Dave Wilson
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- West Palm Beach
New guy on the forum. I searched, but didn't find an answer. I'm on my third XJ in ten years, so I do have some experience with them.
I have a 1999 4.0L XJ with 105K miles. Runs fine. Last night I took it to bring a boat home for a friend. No problems driving 90 miles there. He buys the boat, we hitch it up, and after about twenty miles at 55 mph he says "hey, there's a big cloud of white smoke behind us." I pull over, yes there's smoke and a strong smell of antifreeze and my oil is about a quart higher (no milk). But the water temp never got over 200 (the usual) and the engine didn't feel or smell hot. I had it towed home, and when we got here there was water under the Jeep on the flatbed.
So I figured it was a head gasket. I was going to take Friday off work and change it, but then I found this site and started reading about cracked heads. So my question is:
Once I pull the head is there a way to tell if it's cracked without doing pressure testing and magnafluxing? I'd like to get this done in one day, but I'm not sure the shop can get the head done soon enough.
Also, how could this happen without overheating? Sure, the boat put a load on the engine, but I've pulled smaller trailers without a problem.
thanks for any answers,
Dave
I have a 1999 4.0L XJ with 105K miles. Runs fine. Last night I took it to bring a boat home for a friend. No problems driving 90 miles there. He buys the boat, we hitch it up, and after about twenty miles at 55 mph he says "hey, there's a big cloud of white smoke behind us." I pull over, yes there's smoke and a strong smell of antifreeze and my oil is about a quart higher (no milk). But the water temp never got over 200 (the usual) and the engine didn't feel or smell hot. I had it towed home, and when we got here there was water under the Jeep on the flatbed.
So I figured it was a head gasket. I was going to take Friday off work and change it, but then I found this site and started reading about cracked heads. So my question is:
Once I pull the head is there a way to tell if it's cracked without doing pressure testing and magnafluxing? I'd like to get this done in one day, but I'm not sure the shop can get the head done soon enough.
Also, how could this happen without overheating? Sure, the boat put a load on the engine, but I've pulled smaller trailers without a problem.
thanks for any answers,
Dave