2000 xj dies

heres the scoop- first off, my wife drives the xj to work and back everyday and i drive her car. she drives 2 miles i drive 15miles. gas prices are evil and saves wear on my tires. heres the problem- she said the oil pressure gauge would drop to 0 and the temp guage would max out at the same time at a stop but once driving go back to normal immediately. this went on for a few days. then one day on route to work she said every time it came to a stop it would die. she took off from the stop and it started making "clunking" noises from the motor 1 block from work. she pulled in and it was "smoking" from under the hood. after i got off work i went to the jeep, it started normal and drove it 1 mile to my moms house.no smoke but every time i let off the gas it would die. i'm not sure what to think. head gasket? i havnt had a chance to drain the oil yet but no chocolat milk on the dipstick but very little on the oil cap. im kinda dumb so any help is appreciated!
btw- i did search and read for a couple hours

thanks, milo

I do not know what to tell you about the gauges or smoking but my 96 was dieing out due to a dirty fuel filter.

My Cuz's Xj was doing something similar. Turns out his heads were warped

ManBearPig said:

My Cuz's Xj was doing something similar. Turns out his heads were warped

Click to expand...

It only has one head.

It could be a cracked head on your 2000. How is the coolant level?

It's probably a cracked head.

Right before mine (2000 w/ head casting 0331 <--chitty) bit the dust my temp gauge would rocket to 260 and then back to normal. I also had a total loss of oil pressure. Clunking noise and smoke also indicative.

I was able to drive it onto and off of a trailer the next day.. despite a major structural failure between the #3 and #4 cylinders.

Time to upgrade to a stroker.

thanks for the replies- talyn: i was loosing coolent out of the resevoir but i do have a very small leak on the upper radiator hose. i was filling the resevoir probably once a week.
davesxj: i would love to upgrade to a stroker but no money no honey. i've herd the 0331 head is "chitty" so whats the next best option?
and for the people who have replaced a head, how much will this cost me, ballpark figure, if i do it myself?