Despite possibly the worst luck ever, we still love our 07 Pacifica
 

Hello everyone!

Starting in September '18 my wife and I were looking for a vehicle to replace our severely rusted 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
We looked for a vehicle in our price range(not much) and found a lot of rust buckets, mechanic's specials, and buy two to make one deals.
Finally on March 16th we found an 07 Pacifica Touring AWD with a 4.0L and 62TE with 225K on it for a price that was a little out of our budget.
We went to go check it out.
My wife liked this modern blue Pacifica from the second she saw it.
Looking at it you would never guess it had nearly a quarter million miles on it!
I spent a while checking it all over and I was impressed that the only rust on it is the rocker panels, so there's a bargaining point.
It purred like a kitten, absolutely no ticks, squeals, or squeaks from it.
On the test drive I heard some clunking noises from more than one position in the front end(so there's another bargaining point), but my wife and I were definitely smitten by the end of the test drive.
We drove it home on the seller's plates after I explained the work it needs and threw an offer that was within my budget and he accepted. We registered it on Monday, the 18th and liked it more with every mile.
Fast forward 8 days to March 26th.
I took the Pacifica to run a quick errand.
On my way home, about 3 miles from home there was a "ding" sound and the oil pressure light came on.
Less than a minute later I could hear the distinctive sound of dry and self-destructing connecting rod bearings.
The oil pump quit.
At least two connecting rod bearings are smoked. It sounds like a hammer in a lawnmower.
So I found a used engine with 129K on it at a local junkyard for a good price with a 30 day "if it's junk, we'll get you another one" warranty, and I'm in the process of swapping it in my driveway in my spare time.
I discovered 3 transmission fluid leaks when I got the engine out. I've fixed two leaks and I'm waiting for my $47 dealer-only axle seal to arrive so I can start putting the new used engine in place.

Despite the 8 days, only put 85 miles on it, totally blown my budget, who the hell over-engineered this thing, how do I get my hand in there, skun every knuckle, rusted round exhaust nuts that no socket will fit, rounded over exhaust bolt heads, I've never known a vehicle so intimately so soon, there's no way they have to do it this way on the assembly line, working under a tarp for several days and several inches of rain, I can't believe I got the engine out through the top side with the exhaust manifolds in place, I can't believe that seal was $47, really can't believe I got the broken exhaust stud out of the new used engine, it'll be at least a week before I can afford to buy enough atf+4 to refill it after I lost all the fluid through the axle seal(and since it's already empty I should change the transmission filter and pan gasket even if it's $20 more I don't have), and finally..... the blood, sweat, and profanity... I really do love this Pacifica!!!
I hope it goes back together easier than it came apart. LOL

I'll try to post pics soon.

Rob

Hey it is going to be one hell of a vehicle when you get finished and you will know more about Pacifica's then most men in America. Yes, they can be a pain to work on (german's at DaimlerChrysler did tend to over-engineer most everything from 1998-2007). Good luck in getting your Pac back on the road!

PS-Just as an aside, a heavy clunk on the front of a Pac is often associated with worn factory installed sway bar bushings. Also take a close look at those factory rubber oil-filled factory motor mounts, they are legendary for failure.

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Here's a few pics of removing the engine, my redneck tarp garage, the empty engine bay, and the exhaust studs I was lucky enough to be able to remove with far less effort than I expected!

Thanks for the kind words and the advice!
I did thoroughly inspect the motor mounts and found them to be relatively new.
I will check out the front end when the time comes.

I'm fairly certain that I already know more about Pacificas than most mechanics. Lol

I'll post more pics and keep you updated!

Good stuff! Love the redneck shop cover, not everyone is willing to keep working thru the rain. New motor is relatively young at 135k, only maintenance the 3.5's need is the timing belt, perhaps you can find evidence that it has already been changed, else is a whole lot easier w/ the engine out of the Pac. How many hours did it take to wrestle the engine out? Keep us posted!

Thanks djetelina!
I did peek into the timing cover and the timing belt certainly didn't look old, so I went with it.

It took me a week of evenings to get the engine ready to pull out. Some of the bolts took an hour each to get out, and I spent a lot of time raising and lowering the engine to make clearance for silly things like my hands and maybe a tool. Lol
After I hooked onto the engine and unbolted the last 4 engine to transmission bolts I had left in place, it took me about two and a half hours to figure out how high to jack the transmission in order to get the engine away enough to come free.
Let's just say that the engine is 1/4" longer than the distance from the edge of the engine bay to the mounting face of the transmission, so I really had to make the planets align perfectly in order to complete this task. Lol
Then I still had to manage to get it out between the firewall and the radiator with both exhaust manifolds in place, being careful not to break any of the 4 O2 sensors, which is a trickier thing than it sounds like. Lol

