Blown Head Gasket, what else?

Okay, this morning has been pretty bad for me, and I know something bad has went wrong, but I am hoping somebody on here can tell me the extent of the damage.

I drove my 2000 XJ 4.0 to work this morning (well most of the way), and the first 22miles of my commute are all interstate running about 70mph the whole way. I first noticed that the jeep was running at 210 constant, and after about 5 miles of interstate it jumped up to 220 constant and wasn't moving. But after the first 5 miles there is no way to turn around or get off the interstate until the next exit which is 15 miles up the road, so I kept going and was just watching the temp to make sure it didn't go up anymore. The temp never rose above 220, but after about 10 miles I started hearing a clicking noise coming from the motor, which I had the motor around 2.5k rpms so I wanted to see if it was the motor, I put the jeep in neutral and tried coasting, it wouldn't idle, instead it jumped up to 4k rpms with no knock? I knew that wasn't good, so I put it back in drive and basically "no throttle" but the jeep stayed at 2.5k for the next 3-5 miles until I hit that exit. And it was knocking and clattering the whole way.

As soon as I was off the off ramp and clear of any traffic I pulled over, the jeep wanted to keep going (wouldn't idle down) so I had to use the brakes to slow me down. As soon as I came to a complete stop of the side of the road, the motor just cut out and died. So I got out and opened the hood to see hot liquids all over the place everywhere under the hood, so I was expecting to see a hole in the block or something, but never did (not saying there isnt one). By looking at the passenger side (distributor side) of the motor, which was completely soaked from the head down, I could see what looked like oil coming from the head gasket, and little bubbles in the oil like air was escaping. After cooling, I was able to confirm that the hot liquid was oil all over my passenger side of the engine compartment. The driver side had a little of the liquid but not as much.

After going back into the jeep, i figured the damage is by far already done, so I tried to crank it to see if I could get it to pull about 100feet into a gas station, and it seemed like the motor had no compression (starter was turning over very free) and you would only hear it fire maybe once out of a 10second crank. Also noticed the temp was pinned out beyond 260F

Ended up pushing the jeep that 100feet up the hill to the gas station, and that's where it is sitting now until I get off work. I have to get this thing back up by Monday, so please if you have any insight on what this sounds like, please let me know. I'm prepared to pull the whole motor (if I can afford and find another motor), but I would like it to be a simple head gasket replacement if at all possible.

If you can shed a little light on what you think might be the issue, it would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance to any and all responses.

What's the coolant level look like? If the coolant was low the gauge wouldn't have read correctly, run hot and blew the head gasket. If it wouldn't start at all and you have that much oil everywhere I'd guess you blew the piss out of the head gasket.

Btw, Welcome to the forums.

First step is to get it home and pull the head...

2000/2001 had the crappy head that cracks all the time. Mine did. You will at least need a new head. With what you described, however, you probably need a different motor now. Unless you can find one already rebuilt with a different head, you will be down for a while. Search here carefully, especially posts by Talyn, for compatability between years, if you are swapping motors. The later years have unique bosses for accessories.

Well, I didn't check the coolant level because it was still at 260f when I left the jeep. I will check that out as soon as I get back to it this afternoon, but my guess is that after all that blowout under the hood, and if the head gasket is blown (which im almost positive of) wouldn't it have blown a lot of my coolant out as well?

First thing I checked when It happened was the oil, would you be able to see coolant in the oil when its that hot? The oil looked clean, I couldn't noticeably see any water in it.

Also, the 93 cherokees, I have one of those, and I actually sold one with 325k miles to get this 2000 xj with 119k miles, that thing overheated a couple times and I never had any problems out of that head. Would that head fit my intake? Would there be any other issues with installing a 93 head on this motor?

What would cause all that knocking? And whats the chances that I warped or cracked the head?

Check the bottom of the oil cap. See if you see any condensation build up there. When these things get low on oil they start knocking pretty quickly. The engine MIGHT be ok with a new head or gasket. There's a pretty good chance of a cracked head but without being there I couldn't tell ya.

and yeah, if the head gasket blew then coolant probably came out as well but not nessacarily.

Lucky for you you're not far from a good source for a cylinder head. Clearwater, FL Odessa Cylinder Heads.

Now that you mention it, the jeep was idling yesterday with about 19lbs of oil pressure, which I've read it should be around 30lbs. And then today, it was idling around 40lbs of pressure. It was running with no noise, sounded like a brand new jeep when running. Although, the jeep was due for an oil change about 100miles ago (im religious about the oil changes, but I wasn't able to do it last weekend, I was going to do it this friday) but even still, I haven't seen any oil on my garage floor to leak out, maybe it was burning the oil, or if it blew the head gasket, it was blowing the oil everywhere and I just didn't realize it until today. I haven't had the hood up on the jeep in about a week, so I never would have seen it unless it dropped on my garage floor.

