Light smoke?

I have some light white smoke coming from my breather tube on my valve cover & my dipstick when I pull the stick. I just recently did some work on this Jeep, none of which was to the motor. I added some seafoman to the old oil then added Rotella T & a new Napa Gold oil filter. I still have the light smoke coming for those spots, but, not noticeably from the tailpipe.

The XJ sat for a few years without being driven much @ all before I bought it. I also ran some seafoam through the the gas but that gas has most likely cycled through. I've still not run the motor for more than maybe 15 minutes max.

Is this a problem or is it normal? I am an amateur @ best so be kind.

Tough call. How does the engine run?

You will have moisture in the crankcase, that is a normal occurrence, and the moisture burns off when the oil AND the block reaches full operating temperature, which isn't happening in 15 minutes. Just because the coolant gets hot the block still has a long way to go.

Are you finding a "milkshake" on the dipstick tube or under the oil filler cap? If not, just keep monitoring things and see what happens when you can get it really heated up.

Good luck.

My dash cluster doesn't have a temperature gauge & it makes me worry.

Trust me, the day that you swap your instrument cluster for one with full gauges will be one of the happier days of your xj life.

Which ones have have the full gauges including the tach? Do you have to buy an aftermarket one or did later XJ's have them?

Panels with full gauges were available from the start, except that early on, they did not come with tachs on 5-speed models, at least that is what the salesman told us when we bought our '85 5-speed--I never did understand the reasoning behind that.

In any event, you can find panels with full gauges from time to time on ebay or wherever else old parts show up. Don't know what your year is but normally there will be a range of years that will swap in. The speedometer input (mechanical or electrical) is one limiting factor. As an example, I have a '93 and think I ended up with a '95 cluster but would have to look it up to be sure. Easy swap but except on late models, you have to change out the temp and oil pressure senders, not difficult.

84-86 I'm not sure what clusters interchange. These are rare beasts in the yards up here so I have little experience with them.
87-90 clusters interchange but you'll have to adjust the tach if it was from a 4cyl and going in a 6cyl or vice versa. You can easily adjust the odometer on the new cluster to match your old one, as well.
91-96 clusters interchange but the odo is tougher to set to the proper value since they tamperproofed it, so swap the odo out of your old one into the new cluster.
97-up clusters interchange though there is some question whether 00-01 clusters are different from 97-99 (I need to look into this further sometime), the odo can only be set at the dealership as it's fully electronic. Other than that, plug it in and go.

You'll need to swap the oil pressure and gauge temp senders for 96-down, not sure if you do on 97-up, if you do, it will be oil sender only because the temp sender on 97-up goes straight to the ECU (they eliminated the separate one for the cluster) and is sent via the CCD bus to the cluster.

Not sure what year yours is, so I figured I'd post the info for all years.

What year/engine is yours? There are significant differences through the years. Always good to note in the opening post.

Earlier vintage engines have more of a problem with clogging of the CCV plumbing that resides in the valve cover.

If this continues, you might consider removing the valve cover and be sure that all the tubes are clear and if necessary, replace them.

Mine is a 1992 4.0 4x4 2 door 5 speed.

Again, I've driven it for probably all of 20 minutes since I changed oil etc. It sat for 3 or 4 years with very minimal use if any before I swooped it up.

It seems to run well, so no complaints there. I would never have seen the smoke if I hadn't pulled the dipstick or the CCV grommet while it was running.

Ok, so you can grab an instrument panel out of a 91-96, and you will need to change out the idiot light senders for the temperature and oil pressure gauges.

Will it be drivable soon? If so, take it on a 40 minute drive and then pull the dipstick/filler cap and see if the "smoke" is gone.

Just keep monitoring the oil and coolant, you are probably Ok but a little checking goes a long way for peace of mind.

Good luck.