Well it finally happened. I've had the 2000 Cherokee for a little over a month and have been trying to find where I was losing coolant. Had a pressure check done and they also did a block check and everything was fine. I wasn't losing much and there was no sign of coolant in my oil or oil in my coolant. I've been adding about an inch of coolant into the overflow tank about every tank full. I've put just under 1000 miles on it since I've had it. I checked coolant level yesterday morning and it was fine. Drove about 50 miles yesterday and it was running great. Checked this morning and coolant tank was almost empty. Took off the oil fill cap and there was a milky substance on the cap. My questions are. Where do I get a new head? Are my bearings going to need replaced as well? Am I better to just get a remanufactured engine?
I think it finally let go for good yesterday as there has been no sign of coolant in my oil until this morning. I want this to be as inexpensive as possible but I also want this to be reliable as it will be a hunting vehicle and I don't want to get stranded some where.
Thanks in advance for all the advice.

 

Search the forum, you'll find an answer to all your question. There is plenty here.

 

Don't drive it anymore so you won't wipe out the bearings.

Buy a new replacement head and install.

Use your old head for a boat anchor.

 

I had a cracked head in my 00. Found a head off a 04 grand Cherokee on e bay got the valves re lapped and cleaned it up and installed. My oil pressure is 8 at hot idle I got screwed. U might be screwed also but good luck

 

My bearings are shot cuz with a cracked head I drove 40 min away for a 7 mile trail and back again with almost no oil pressure. U might be lucky

 

My oil pressure is still good.

 

I'd say just put a head on her. I'd do like 2 or 3 oil changes in the first week you get it running again to flush out the rest of the coolant

 

I would try some head repair additive first.

 

Would not reccomend that. It's like using bubble gum to plug a leak in a boat

 

Question is how big leak in your boat is.

 

NO...............don't ever do that



bad juju

 

It will plug your radiator, small passages, and damage other things. Stay away from it.

 

So is there any way to tell if my bearings are shot?

 

I believe you can drop the oil pan and plasti-gauge the clearances between the bearings and journals to see if they are still within spec

 

If oil pressure is good bearings are probably ok. Worn mains will affect pressure the most and worn rod bearings will talk to you. If it ain't knocking I would not be to concerned. Another point is what type of coolant were you running? The old green stuff will rapidly eat bearings...the OAT type is silicate free and is less harmful. The Jeep recommended HOAT has some silicate in it. If you run the Sierra propylene glycol the damage would be almost nil unless you had greater than 8% contamination.