are different but they both provide the exact same data. You will be able to make the TJ pcm happy with the 91 2-wire speed sensor

92+ YJs and all TJs use the same electrical speed data so once you get the wires straight it should work.

It’ll actually be a pretty cool project if you can get it running, though it won’t be “easy.” Doing things like extending all of the wiring to the PCM is going to be the part that sucks…while keeping all the wiring straight and comparing the TJ wiring diagram to the YJ so it all hooks up right. Especially since an 89 didn’t have fuel injection so it’s different than newer YJs also. But it can be done.
 
Also….2005s had the 6 speed manual and the crank sensor was in a different location, like 5:00 on the bellhousing. The 6 speed relatively sucks, and a lot of people swap to the 5 speeds. The people converting use a conversion bellhousing from Advance Adapters which puts the crank sensor in the 5:00 position while using the factory 5 speed transmission.

2005s also had the new “Next Gen Comtroller (NGC) PCM. They are notorious for being problematic. The solution there is to get a PCM from Mark at WranglerFix. The factory ones are hard to find and they are typically crap.

I’d honestly consider getting an 00-04 PCM and the associated wiring. It will be easier and you can keep your bellhousing. The 05 motor doesn’t specifically require anything to be 05 specific, it’s essentially the same thing as what the 00-04s had, except 00-01 had the early 0331 head which cracked. The 05-06 had oil pump drive assembly issues as well, so you probably are better off swapping in the 00-05 cam synchronizer That goes in the distributor hole (where the distributor used to be on 99 and previous) and run it as an 00-04 motor.

Good luck, curious to see how it goes.
 
Appreciate the help very much. I think I'll get the 2005 harness and the improved pcm along with the cam sync. I'll figure out what trans I have next, initially i thought it was the nv3550 but not certain. I'll check the head to see if I have the better version of the 0331.

I'll keep you posted on progress. May need more advice or comforting words along the way. I'd send pics but not sure how that's done here. The wiring is classic and there's a gm distributor in it.
 
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smdellin said:
Appreciate the help very much. I think I'll get the 2005 harness and the improved pcm along with the cam sync. I'll figure out what trans I have next, initially i thought it was the nv3550 but not certain. I'll check the head to see if I have the better version of the 0331.

I'll keep you posted on progress. May need more advice or comforting words along the way. I'd send pics but not sure how that's done here. The wiring is classic and there's a gm distributor in it.
Click to expand...
I think you’ll be able to post photos once you hit about 20 posts or something. I’ll be watching to see how it goes.
 
open hood, see fire wall facing right, side of Power steering booster
see VIN placard. see all those codes?, they tell you what was in the car day1 new.
the free FSM in the stickies, chapter zero decodes all that if your read the FSM chapter.
tiger by the tail, 89/05. wow.
so wire it like 05. even buy the full harnesses. used, from those crazy scalpers we see today. (evil) for $700.
or megasquirt it. (find free tuning data for 4.0)
sure gen, sure AC sure accessories on engine are all different, 2005.

put photos on a web site that allows photo storage, and link those. up. I use Photon.
here is a free site

imgur.com

Imgur

Imgur: The magic of the Internet
imgur.com imgur.com
free, I have 120 photos there now.
there are others, none ending in bucket.
 
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