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





CF Veteran
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!
tjwalker
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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.
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.
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
CF Veteran
Quote:
Originally Posted by 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
Note what Walker said.
Many times you will NOT see coolant in the oil because the coolant is burned off.
Member
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
Member
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
Member
Check out this thread
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/hea...cement-170421/
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/hea...cement-170421/
CF Veteran
Quote:
Nope just a new head. But you need to do the testing before you spend to much money on things you may not need.Originally Posted by 94jeepcherokeesport4.0
So if that's the case look for a good used motor?
CF Veteran
Quote:


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.Originally Posted by 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

Newbie
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.



