98' xj died!! need xj guru's guidance...long post

Yes i searched, yes i'm a lurker, yes i very few posts but i have modified my xj from the ideas from here, and i'm very pleased with the results. I'm in a situation right now and need some help. I'll give a little history 1st, 98' xj, daily driver(60mi round trip, between 50-65mph), just rolled 130k, lifted 3 years ago, stock 4.0, high flow air filter, 8mm wires, bosch plugs, part of the cracked header club(6mos), SYE, AW-4, trans cooler+upgrades, stock gearing, never had any issues w/ engine. oil changed religiously every 3k, other fluids yearly, there are more upgrades but none drivetrain related.

My problem started 2 days ago on my way to work. I heard a new knocking coming from the driver side of the engine about 10 minute into the trip. figured it was the cracked header getting a larger crack. it got worse as i applied skinny pedal. sounded like exhaust. get to work check fluids and my header. fluids are good, header crack is wider than usual. ok no problem. drive home that night still knocking, not any louder until bout ten minutes from home, made it home. this is the start of my bad day...yesterday i start xj, knocking is real loud, go to make short trip round the block. xj not even to usual temp of 210, get out onto main road, knocking REAL loud then no power, I generously apply skinny pedal, chugged, struggled, then shut down, no dummy lights, nothing, will not start(now dummy light comes on!!!!) I get pulled off onto side street. (dummy light is now off) I try and start again this time struggles for approx 10 seconds then large plume of white/gray smoke appears from under the hood. Immediately shut down check all fluids all seem normal. walk to my apartment get brothers xj for a tow. tow my xj back to the apartment. (jeep has been sitting for approx 2hr) I check fluids again and find fluid level way above normal(approx 1/2 way up stick) think that's odd wasn't like that a lil bit ago. check all other fluids good except coolant, open pressure cap and find NO coolant!!! I know where the coolant went!!! How bad am i screwed!!! Is my diagnosis correct?

anybody ever hear of a head gasket failing in such a short time? should i drain the block now or leave the mixture sit in there until i get it to a shop. I know i can't fix this. i know a true solution to the problem can't be determined until a mechanic looks at it. What ballpark prices am i looking at? any suggestions to have done while the engine is being worked on besides fix header? anybody know a of a decent jeep friendly shop that is looking for some business in lancaster, pa? any help is appreciated. tony

wifes suggestion is to patch it up, take it to the dealer, trade it and get an 06' charger!

mods if this is in the wrong section my bad, please move to the correct location

Depends on what you want to do with it, if you plan on keeping it then I would go with a reman engine, jasper or one of the strokers maybe, depends on how deep your pockets are. The jasper is going to run you about $2500 installed. Other option is find a newer one and buy that. Downside is you have all the work in the 98. Other option is buy a junkyard motor, install it and then trade it in. A modified XJ though might be a tough thing at trade in at a dealer, alot of them don't want to deal with any legal issues like a customer buying it and rolling it so they usually dump them at auction.
As for the knocking and coolant in the oil, a no brainer, probably took all the mains out at a minimum, might have damaged the crank, rings, etc so you will be paying labor to find this out. I could have rebuilt my 98's when it went at over 300K but the labor involved, parts, etc were not worth it because in the end it had no warrantee, the jasper comes with a good warrantee that covers labor...

Head over to www.bmja.org, there are a couple of club shops in your area that give club discounts.

thank u rich, unfortunately i knew what had happened when i found the oil/coolant mix. i did quite a bit of reading today from past posts trying to gather as much info as possible, the stroker does look like valid option but as with most all jeepers there isn't enough money for all of the extras. looks like the best way right now is to do it once correctly and not to worry about it for many years...most everything i've read points to removing old engine and get a replacement...i'm still unsure of what i'm going to do but at least there is a general direction i'm pointed in and i have checked BMJA, have some ideas from them as well...thanks again

getting rid of the xj is not an option that never crossed my mind, waaay too much time and money invested in it....Charger would still be nice though

now on my means if you sell it for a newer one or the same thing its still ok in my book. if you fix it that would be great. i hate to see people getting rid of them. they will become scarce eventually. any way the renix models

Having done a couple of jasper engines, one in our oldsmobile and one in the XJ the jaspers are working out well. I had it done in ohhh January I think. The only extras I bought were a set of injectors from 50 motor sports. The engine came with an installation kit that included all hoses, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, serp belt, waterpump, tstat, pretty much the works, only things that were reused were intake and exhaust manifolds, TB, valve cover and such.
We also had a jasper transmission put in the oldsmobile last year and so far so good, actually worked better from day one than the original did when it was new.
I also had a new clutch done at the same time and the bill came to $3k give or take a $100, it was back on the road in 4 days. The annoying part was I had just put a new water pump, hoses, plugs, cap, rotor, wires, tstat in it 4 months earlier grrrrrr....