Hello Guys,
I am new to the forum and new to working on Jeeps. I have a 1996 Jeep Cherokee Sport with 140,000 miles. I have the 4.0l engine. While driving to work on a very cold day the plastic heater valve broke leaking coolant and causing my Cherokee to overheat. I had to drive for about 2mile until I could pull over. The engine started knocking and it shut off. After replacing the heater valve I managed to get the Cherokee to turn over after a very rough restart. It ran for 3 minutes before the coolant began to push back out the overfill bottle. The engine sounded smooth but it had no pick up and my friend who was following me said he saw whit smoke coming out the tail pipe. My friend thought it might be the head gasket so we removed the head. The gasket itself was still in one piece. We did a compression test on the engine and got really bad results #1-80, #2-75, #3-70, #4-30, #5-40, #6-120 Psi. My question is when we were inspecting the block we saw two holes in the rear of engine block on the passenger side next to where the last two push rod lifters are. Are these oil drain holes or damage to the block? And depending on the answer to my first question can my engine be rebuilt or do I need another one. Any Idea how I can get back up and running would be of great help. I do allot of charity work and really need my old jeep working. Remember I am new at this so please take it easy on me. I included 2 pictures I hope they help. Thanks

 

I have never noticed those holes before. However they don't look like damage. If it were damage I would expect a jagid hole and be able to see fresh metal. Not 100% though.

 

looks like oil drain holes. don't worry about it. slap a new HG on there and i think you will be good to go

if your engine is still spinning there is nothing that could make holes like that. unless someone shot at your jeep standing on the hood

 

Oil drainback holes. Nothing to worry about. All engines have them in the lifter valley,...if an I6 has a lifter valley. SBC lingo, sorry.

Being that compression is between two adjacent cylinders, its got to be either the gasket or possibly a cracked head. I'd take a close visual on both before putting it back on

 

You would be well served to have that head checked for straightness and cracks and internal condition of the guts of it before putting it back on.

Take the head to a machine shop that specializes in this type of work. Ask them to analyze it and give you a quote on repairs if necessary.

Then check back with us..........

 

I will do that.Thank you so much everyone for your help.Cherokee Forum is the best!

 

x2 that looks like poop. I would definitely get the head magnafluxed before putting everything back together

 

just get it resurfaced then put it back on if you really want to be sure. if you get it checked and resurfaced its going to cost a lot more. just do it and get it over with if you're worry about it.

 

Get it checked out at a shop. Unless you like doing things twice.

 

Not to get off track, but I have seen at least 2-3 post where, the Cherokee is telling the driver there is something wrong, i.e. Temp pegged out, knocking from the engine, steam coming from the radiator, yet people still continue to drive it

If its overheating you need to stop immediately

look at all the extra work and money you have to sink into your Jeep just because you drove a couple of extra miles

 

You are right. And I do regret this in more ways then one.

 

Ok Guys so I wanted to check back in with you all to ask for a little more advice. My cylinder head is preped and ready to go back on the deck. While I was cleaning the old gasket off I noticed some damage to piston head in cylinder #1. There seems to be some gauges around the edge but no makes on the cylinder wall itself. I know this may be a stupid question but is this going to cause me a big problem right now?

 

Hmmm,...I'm not sure I'd ignore that.

 

yes it will replace the piston

 

those look like it will be fine. how deep is the break? if its really close to the first ring i would defiantly put a different piston in there. if its something that is really superficial and not very deep at all... just leave it