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My fiance and I made a rash decision on purchasing a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, V6...in Oct. 2006. Well, the jeep was running great for the first month, until the light came on and we found out we had to change the sensor on the transmission, we bought that from autozone and fixed that. Then, when we went to change the oil, my fiance found out that the original oil plug was missing and in its place was a rubber plug...so he took it to his friend/mechanic, and he changed the oil and replaced the plug with a better one that he thought would hold a lot better, he said it looked like the weld broke on the old bolt, and also the spot where the bolt goes was in bad shape, prob. from an impact wrench at the dealership...anyways, a week or so later my fiance was driving the jeep along a country road to our house and the jeep shut off like it was out of gas, totally just shut off. so he steered it to the side of the road and his friend towed him home. He used his cousin's car dolly to pull the jeep into town to let his friend/mechanic look at it. He told us the oil plug fell out and looked like the engine was locked up. He said we might be in luck and the sensors we were struggling with before might have helped us by keeping the engine from locking up...but alas, no luck, he found out that it is!!! We are attempting to look for a used engine to put in there, but it's hard to find one that hasn't been sitting for a long time or one that doesnt have any problems with it! We paid (actually are paying) about $7,000 for the jeep, it has about 120,000 miles on it, and it looks and runs great(besides the fact that we need a new engine!). Does anyone have any advice as to what we should do from here-is it worth looking for a used engine(or entire jeep whole) or should we just try to sell the jeep for parts and start over? This is our first jeep, and we both love it so much especially the 4wd part, we have a pontiac sunfire for our other car!!
Any advise or places to look-we live in Illinois.........???????
Thanks!  

It's according to how much you want to spend on the Jeep. You could check with a Salvage Yard that may have a wrecked one that has a good engine. They could even install it for you, if they are trustworthy. Or if you want to spend more you could check with an Engine Rebuilder that would sell you a Like New rebuilt engine that carries a warranty. Company's like Jasper Engines and others build good engines. Check with your local Parts stores like Autozone,Advance Auto, and O'Rielly's for rebuilt engines, or ask them about Local engine rebuilders. They will usually trade you a newly rebuilt engine for your old one, Plus about a Grand or so.  

There are several online parts location services you could use, there are even ones which might specialize in vauxhall engine parts.

Either way you can put a request in and let breakers contact you.

The vehicle salvage idea is not too bad, i saw a Grand Cherokee on this vehicle salvage site in which they were braking the jeep down, they might sell you an engine for cheap