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I feel like Cptn Hazlewood

xjwisconsin

NAXJA Forum User
first off i've got a stock 88 Chief with 4.0l. just bought it a few months ago and it had some oil issues when I got it. last weekend a buddy and i put in a new rear mainseal... was going to do the valve cover and oil filter gaskets at the same time but had issues with the weather so we couldnt.

today I left for my girlfriends parents. Its around 10-15 below here with the windchill... Im doing 65 on the interstate and the wind is pushing straight into me... engine is working hard but not excessive. I get about 80 miles and i notice the oil pressure start to dance... I pull over at a gas station and it looks like my engine puked on itself. Ive got dark oil dripping down from what looks like the back of the inspection plate... looks to be coming from the top end of the engine... also noticed oil around both the vents on the valve cover. also saw a fair amount of thicker looking tan/muddy fluid coming from under the air box(at least thats what it looks like)
I opened the air box up and theres some foamy looking stuff mixed in with some oil
2005_0309leaking0009.jpg


i also looked at the coolant in my bottle and it seems low and its got particulates dark looking
2005_0309leaking0001.jpg

sorry bad pict... but you can see the color from this
so I guess... has my head gasket completely crapped itself.... and thats the muddy fluid that I am seeing? any help would be greatly appreciated... sorry for the long post
 
If you blow a head gasket your oil will be a milky looking color. so pull your dip stick out and take a look. dont know about the air filter stuff never seen that nasty stuff.:puke:
 
oil looks clean on the dipstick but whats coming out into the air filter (blow by) looks milky... the stuff that was dripping down from front side (looked to be near the air filter) looked kinda like coffee with cream
 
Yea the Blow by is the color that it looks like but I would think the dip stick would show it if the blow by is that bad. maybe drain the oil and see what it looks like.
 
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just took it for a ride to town... six miles there and back. oil leak seems to have stopped/diminished. checked the dipstick... oil looks clean. just put a piece of cardboard down to watch... also leak from air box area not happening now. could it be possible that the leak was caused/exacerbated by the speed and strain from wind(I do have a full safari rack with a 30/9.5 strapped up in the roof)
 
in your valve cover there are two ports these are jeeps type of pvc valve chances are yours were stuck that will cause blow by its an easy fix clean your valve cover when you change the gasket also swap the two vacuum lines on the back of the intake there is aline that comes from the passanger side it suplies you hvac swap it to the front port where the line to the valve cover is and blow through them to make sure they ar not pluged this is a old tec fix from jeep good luck
 
Make sure your CCV tubes are all open and clean.
If those get clogged even temporarily it can spew nasty crud.
Search for info on blow by and make sure the system is open.
 
Ive looked at some links on blow by but had no idea that it could cause the kind of problems that I had today... it sounds like what your saying is that the muddy looking crap that came flying out of the engine in fact came out through the blow by? Im supprised cause I lost like 2.5 qrts...
 
well I was planning on changing out the vac lines already so i guess I will be checking and cleaning everything as well. thanks for all the help guys I really appreciate it
i was really freaking out when I saw the amount of oil it spewed out
 
i also had another question... just what causes the muddy color of the fluid that was coming out of the airbox... if anyone can explain this for me I would appreciate it
thanks again


kyle
 
Aeration, possibly moisture from the atmosphere. Same thing happens when you overfill your crankcase, air gets whipped in causing a foaming condition.
 
interesting... its -9 here without the windchill... Ive got to leave for work at 4am... does anyone think im gonna have any problems with that crap freezing up anything important?
 
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