I know, its not an fbody but I need some input.

After 5 weeks of my friend's 98 jeep wrangler 2.5 being at my house for an engine rebuild, I finally got everything together two days ago. He shattered a piston (common I guess in these motors) so we ordered a short block and I put it together after waiting weeks for clutch parts.

She started up and the engine ran perfectly, but now it has a hard time going into reverse (manual trans). All the other gears are fine and its shifts good between 1st-5th gears.

I am wondering if the clutch may not be fully disengaging because it will go into reverse when the engine is off. Should I bleed some of the fluid for the clutch? BTW, it is not grinding when trying to put it in reverse, it just wont go in. My friend said he had some trouble before getting into reverse but he said it was not that hard. Any help would be appreciated. I am not as familiar with transmissions as I am engines and other parts on cars, especially internal transmission parts. Thanks

Dan

 

try bleeding the clutch
normally if the clutch is not fully disengaging you would have problems engaging any gear, but you wont notice it much while driving
and you'll notice it more in reverse than in first
if bleeding the clutch doesnt help, look for any other sign that the clutch is not disengaging fully like a bent fork or something

if the clutch is disengaging fully, you've got a tranny problem

 

Yeah, my brothers '97 Wrangler with that same engine tranny combo has lost first and fifth gear. We will be dropping the tranny on thursday to take it to the shop for an inspection and estimate.

 

I worked at a jeep dealer for a few years...did you turn the flywheel?
my advise is get rid of it asap.....

normally bleeding that clutch will take care of your problem, gravity bleed it for a bit first

 

Thanks guys, I will try bleeding the clutch first. The thing that sucks is I think he thinks I messed something up while working on it because he doesn't really know anything about cars. Ya I had the flywheel turned as well.

mdacton, you said you worked at a jeep dealer for a while, is that the worse setup they made for jeeps or something? I had the hardest time finding a motor for that thing. I actually told my friend to just get rid of it but he didn't want to. Thanks

 

they are built cheap....as i'm sure you know, every day I got a fax for a new recall or TSB.
not sure how much the flywheel was turned but sometimes you need a shim.
The reason reverse is harder is the trans is switching directions.....forward gears will slide in. Does it go in reverse easy if the engine is off?

On think about jeep people is they are loyal to jeep but the cars aren't much. It was rare to see the 4 bangers, most had the 4L in em.

I don't think you messed anything up.....you have to expect that type stuff whenever you do a motor job. I don't want to hurt any feelings but chrystler/jeep are the worst cars i've worked on......I've been thru 2 dealerships....a mopar and a GM. and one independant shop

I was lucky to get any work off of a chrystler that wasn't a recall or warrenty.

 

That inforces the old saying "You get what you pay for." People p--s and moan about the price of a GM Product, but you get a darn nice vehicle. Chryslers are cheap and there is a reason for it.

 

GM has junk too....everyone does
the only thing you don't see a bunch of problems with is the bigger trucks
I have seen cherokees and grand cherokees strat knocking when you bring em in for a PDI
learned how to built a whole lot of dana 35's too....what a joke a 35..lol
I could tell you stuff about a jeep that wouls make you laugh all day

 

Mdacton,
Ya it will go into gear when the engine is off, but it is still a little difficult and takes some finess. Ya, I really never heard of that 2.5 in a jeep before until my friends picked his up. I have another friend with the 4.0 which I know is a good motor.