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Removed Valve Cover/Fuel&Smoke Exhaust - 2K XJ

Datig Hand

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Santa Clarita
I've got a 2000 Cherokee Sport (XJ, I'm told), 4.0L inline 6 4x4. Had my valve cover off the other day (CCV breather complications) and when I closed everything back up and turned the key, everything seemed groovy. Drove 8 miles into down (windy canyon road, 35-55 mph), stopped to grab something from the gas station, and then went through a drive through. After I finished eating my food in the parking lot, I started old JeeP back up , and that's when things got dicey.

Took a little longer than usual to turn over, and sounded like it was struggling to do so. Engine was shaking pretty hard at idle, white smoke was sputtering out of the exhaust, accompanied by dribbles of fuel. Oh, and the check engine light came on.

I decided to see how it drove to the grocery store across the street (intended destination, and easier location for the likely auto-club tow) and the engine light started flashing. The manual foretold great misfortune, so I went with the tow after all.

So that's where I'm at. Wondering what the problem is, and how I can fix it. I've got a couple of suspected causes, but I'm new to mechanicry, so I'm reaching out here to suss them out.

There were a few complications while I was replacing the valve cover. First, I lost one of the bolts in the back that I ended up finding in a bundle of cables/wires running back on top of the transmission (you don't even want to know how long that took me to recover), so there's a chance I may have jostled something out of position in the wiring/connections behind the valve case and above the transmission.

... and then I snapped a bolt, and spouted some curses. In the process of loosing that bolt, I had to remove the coil pack, and it was something of a struggle to get it back into place.

Now, through parts of this process, I had to literally climb up on top of the engine area, taking care of where I distributed my weight... except for when I accidentally cracked what nearest I can tell is the fuel injector wiring harness. Plastic casing that runs along the driver's side of the valve cover, out of which the fuel injector pigtails feed. Ill try and post a photo of that, but this is my inaugural forum post, so we'll have to see if I can figure that out; or if it's even possible.

Recent Jeep history: Had what turned out to be a failing freeze plug that I replaced with a rubber one, after getting a metal one which turned out to be a bit too small. Before I discovered the freeze plug issue, I overheated a couple times (the second being pretty significant), and there were also a couple instances of a load whistle that would go away when I depressed the accelerator.

Thought everything was cool with the freeze plug fix, and after about a week of driving about 150-200 miles, I decided to change out that CCV breather (contributed to a failed smog), and the elbow cracked...

Which brings us up to speed.

Any thoughts on what I can do to get JeeP up to speeds higher than parked? I'm really hoping it's just a plug/wire that came loose, what with my limited access to funds and specialized tools.
 
Um, it sounds like a head gasket to me. I believe that year had a defective cylinder head design. Unless the previous owner replaced it.

Overheat didn't help either. But the job you just did should have broken the motor IMO. As you sat eating the gasket and head were slowly warping out of shape. Just a guess but I'd pull the cylinder head.

What's a load whistle?


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If the Check Engine Light is ON, your Jeep is trying to tell you what is wrong. Instead of supposing various possible failures, download the CEL trouble Codes and use them to begin your diagnostics. I would suppose that all the messing with wires has damaged a wire, a wire connector, or caused an open circuit or a short circuit. If the head or head gasket has failed, diagnostic testing will give the proper evidence.
 
That's true. I've never had the CEL help that much. No detonation in cylinders and stuff like that should be recorded.

Ordinarily I wouldn't jump to BHG but white smoke, unburnt fuel, and prior overheating make me think BHF, nothing with the wiring should have the same effect. Running bad yep. Easily a wiring problem.

But get the codes and check the fluids, step one in any repair. I'm skipping too many steps especially for a beginner trying to find the issue .


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So you found the bolt in a "bunch of wires". It's possible that you dislodged your MAP sensor vacuum line. That would certainly make it run like crap

Dribbles of fuel...maybe you broke an injector...and it's leaking.

In the recent history the "high pitched squeal" that goes away when you depress the pedal sounds like a cracked vacuum line,likely on the HVAC side, especially if your heater/a/c comes out the defrost vents.

