man i appreciate input but i really just wanted input between 2 options once again....regarding cost or not i guess. dont have time to do this. at family reunion tucked far in mtns. dont know a soul here. at a nice rented cabin my uncle got. no area to work on jeep. every day has a acticity planned with family. cant ask them to help.

so.....thats where i am at.

gonna hit sack soon...gonna just call my local mechanic and ask his opinion.

im in bad situation with location and time. thats all. wondering if block work or new engine best. thats it. nothing else.

 

Ok so if its just smoke no water in oil ill start with the no cracked head. When they crack they mix water and oil making chocolate milk.
Might need a head mill and just a gasket.
Wish you where near me I would flatbed you to my place and fix it on the cheap.
But none the less good luck bro.
In my personal eyes as a honest mechanic if no oil water mix just needs a gasket and head surfacing.

 

I believe it's another sodium silicate based sealer, like the old K&W Block seal.
When coolant leaks through the crack or failed gasket it leaves behind some of the sodium silicate it was carrying. Eventually enough builds up to plug the leak, with the engine heat solidifying the sodium silicate into a hard plug.
It rarely works for long on leaks that have pressure on both sides- ie coolant to combustion chamber leaks. It's a hail mary thing for an engine that is otherwise going to the scrapyard.

Screwed up the engine? Well... sodium silicate (in higher concentrations) is what they dumped into the cash for clunkers engines to seize them up permanently.
If it were my XJ, I wouldn't put much time or effort into fixing this engine, I just don't trust that stuff long-term. There is no way to flush that stuff back out once it starts to harden, although you may luck out if it hasn't been overheated. I worry that you'll be back with an overheating problem that nobody can find.
I'd swap in a J/Y motor, or find a cheap driver and sell this one off. If those aren't options, find a shop to swap gaskets, check the head for cracks, flush the living heck out of the cooling system and carefully finish your trip.

 

The cheep fix never works, and never trust a blue devil

There is only one way really to find out what your head needs 100% and that is to tear it down and find out.

I'd throw my Jeep in the shop and let them at least do the tear down, and decide what I wanted to do. If the head wasn't cracked, I'd probably replace the head gasket. Engines are generally really pretty tough.

Maybe an engine swap is the way to go. Its a sure fire way to have it fixed. Depends on your budget I guess. Swap is less risky but also more costly. Swap will probably take about the same amount of time. Depending on the shop and how accommodating it could take them up to 4 days to have either or done. Probably 2 would be my estimate for you.

I wouldn't worry about the sealer stuff to much, its obviously pretty worthless as a sealer and you can flush it out as best you can and move on. Wouldn't be the worst thing some one did to an engine.

Time is really the only way to see what will happen on that engine. Its major surgery and it can go wrong.

If not I'd go shopping for a car, maybe the mechanic will buy your Jeep off of you and fix it up?

Being a somewhat transient College Student I can say that I would not be hesitant to throw my stuff in storage and maybe rent a car to see the wedding. Might make for some extra travel but then again you wouldn't miss the wedding. You could also kennel the dog and fly out potentially, or leave the dog with a relative. Or you could even fly with the dog, but dogs don't generally fly really well.

I left my car in a foreign town to get fixed up and found alternate means of transportation to make to events and come back for my car. (back from spring break, my car ate it, so I had it towed and repaired) Well I didn't want to miss class and there was a 4 day wait min for the part I needed, hopped on the buss and went back for my car the next week with some friends. It was an interesting memorable adventure...

So be creative and try something new.

 

Replacing engine, which only needs head gasket, doesn't make sense.
So, let him replace head, if you don't have any other options, like towing to another shop.
Why don't you call a few nearest repair shops and ask price of gasket replacement? Towing is probably about $100.

 

No one is giving you opinions on your 2 options because they're the two worst options you could have...

It's doable. Have you TRIED to get in touch with a local member and ask for help?

I could replace 12 head gaskets between now and Saturday with a Walmart Socket set and some harbor freight wrenches.

Buy another vehicle. Sell yours. Get a job in Tahoe and live in the camper... Something...

 

so funny how many opinions are out there...almost confuses u more. well i dropped over 4 k into this jeep this year. did a bunch of body mods, lifted, etc. no way im parting with it. id have to spend another year and thousands more to get a new jeep how i wanted it

so....i got to call the mechanic right now. i appreciate the last few guys input.
i just gotta roll the dice right now i guess

 

If I had time you could pay to fly me to Tahoe, buy a new head, install it and fly me back for less than 2500 bucks...

I wish you were broken down farther this way.

 

so i just talked to guy and gave go ahead....fix her. and he suggested if i didnt overheat her too much before this that maybe it will be ok...and also said i should probably get new radiator when this is all done

 

You must be one of those people that pays someone 350 bucks to cut your grass.

I really wish you would have taken the time to take my advice.

I supposed it's your cash tho.

Good luck.

 

Sounds like he isn't willing or able to do the work so his only 2 options are Head or engine.

Head = he has enough $$ to get to LA and live for a while. Albeit, not for long.

Engine = only 1k to get there and live, but only $900 less than he would have had he just replaced the head.

Sounds like a personal choice no one on here is going to be able to make for him.

EDIT: Well, I guess he made his choice!

 

@lowrange2
hey bud dont have to be a d*ick....why dont u stop a sec and read what i wrote.
I have my whole life in ym jeep and camper. I have my dog in the car too. Plus she is sick. I have a couple grand to my name. This is only well reviewed mechanic in town. I am stuck in a hard place. Come this saturday when my family leaves i will basically have nowhere to go. Have to walk the streets with my dog and a backpack and find a spot in the woods to sleep or something.
So,,,,thats where i was at. Had to make call.
And btw-he did block test and it showed it was solid still. No blown gasket amazingly. My water pump went this time. So crazy. They both gave the same symtoms.
So we just swapped the water pump and we gonna put a new radiator in today also.
So i should hopefully make it to la...thanks to all who gave me some advice. Aprreciated it. I have a few more days to see how it goes. Im supposed to pick up today and hook my camper up to it and drive thru the mountains a bit to see how it reacts.
He suggested maybe a new radiator also becuz of that gunky blue devil i used....but if goes well today he said i may be able to skip the radiator.

 

I wasn't being a dick. I was attempting to help you save a **** ton of money. I'd bet that there is someone on this board or NAXJA that would have been will to help you swap out what ever it took to get you going since you were in a bind.

I HATE seeing people say "Oh no, I'm pitiful and in a bind. I need to pay 3/4 of the money to my name to some jack *** mechanic that wants to take advantage of me..."

I've never been half way across the country with everything I own and in a bind but I've done some crazy repairs on the side of the road and made it back to where I needed to be.

You asked for opinions/options. I didn't like yours so I gave you mine.

I'm glad you got out cheap this time.

What'd he charge you to replace the water pump? $800? (If the water pump was off then you only needed to remove about 10 more bolts and the head is off...see how easy that was.)

 

It's hilarious to me how people ask for advice on an ADVICE forum then fight with any one with an opinion that's different from theirs.

Reminds me of the hoarders show where they go on TV to get their house cleaned up then cry and boo hoo when people are actually throwing shi_ away!

 

well in the guys defense he asked for opinions on the options he listed. sounds like he got lucky with just a water pump though.