I also checked with odessa and they have a new one for it that is much thicker than the stock one for $470 (with all valves and springs), but if I buy that, I'm hoping that the lower end on my jeep is in good condition.

I will also check the bottom of the oil cap when I get back to it this evening, I am writing these things down to checkout when I get to it.

Pull the head and take it to a shop and have it checked for cracks. If it's cracked you need one anyways.

I don't know how long this thing ran like that. If it sounded horrible then you might as well swap in a motor and be done with it. That'd be much cheaper in the long run.

How about that. Round about June I'll be riding right past your house on the way to Vero.

Pow!

http://daytona.craigslist.org/pts/2947096107.html

Edit: Hmmm, that's a WJ. Have to check to see if that one would work. The long block should work fine.

Yea, I just came across that myself, appreciate the link though. Im pretty sure that is the same motor and should fit, deland is just a town away and I have to drive through deland to get home anyhow, so maybe while I'm out trying to haul this thing back to the house this afternoon I may stop in there and talk to the guy and compare the design of the motor and accessories.

I also found one for $975 installed in ocala, a bit steeper on the price, but it has 87k miles on it and they will warranty it for 3 months, and no work on my part. :-/ I just hate to have to spend a grand on this thing knowing I could have done it myself for half that.

Knocking and clattering after overheating an 0331 probably-cracked head, now won't start? I'd put money on you needing a new engine, or at the very least, a complete overhaul. Bearings are probably wasted.

You can convert to the earlier, better engine (91-99 or so) using a variety of methods, they are more durable, more commonly available, and cheaper. I would probably do that - unless you just need it running again ASAP.

Unfortunately, that motor has been sold :-/

I do have a complete 87 motor that has 80k miles on it sitting in a commanche that has sat since 2000. I picked it up for parts, and the motor cranks over but wont start due to no fuel pump.

What are the differences in these motors? If i purchase a new head from odessa, will the new head fit on the 87 block with the newer intake manifold?

I believe it will (I know you can put a 90s head onto a RENIX block, friend of mine did it.) I know you will have to slightly modify the timing cover (easy, chop an unused piece off with an angle grinder) to make the newer belt routing work with the older motor, but I can't think of anything else serious.

You will also have to use your thermostat water outlet since it's tapped for the newer temp sensor location, and you'll have an extra temp sensor on the side of the block and a random knock sensor hanging off the back of the head that don't connect to anything. Not a big deal.

Hell, 1k for a low milage engine installed ain't a bad deal. Especially if you don't have to do anything.

Does anybody know if the rear main seals etc are the same? I read something about them being different.

On another note, I found a whole other 4x4 2000 cherokee for sale for $275 with 181k miles on the motor. Im looking into this.

And I kind of need the jeep running asap, really, it is my only daily driver. I have other vehicles, but they are all in need of something to get them dd worthy.

275? For the whole Jeep? Is the header panel any good? Doors? Fenders?

I believe its $275 for the whole thing (not a complete jeep, dunno what is missing), thats the way I take it anyway.

He says that the front clip is in good condition. I figured, If I can get it, I can pull the motor and drive train and sell whatever I can to make my money back and then scrap the body.

They are different - 00-01 use a different style from all the others.

Your vehicle collection sounds like mine.

The collection has actually downsized, i just got rid of one of my 93s for this one, still have another 93 4x4, and the mj. Plus a chevy 2500 and mazda lol. The collection haunts me.


As far as that other jeep goes, I just talked to him. It was a jeep that had a tow company lien, they ended up chopping the jeep in half. Everything from the front seats forward is still there. Would you be interested in some parts, lol? I could recoop a little money back by selling the front clip, dash, seats, wiring harness etc. Hopefully anyways.

If it weren't for the distance I'd buy everything except the motor from you. That's exactly the kind of donor I need for my MJ project.

Well got back to the jeep about an hour ago before heading back home. There was no condensation on the bottom of the oil cap, I forgot to check the coolant levels, I can do that later. But i did try starting it, and it cranked right up but has a really bad miss now.

I turned it off after about 10 seconds of running, and checked the oil, the oil now has the white substance at the bottom of the stick indicating the blown head gasket.


I think the reason it wouldnt start earlier is because the issue I've been having lately is the all to common heat soak problem that these jeeps are notorious for. It been having this issue for the past two weeks. That was part of the reason I continued to push the jeep the extra 3 miles to the exit off the interstate. I didn't exactly figure that it would start up after running that distance down the interstate even if nothing happened, that's just been my luck lately.