94jeepcherokeesport4.0

hey im got a 2000 cherokee with 165000 miles on it, and its loosing quite a bit of coolant. there are no leaks that i can see no antifreeze in the oil, carpets are dry so that tells me the head in not cracked like most of the bad casting on the 00 motors,raditor cap is bone dry, bout a week will go buy after i top it off and the overflow bottle will be dry and the radiator bout half empty i drive roughly 400 miles a week. it just dont add up please helpppp

RTorrez1

It has to be going in to the oil or it's draining out while you are driving. You can rent a pressure tester at almost any auto parts store. That would be the best bet to look for your leak. Good Luck!

xjsnake

Don't rule out a cracked head. Especially with the head that you have.

tjwalker

With a 2000 XJ, if you have already performed a comprehensive search for a leak and have found none, sorry to tell you but the absolute primary suspect here is a cracked 0331 cylinder head. With the way this head cracks, oftentimes you won't have any evidence of coolant with the oil to the naked eye; most of the coolant is burned off.

The 0331 head you have on your XJ from the factory, has a defect between cylinders 3-4.

Sometimes you can see the crack just by looking through the oil filler cap with a hot engine. It may help to remove the valve cover to perform a closer inspection. Using a cooling system pressure tester is a great idea as you want the system fully pressurized to try to force coolant through any potential cracks as you look for them.

Other testing that may be beneficial would be a block test (sniffing coolant for presence of hydrocarbons) and a cylinder leakdown test.

Good luck and keep us updated. SEARCH for lots of threads on the infamous 0331 head.

94jeepcherokeesport4.0

There is no antifreeze in the oil tho the oil looks like new not milky and I just changed it and it wasn't steamy or milky

xjsnake

Note what Walker said.

Many times you will NOT see coolant in the oil because the coolant is burned off.

94jeepcherokeesport4.0

So if that's the case look for a good used motor?

JeepsMyName

the same thing happened to me just a few weeks back random loss of coolant most of it was going out my exhaust Intel one hot day the crack opened up into my oil. hate to tell you buddy you have a cracked head

JeepsMyName

get ahold of Clearwater heads 455 shipped to your door for a brand new had five year unlimited mile warranty as long as you don't cause damage or overheat it

94jeepcherokeesport4.0

Damn this sucks! How hard is it to change your self?

JeepsMyName

Check out this thread
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/hea...cement-170421/

RTorrez1

Nope just a new head. But you need to do the testing before you spend to much money on things you may not need.

freegdr

Have system pressure checked includeing cap.Ive seen radiator caps be bad allowing steam to escape not leaving any trace of coolant discharge . just a though b4 massive amount of money is spent.

NovaAman

OR... it could be flowing over into your overflow, and leaking out while you are driving, and you not notice until you are over heated... Do a pressure test. Like others have said, head gasket or radiator cap are your prime suspects. Check the rad cap first. You don't want to have to go through a new head/gasket only to realize its your rad cap. $6 part... VS several hundred $$ fix.

NovaAman

oh, sorry, also check your overflow bottle. It might have a crack/leak you don't see. Park the jeep over some clean cardboard... see whats on it in the morning.