OEM 2000 Jeep Wrangler Piston

2000 Jeep Wrangler Piston Parts and Q&A

• Q: How to Remove and Replace a Piston in an Engine on 2000 Jeep Wrangler?

  A: Begin by taking out the engine cylinder head cover, next come the rocker arms, then bridges, pivots, push rods and finally the engine cylinder head. Install every piston separately near the lower end of the stroke until all are in place, with a ridge reamer you need to eliminate the ridge from the tip of the cylinder and always collect the resulting cuttings with a protective cloth. Before taking off the oil pan and gasket, raise the vehicle and let the old oil leak out. After that, get rid of the caps and inserts from the connecting rod bearing and make a mark showing the location of the connecting rod cap on each connecting rod. Bring the suspension down so that the car is just 2 feet from the ground and put a short piece of rubber hose between the bolts and the crank and cylinder parts. Instruct an assistant to push both piston and connecting rod sets up and through the upper parts of the cylinders. When installing, be sure to clean the cylinder bores well and gently apply some clean engine oil with a cloth that does not shed fibers. When the blocks have been attached, slide the piston rings over the pistons and spray oil all over the rings and pistons. This should be done without damaging the crankshaft journals or cylinder walls by touching them with the screw heads of the connecting rod bolts. With the piston ring compressor, install the connecting rod and piston into the top of the cylinder bores so the arrow on the piston is in front of the engine. Shoulder the vehicle once more and fit the bearing inserts into their matching journal, aiming for the right clearance, using the given colors and sizes available in the chart. Paint marks on the cheek or counterweight next to the flange end of the crankshaft are used to identify the rod journal and the colors correspond with the various sizes. When needed, different bearing inserts may be used in pairs or a standard sheet metal insert and an undersize insert can be combined to create a reduction of 0.013 mm (0.0005 inch) in clearance. Be sure to separate bearing caps, since every connecting rod and cap is stamped with the cylinder number in the area near the oil squirt hole by the camshaft. Put together the caps covering the connecting rod bearings and their inserts, making sure the oil squirt holes point at the camshaft and the pointer arrows of the pistons are facing the front of the car. Drop in the oil pan and its gaskets, lower the vehicle and then mount the cylinder head, push rods, rocker arms, bridges, pivots and engine cylinder head cover. At the very end, put in the specified amount of engine oil.