bobzilla850

Well last week I was driving down the road when my 01 Cherokee started sputering and died on the side of the road. I towed it home, charged it, and the same thing happened that night. I took out my alternator, had it tested and found out it was as dead as the dodo. I replaced it today and charged my battery and everything fired right up. I noticed steam coming out of my exhaust and when I put my hand under it I can tell it is spitting out tiny drops of some black fluid; oil I presume. The engine sounds a little tickier than normal and when I cut it off I can hear what sounds like running water in the engine. So should my next step be a compression test? Do I have a leak in my head gasket? Or could it be worse like a piston ring going or just a bad injector? I drove it for a week after it sat for about five months when this started. It has about 80000 miles. Thanks for the help. :-)

- Bob

Abovetimberline

Has your coolant level dropped,or is your oil milky looking?those would be signs of a b lown headgasket.

bobzilla850

My coolant seemed ok, the color looked a little off but I know the red nasty clay mud **** around here might be the cause. When I started it up right after getting it back together I forgot to hook up the hose to the resivoir and a lot pored out lol. I have a short in my harness so my gauges don't work, but before I changed the alternator the check gauges light came on so I don't if it was the battery or overheating.

jeepjerry

The condensation could just be normal, its more noticeable in the winter. Its very hard to damage a 4.0 unless you really over-heat the heck out of it. Is it down on power? As noted above, check the coolant and oil. Pull off the oil cap and see if it is white or brownish underneath. The noise you hear when you shut it off is just oil draining down from the top end of the motor to the oil pan.

bobzilla850

Lol I live in florida so its not the weather lol. I will check the condition of the oil tomorrow. I know I at least need to change all the fluids.

mrpitbull

pleasee an update on this, i have exactly the same problem with my 01 sport, and can hear the "fluid" running right back down in the motor after shut off, please let me know

-xj

Just oil draining from top end to oil pan as previously stated.

huntingman2706217

yeah im not seeing any problems here?

randomhero

ive gt milkyness in my oil, but no coolant loss or power loss, then again its -5 degrees here

bigblue06

I've got a very similar situation on my hands. I've got a 2001 cherokee sport, inline 6, 4.0 L with ~107k highway miles. I am original owner. While driving home in the summer (3 months ago) my temp gauge redlined. I had it towed to a garage and mechanic said my radiator was clogged. I had that and the thermostat replaced. No problems after that.

Two days ago I was driving and the temp gauge redlined again. I pulled over and noticed there was no coolant in the tank. I got coolant, filled it up and kept driving. The temp gauge remained steady but by the time I got home (45 min later) I was out of coolant again. I filled the tank again, let it sit for an hour while inside my house and then went to check it again. Same thing this time - all the coolant was gone. I checked the ground underneath the car, but did not detect any spills, however it was also raining pretty hard.

I took the car to the garage yesterday, mechanic said they pressure tested the coolant system and they did not detect any leaks. They drove it on the highway and did not get any high temp readings. They told me I may have a leak in the head gasket and the coolant is burning up and going out the exhaust. Is there a test I can have done that will tell me if I have a leak in the head gasket?

Also, if it is the head gasket, what kind of expense can I expect? I'm in NJ and paid about $800 for the radiator replacement. Thanks.

huntingman2706217

u got killed in the raditor replacement... there $100 on ebay with lifetime warranty and only takes 30min to install... the pressure test they did will tell u if its a bad head gasket... should have bled down... check you mechanical fan if u have one... make sure it has no play in it... if its electric then make sure its coming on... but doesnt explain where the fluid was going when u had it... should test again on a sunny day instead! lol

McRay

The 2001 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 with head no.0330 was bad about cracking between 3 and 4 cyl wind getting over heating. Check spark plugs for being yellowness color between #3 & 4 cyl and pull a radiator pressure check over night to check for leakage.

huntingman2706217

i was thinking it was the WJ... with the distriutorless head... ive got a 00WJ in the yard now with a cracked head... didnt think the cherokees got this head since it uses a distributer...

huntingman2706217

pretty sure it was the TJ's and WJ's...

bobzilla850

Yeah I have been driving on it since and other than the short everything is fine. No overheating issues or anything. Been washing the mud off the radiator and undercarriage first thing now and that helps fix a lot of things lol.