2000 xj sounds like a diesel! help!
 

My xj, 151,500 miles, sounds like a diesel on start up and when it warms up its not as bad. Anyone else have this problem before?

At idle oil pressure is about 20. The pressure goes up while driving to 40.

I do have an exhaust leak and a couple of small oil leaks (valve cover, rear main, possible timing cover area).

How much would it cost to do a rebuild and what parts are needed?

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you.

Could be a sticky lifter or a cracked exhaust manifold. Get a piece of hose or tubing and listen to different parts of the engine to try to isolate the noise. If it is a cracked exhaust manifold, you should be able to see some white discoloration around the crack. But it really sounds like a sticky lifter, since it goes away once its warm. Try running a little seafoam in your oil for a few hundred miles, then change the oil. *edit* You have good oil pressure, so I don't think you require a rebuild.

Ok. I was wondering of o should run seafoam.in it or not. How much do i put in the whole bottle?

I put a whole bottle in the gas tank and my oil pursue went up a little bit and it seemed to run better after that.

My 98 Xj had a tick and I had to change the cam and the lifters. It went away after that. I bought a comp cam that came with lifters for 189$ it was just very labor intensive. You could also try putting some marvel mystery oil into the oil because it contains zinc phosphate and will help fix a sticky valve.

Won't seafoam do the same thing?

What brand of oil filter do you have on it now. A crappy quality oil filter will cause the dry start that gives you that sound. When I first bought my 98 it had a fram filter on it. and it sounded like that on start up. I replaced it with a Mopar and it went away and my oil pressure went up as well.

Ur hydraluc lifter is leaking after it sits for a little bit that's why it goes away when it warms up put a can of restore and 10w-30 oil in it it should go away mine did and has been for about 3 years now but when it gets time to change u will start hearing it again good luck

All of these are good thing to look into. But why not start with the cheapest and a very common cause. Let use know what filter you have on it before you start throwing money at it.

Right now i have a Bosch filter on it. I refuse to use fram filters.

I was thinking of using the seafoam suggestion first. Put it in the oil then drive it for a couple hundred miles and then change the oil.

What do you guys think would be the best/cheapest thing to try first?

Any other ideas or suggestions before i buy the seafoam today and pour it in?

Alright so what treatment shoukd i use? Seafoam, mystery oil, restorer, or resilone?

There all good and basically do the same thing. I've seen the best results with seafoam and mystery oil after about 100 miles or so.

Timing chain slappin the cover?

I had one that did & sounded like that.

I have a similar problem with my 2000 XJ, 220K miles. Did any of these suggestions work?