justpab

Hello everyone, I have a V8, 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee Orvis edition. I had the radiator replaced in February. I recently replaced the battery because it was dead and I popped the hood to check out the alternator when I noticed that there was some oil residue at the top of the engine block around the head gaskets area.

I've attached two pictures.

I notice some smoke coming from the engine when my hood was open. The longer the car ran, the more smoke there was. Not a huge amount, but noticeable. Definitely smells like engine oil.

I also want to mention that I have experienced loss of power in my Jeep in the past. I've experienced the car "choking" and wanting to shut off. The car has even shut down on me in the middle of driving it. I thought it was due to the radiator leak, but since I've replaced that, now this problem shows up.

Can you tell if I have a head gasket leak from the pictures? It seems like oil is coming out through the gaps there.

Thanks in advance.

Bustedback

You have a valve cover leak. As far as the stalling goes, does the engine sputter and then die, or just die like if you turned the key off? The smoke is from the valve cover gaskets leaking. You can try and snug the bolts down and see if that helps.

justpab

Thank you for the reply, I will try to tighten the bolts, if not, I'll try to replace the valve cover. Thanks a lot for the tip, I'm new to all this mechanic work lol.

And no, no sputtering, just more of a hesitation. Like a "stutter" and then the engine shuts off. It mainly happened when I was stopped at a red light but it happen to me once while the vehicle was moving and it just shut off. It felt like a complete loss of power.

I would try to compensate for the "stuttering" by pushing harder on the gas, and it would eventually go back to normal. I also want to mention that sometimes right off of a cold start, I would crank it, and the RPMs would go crazy. It would go up and down. Between 1k-5k rpm. Without me pressing on the gas.

I haven't used the vehicle in a couple of months because I've been too busy to figure out what the issue is. After paying an arm and a leg for having my radiator and water pump replaced, I was hesitant to spend any more money on it. I want to learn what the real problem is.

I do start the car and let it idle for a bit to make sure all parts are moving and working, but I noticed the valve cover leak and didn't know what it was until you told me.

I called Pep Boys and asked them how much it would cost for a head gasket replacement (that's what I thought my current problem was) and they quoted me $1400. Insane... I can buy the parts, the oil, the coolant for under $300, but they charge $800 for labor.

For now, I'll clean up the top of the block and tighten the bolts to see if that helps stop the leaking oil. If not, what do you suggest my next step to be?

I really appreciate the help!

Bustedback

The next step if tightening the bolts doesn't help would be to replace the valve cover gaskets. They are 20 years old and deal with a lot of heat. Now for the stalling and stuttering issues, I recommend doing a complete tune up and replacing the cam and crank sensors. A complete tune up consists of new spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, and wires. You will also want to replace the fuel filter, clean the throttle body and replace the air filter. Doing these things may not fix the problem, but it will give you a good baseline to start with. You have a pretty rare Grand Cherokee, with some maintenance it will last you a long time and be reliable again.