Once the engine was out I started swapping the necessary appointments to the new mill.
The pulley bearings on the accessory belt tensioner was bad, so I took the complete tensioner unit off the deceased engine.
When I removed that unit from the new engine the alignment pin broke off the back of the tensioner and was stuck in the hole.
After about a half hour of drilling it with progressively larger drill bits it finally came out.
I've used a mix and match of which part was in better shape between both engines.
THANKFULLY the new engine came with a complete and totally perfect wiring harness because 90% of the electrical connectors on the original engine were held together with zip ties and/or electrical tape, due to their locking tabs being broken.
I changed the valve cover gaskets including the spark plug tube seals because I found oil in 2 of the spark plug tubes of the new engine.
I broke the dipstick tube off in the oil pan of the new engine.
Even an easy out wouldn't let me get it out(and I tried that for longer than I care to mention), all I was doing was pushing it farther into the oil pan.
Then the brain storm hit.
I took out the oil drain plug and bent a piece of wire with the right radius, stuck it down through the broken dipstick tube and out through the drain plug hole.
Then I used a straight slot screwdriver to push the broken tube into the oil pan, made a knot in the wire, and pulled the broken piece of tube out through the drain plug hole!!!
I saved $29 on an oil pan gasket with that maneuver! Lmao!
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This is the extraction of the broken dipstick tube. Where there's a will, there's a way!
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It's nice to see an engine sitting in there again!!!

The engine went into place in about an hour and I had 7 out of 10 engine to transmission bolts in place when I realized I hadn't put the A/C compressor OVER the STUDS that hold it in place.
So..... I had to take the engine away from the transmission in order to lift it up the 4" one needs in order to do so.
THEN.... I put the engine back in place AGAIN, with the A/C compressor over the studs. Lol

The biggest challenge now is what bolts go in which place, since it's been almost a month since I began tearing this thing apart.
I've been double, triple, and quadruple checking to make sure all of the various electrical connectors are plugged in.

I'm probably 80% of the way done reassembling everything,as of yesterday.

It's not coming along as quickly as I'd like, but it's getting there!

My wife insisted that I tell you that when I see other people driving their Pacificas, I scream obscenities at them because I'm jealous that they are driving their Pacificas and I am not.
LMAO!!!!

Hang in there! Yep, that AC compressor is set in there pretty tight. Hopefully you will get er up and running this week, your wife will really enjoy that vehicle, my own loves ours. We will round-trip Houston-Beaumont tomorrow for a family reunion.

Hint on those 02 sensors, if you have a Cat converter close to failing. If you have already not used this trick before, the rearmost 02 sensor can be spaced out w/ two (2) piggybacked spark plug anti-foulers to settle things down and allow the yellow "check-engine" light to stay off. (YouTube for precise directions) In Texas you can have one Monitor un-set to pass the annual emissions inspection, I was barely making that happen for several years using a scanner to allow me to duck into the inspection station at the precise time. Now engine light stays off, emissions inspection will be a breeze.

Good info to store in the memory banks, thank you!

Lucky for me, Maine went to 10% ethanol gas in lieu of emissions testing, since 90% of even newer vehicles weren't up to the set standards.

But my goal is to know as much about Pacificas as I do about Jeeps.
Let's just say that when my local O'Reilly auto needs a Jeep question answered, my phone rings.

Thanks again for the advice, and I'm glad someone is actually reading my Pacifica saga. Lol

So, ZERO progress has been made since my last post and I'm now past the 30 day replacement warranty on the new used engine.
From rescuing my oldest daughter, her fiancé, and my granddaughters and doing an impromptu in-the-middle-of-the-night-on-the-side-of-the-road front axle swap(thankfully I have a few parts Jeeps kicking around) on their 2001 Jeep XJ, to rescuing my youngest daughter in my wife's 1988 Jeep YJ when the oil pressure gauge sending unit sprang a leak and dumped 4 out of 5 quarts of oil on the ground 2 days after I changed the oil and filter, to a lawn tractor who's mower deck spindles exploded and other ridiculous occurrences.

But on the lighter side of the news, I was given a modern blue '05 Pacifica a few days ago for a parts car.
It's a 3.5L 4 speed with no reverse gear and a broken K frame, but it ran and drove forward when it was parked.
Being raised properly, I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, but......
It's been quite a pain in my arse from the get go.
It sat for a year before the previous owner bought a new house and had it moved on a flatbed to the new house, where it sat for another 3.5 years.
Well....
The flatbed driver just winched it on and rolled it off the truck, left it in reverse but somehow got the key out of the ignition switch, cranked the parking brake to the max and there it sat.
It's physically corroded stuck in reverse and therefore won't engage the starter because of the park/neutral safety switch.
The parking brake is physically stuck fully engaged.
I had borrowed my boss's truck, trailer, and 10K lb come-along to move said parts Pacifica.
After an hour and a half I had moved my boss's Tundra and trailer backward 6 inches and moved the Pacifica forward 8 inches.....
That sumbitch isn't going anywhere.
All I really want it for is to swap from 2 row seating to 3 row seating and add heated front seats to the '07 and maybe a few other parts, but it's been a big headache so far. Lol

Then I got to reading threads here on the Chrysler forum and read something about the airbag system and recognizing the VIN from the seats to make the airbags work correctly..... :drool: ???
I guess that's not an issue for me, I still don't like the idea of the airbag coming at me at 200+mph in a crash, so I personally don't care about that issue.
Anyway...... I wake up breathing, (in my best Bill Murray voice)so I've got that going for me!

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The parts Pacifica