When it rains...

Darky · Nov 16, 2011

This is wunderbar...truck acts up, now the Jeep is having very severe drivability issues. Stalling, massive overheating, rough idle, hard starting accompanied by rich smell. It's got me seriously looking at parting it out and starting over with something else. If the engine is dead, or it blew a head gasket, I don't have the money to put into fixing, rebuilding, or replacing the engine. The part out would be to get into something I can drive.

I'm going to take a look at it tomorrow, poke some things with a wrench, cuss, and pretend I know what I'm doing, and hopefully at least confirm or deny the head gasket. I mean, it's not like it's hot out at 10pm in 29 Palms during mid November...temp is somewhere around the 50's. Clutch fan works fine (minus shroud, but it didn't overheat when it was 70-80...on a longer drive, through soft sand, with less airflow through the radiator since I was going slower.

boostamante · Nov 16, 2011

Shitty man! Cuss at it for me would ya?

toyotawrench · Nov 16, 2011

Damn dude sucks, when ur working on it call it a ni.. nincompoop yea that's it a nincompoop

GSequoia · Nov 16, 2011

Hold up.

Did you get the recall a few years back? E22 if I recall? '96 XJs had bad code and had a way of plugging up the cat with bad O2 signals. Does it sound like it's constipated?

Papercut · Nov 16, 2011

GSequoia said:
Hold up.

Did you get the recall a few years back? E22 if I recall? '96 XJs had bad code and had a way of plugging up the cat with bad O2 signals. Does it sound like it's constipated?

Yup, I remember taking my 96 in and after I had to replace the o2. Was running way to rich plus misfiring.

Darky · Nov 16, 2011

GSequoia said:
Hold up.

Did you get the recall a few years back? E22 if I recall? '96 XJs had bad code and had a way of plugging up the cat with bad O2 signals. Does it sound like it's constipated?

Yeah, I did that in 06-07ish. Got it back with a bad TPS that they said wasn't their fault. The cat was bad and they gave me a new one.

GSequoia · Nov 16, 2011

Darky said:
Yeah, I did that in 06-07ish. Got it back with a bad TPS that they said wasn't their fault. The cat was bad and they gave me a new one.

Okay.

My '96 was melted down by the prior owner from not noticing the cat was plugged.

Darky · Nov 16, 2011

I went out and started it and it ran alright. Slight hesitation on revving, reasonably smooth idle, temp went up to 250 within 5-7 minutes.

Good news: no oil seen in coolant, no coolant seen in oil. Head gasket would appear to remain intact.

GSequoia · Nov 16, 2011

Darky said:
I went out and started it and it ran alright. Slight hesitation on revving, reasonably smooth idle, temp went up to 250 within 5-7 minutes.

Open the radiator, how much water movement do you see? Also you might have a seized thermostat, try pulling it and running. If the problem goes away put a new 195 degree 'stat in.

Darky · Nov 16, 2011

T-stat is reasonably new, within the last 4 months or so, and it was supposed to be a Fail-Safe one that would default to open if it went bad...but I know Murphy can touch anything. I'm gonna burp it in a little bit and dump some coolant in, it does look a little low, but that might be in part because of the overheating last night.

Last night, while the temp gauge was pegged, the heat was still cold.

jeeperjohn · Nov 16, 2011

Darky said:
Last night, while the temp gauge was pegged, the heat was still cold.

While that could be a bad heater control valve, that symptom points to a bad water pump.

GSequoia · Nov 16, 2011

jeeperjohn said:
While that could be a bad heater control valve, that symptom points to a bad water pump.

Or a big bubble in the system. I've also seen the HCV get jammed against the dipstick tube causing it not to open.

Darky · Nov 16, 2011

jeeperjohn said:
While that could be a bad heater control valve, that symptom points to a bad water pump.

I've been contemplating a water pump for a while. It's been about 5 yrs or so.

GSequoia said:
Or a big bubble in the system. I've also seen the HCV get jammed against the dipstick tube causing it not to open.

I've also contemplated a bubble. That could cause it to be inconsistent with its overheating, right? The HCV is fairly close to the dipstick. It seems it used to be attached to the firewall somehow before the last one broke.

GSequoia · Nov 16, 2011

Darky said:
I've been contemplating a water pump for a while. It's been about 5 yrs or so.

I've also contemplated a bubble. That could cause it to be inconsistent with its overheating, right? The HCV is fairly close to the dipstick. It seems it used to be attached to the firewall somehow before the last one broke.

Bubbles usually don't form by themselves, overheating can cause it or messing around with the system can.

Darky · Nov 16, 2011

I may not have gotten it burped properly when I did the thermostat. Could a bubble hide out for any length of time?

GSequoia · Nov 17, 2011

Darky said:
I may not have gotten it burped properly when I did the thermostat. Could a bubble hide out for any length of time?

I would say that's highly unlikely.

I would focus on thermostat, water pump, and radiator.

Carol.92124 · Nov 17, 2011

And radiator cap. Seriously. Sounds like mine when the cap went bad.

GSequoia · Nov 17, 2011

Carol.92124 said:
And radiator cap. Seriously. Sounds like mine when the cap went bad.

Good point, I overlooked the easiest.

Buy one and try it, if it doesn't work toss it in the glove box.

Carol.92124 · Nov 17, 2011

Yeah, Justin said he has a fairly new one, but it's the vented/release type. I don't think I've ever run one of those on an XJ, so I dunno if they're good. Seems like they would be--it's still a rad cap--but I am not sure.

Darky · Nov 17, 2011

Carol.92124 said:
Yeah, Justin said he has a fairly new one, but it's the vented/release type. I don't think I've ever run one of those on an XJ, so I dunno if they're good. Seems like they would be--it's still a rad cap--but I am not sure.

I have one on my Ford and liked it so I got one for the Jeep. I'll give it a try with a regular cap again though.

When it rains...

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