2002 Jeep Cherokee Cylinders 1 and 2 - no Compression

DLDOOLEY

MEMBER
2002 JEEP CHEROKEE
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
50,000 MILES

Bought Jeep used 2 years ago and have put approx 20K miles on since.

Engine light on Jeep appeared last week. Before I could make it to mechanic, started vibrating significantly while idling. Had it towed directly to garage. Mechanic replaced spark plugs but is now telling me that there is no compression in cylinders 1 and 2. Needs to replace and will cost close to $2K including labor.

Knowing nothing about cars. What questions do I ask? What steps should be taken before this expensive repair happens?

Mechanic has proven reliable and reasonable in the past - not a dealership service dept - should I have it towed to dealership for 2nd opinion? Dealership has proven to be extremely expensive for past work and terrible customer service. It is the only Jeep dealership in the area.

Thanks!

1 Reply

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,938 POSTS

Hi there,

Thank you for the donation.

You will have to get a wet & dry comp test done, wet is with a small amount of engine oil added to the cylinder, if the comp come up considerably you will have a ring problem, if not the valves are your concern, now with this in mind when you have adjoining cylinders with equally low compressions, you normally fine a breach in the head gasket between the two cylinders. And often as there is now coolant gallery there you wont get the usual head gasket problems of over heating & coolant loss. An are pressure test will prove this diagnosis, and a repair bill quoted is way off the mark for this type of problem, but the head will have to be removed & tested first to know the extent of any damage.

Mark (mhpautos)