Hello All,

First post here so excuse me if this has been discussed elsewhere. I did search but did not find the exact answer I am looking for.

Quick overview of my story, I have a 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport which I use daily to go to work 120 mile round trip. About a year ago the Jeep overheated and I found the radiator and heater core was clogged with a lot of rusty gunk. I changed the radiator, water pump, thermostat and flushed everything. It worked fine after that, but I noticed I was losing coolant. Not a lot but still have to top off weekly in the overflow bottle. Figured eventually I would have to change the head gasket as it was probably leaking between the coolant sleeve and the exhaust as there was no coolant in my oil at that time or anytime that I could see up until now...

The other day the Jeep over heated again, getting off the highway it smelled like something burning and then the needle went through the roof. I pulled over, turned vehicle off and checked. Sure enough antifreeze was coming out of the over flow and also looks like some came out of the radiator cap. I started the Jeep back up and temp went down and I was able to drive home the last 3 mile. Took local streets and went slow and easy.

So today I took the oil cover off the top of the engine and it is filled with milky oil and a LOT of sludge. I will add photos below, it's not pretty.

So question is before I go any further is it worth it to try and fix this mess? I assume I will need a new head as cleaning it looks nearly impossible. I didn't get the head off yet to see what's going on, but I assume the head gasket is toast. Hoping it is not an issue with the block. I am willing to change the head, probably from clear water?

If I do continue, how would I clean this mess of sludge/milk out of the bottom of the engine? Of course a new head will make it easy for the top...

Any help, ideas, guidance will be appreciated...

Thanks in advance...

 

how many miles are on the Jeep? and how many miles did you put on it with milky oil? what is your oil pressure?

 

The head cleaning is trivial. You take it to a machine shop and have it hot-tanked. Not a problem, just some work.

A bigger issue than that, is that it is probably cracked, so you won't need to clean it.

A bigger issue than that, is that you may have trashed your bearings, necessitating a complete rebuild of the engine.



Never drive on an overheated engine, unless it's to get to a safe place to stop.

Tow trucks are wonderful engine-saving devices, when used appropriately.

 

Sorry, I knew I forgot something.

There is 177K on the engine, mostly highway as that is what I use it for.

I do my oil changes every ~3K or there about...

I only put at tops 20 miles on the Jeep with the milky oil as I am assuming it happened when I overheated last week.

Oil pressure has been low, but then I don't know for sure. The gauge had gone crazy with the needle topping out, this was over a year ago. I changed the sending switch twice but both times the pressure went to ~40 and then dropped to ~20 and sat there. I didn't want to buy yet another switch...

 

How would I know? The engine sounded okay even pulling it into the garage yesterday to take it apart...

 

A full rebuild (or replacement) may be in order, not just a new cylinder head. You wont know for sure until you tear it down, but that looks a mess. Pull the oil pan and check the bearings. The 2000-2001 had the 0331 head that is known for cracking, overheated or not, between cylinders 3 and 4. Coolant will make its way to the bearings and destroy them if you keep driving it.

Tear it down and hope for the best.

 

It's more likely you have a crack between the #3 and #4 cylinders. The 2000 and 2001 XJs had the 0331 head. That head had a casting flaw that caused many of them to crack in that spot regardless of how well maintained they were and even when they haven't been overheated. If you wipe it off, I suspect you'll be able to see the crack there. You described all the classic symptoms of the 0331 head crack.

Even if it's not cracked, I wouldn't put that head back on it when there are replacements available that correct the issue. How was your oil pressure prior to this most recent overheat? Coolant in the oil eats the bearings, but if your oil pressure is still good you may be able to get away with keeping the block and swapping in a replacement 0331 from Clearwater Cylinder Head. It will run you around $500 and come to you almost ready to bolt in.

Alternately you can swap in an older 0630 head, but you'll have to do a bit of light fabrication to make it work. Or you can try to find a Tupy 0331, which was the replacement casting made from 2002 on that was cast in Brazil. Those are hard to find, however. The Clearwater head usually turns out to be the best option.

Oil pressure and noise. If your hot idle oil pressure was still good and you weren't hearing any bearing noise, the block is probably okay. The cam bearings are usually what goes first.

 

^^^+1 on changing the cylinder head for a new 0331 from Clearwater. I just did mine. Clearwater sells a brand new replacement for $450 shipped, with prepaid shipping to send the old head back. New head gasket is about $100, bolts about $35.

 

I'm in the middle of doing mine. Just got the Fel-Pro head gasket kit from NAPA for $85. This has every gasket you need for the top end - head, valve cover, thermostat, water pump, intake/exhaust manifold, and throttle body. It also has new valve seals and some o-rings (I don't know what those are for!), and the valve cover grommets. I even got a few things that... don't seem to fit my engine anywhere. I think they got in the package by mistake!

 

ive heard rod/main noise. cam bearing noise?? if thet go first?

 

$85 is good. I got the Fel-pro from Rockauto for $100.

 

Mine is starting too. My AntiFreeze Bottle goes down about an inch every month .I can see that it is wet between the Head and the Block. I am going to try WWW.bearsheadgasketsealer.com Check it out on Youtube.

 

It's all a gimmick man

 

No noise from worn cam bearings.