Keep reading and posting, you'll learn a lot.
 
Um, it sounds like a head gasket to me...

...But the job you just did should have broken the motor IMO...

What's a load whistle?


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Think the head's good. Oil's totally clean, and I'd have noticed something that sooner, right?

and that should have read *loud* whistle :)

But that whistle seemed to have gone away
 
I found a code reader lying around about a minute before finding out there was a multiple-thousands acre fire just on the other side of the hill (road was blocked off between me and the nearest gas station), so JeeP work had took a back seat for the day. Looks now like we're in the clear (for the time being), so I'm gonna get some sleep and dive back on in there when I wake and see what I can see.
 
So you found the bolt in a "bunch of wires". It's possible that you dislodged your MAP sensor vacuum line. That would certainly make it run like crap

Dribbles of fuel...maybe you broke an injector...and it's leaking.

In the recent history the "high pitched squeal" that goes away when you depress the pedal sounds like a cracked vacuum line,likely on the HVAC side, especially if your heater/a/c comes out the defrost vents.

Keep reading and posting, you'll learn a lot.

Specific location of those wires... from the top of the transmission, down toward the passenger side, and back maybe about 8 inches.

As for the heater/a/c, I think my heater core's bad (forgot to mention that), and I think my sudden use of the a/c (I'm usually a windows-open kinda guy, but my ceiling liner's coming loose, and the wind plays a bit of havoc) may have had a hand to play in the overheatings, and it started running less cold, so I stopped using it.

I *was* recently given one of them gauges what tests the pressure in the a/c line (or something like that?), and it reads within acceptable tolerances.

I do intend on getting in there with some... was it carburetor cleaner you spray to check the vacuum line? I briefly searched that one out a little while ago, but had little opportunity to delve to deeply.

And yeah, I've been learning a bunch. One of the leading factors in my gettin' JeeP was that if there were to be any issues, there's boatloads of resources, and I've got a few jeep-wise friends... I'm saving oodles on mechanics (we figure that freeze plug would have run a good $400, based on another friend having the same issue, simultaneously), and getting one heck of an education :)
 
Oil looks good check.

Get the codes next there are dozens of thing that can cause running problems. Any of the wire near the motor , MAP sensor , ignition could, fuel injectors, dozens of other possibilities.

Dribbles of fuel from where? White smoke from where?
I was under the impression it was coming out the exhaust pipe, but it could drop and burn from the engine bay. If it's out the tail then it's a different story.




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It's coming out the tail.

I'm about to see about checking the codes... now that I have my RV loaded and ready to go, and JeeP's parked out in the middle of the open dirt lot on the property... Sand Fire, Santa Clarita, CA.... where I'm at
 
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Still have yet to sleep since I found that reader, but did manage to get the codes and record the data.

P0122 and P0505.

I'll be looking into those after I get some sleep. Any advice that might help me get JeeP moving and out of the danger zone would be beyond super.
 
Yeah I would leave a jeep if it meant anyone being hurt.
Fires are unpredictable, a shift in the wind and a wall of flame is on the way.


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Yeah, I ended up getting hightailin' it outta there when the winds shifted yesterday afternoon. From what I've been hearing, just within time's nick. Safety of life was always paramount, but it's still a bummer to have been so close to getting it mobile, only to have to leave it behind - prepping for worst and hoping for best. I hear the house was saved, but both next-door and across-street neighbors got taken out.

.. so I'm gonna do what I can online toward familiarizing myself where and to what all these wires are going, and roll in for a rescue mission just as soon as I get word the trek is traversable.
 
Solved! (anyone know how I can edit the title of this thread to reflect such?)

Turns out I'd gotten some moister on one of the spark plugs when I pulled the heatercore line to replace the coil pack. That's what was causing me to have unburnt fuel in the mixture. Basically just burned it off by manually tweaking the throttle.

... now I just have to figure out why both of my ignition keys are intermittently failing. Let the searching begin!
 
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