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Please guide me wise ones...

mbiker72

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Syracuse, NY
So,

2000 XJ
4.0
AW4
4WD
140k miles

Been drinking coolant like a sonofabitch, none of it on the ground (a gallon a week easily). On a drive recently, CEL starts flashing, massive power loss, shuddering, very unpleasant.

Milked it home, checked oil, not milky. Checked plugs, looked fine. CEL code was a P0306, misfire on 6. Cleared the code, restarted the truck.

Now i have a rattle and an occasional stumble, no real power loss (havent been more than 30mph since clearing the code though).

What is this noise? Im thinking maybe collapsed lifters? Burnt valves?

Ive tried searching but i haven't found a specific enough post.

Any thoughts?
 
I'd be willing to bet you have the infamous 0331 cracked head....at the least, you have a blown head gasket and you're steam cleaning your piston(s) either way.
 
I had been driving it with the coolant problem for several weeks before this most recent incident.

What are the chances I toasted the bottom end?
 
The flashing check engine light indicates a serious misfire which can damage the catalytic converter.

You certainly could have the infamous cracked head problem, consuming a gallon a week isn't a good thing. Testing can help you confirm this or you can try pulling the valve cover and looking closely between cylinders 3-4, which is the place that almost all of them crack.

Hard to say if damage has been done to the engine but coolant in the combustion chamber is a bad, bad thing for bearings and other internals.
 
sounds like you have a cracked head like many have allready mentioned. the fact that the oil is still looking good is a good thing. the water going into a combustion chamber so far has been minimal enough to not lock it up and hydrolock. remember that water will not compress, so the longer you drive this engine the more chances of the crack to enlarge and allow more water to enter the combustion chamber. it will only be a matter of time before it hydrolocks and bends a rod or breaks a piston, or both. your probably getting white smoke from your tailpipe which is a good indication of water being burned through the combustion chamber. since you havnt seen the milk shake effect, im betting your bottom end is still fine. drain the coolant, remove the head and either replace the gasket (blown head gasket), or get another head (cracked head). its been noted that you may see the crack by removing the valve cover. though im betting the crack will be at the exhaust valve seat (or close to it) for now. if it was noticeable in under the valve cover , youd most likely see water in the oil aswell.
 
and it's not a safety issue (you can't get in a wreck as easily when you can't go very fast!) and it usually happens above 75k or so miles iirc, so the response is "YO WARRANTY IS UP! :dunno:"
 
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