brantley55

okay so the other day i was climbing a big hill, my temperature started rising from 190-230 and smoke started coming from my exhaust, it was white smoke, no tint to it, i was wondering if its because i had sea foamed a few days before i did that or what, and the temp shouldn't crawl that high, please let me know, thanks very much to any one who helps

Ye Ol' Cherokee

Do you have an 00 or 01? It could be the infamous cracked head 0331. Check your coolant for oil, and check your oil for coolant. Check your coolant level. If this is the problem, you will see a loss of coolant will no identifiable leak. You will likely also have milky oil. You can send a sample of your oil for a UOA (used oil analasis) and that will tell you if there is coolant in there.

Its not that bad of a fix though if it is the case. If the rest of the jeep is in good shape, and this does end up being the problem, i would say its worth the fix

Dont get all nervous though, it could very well be something way less serious. This is just what came to mind and i thought id give input. Good luck

Demonoid369

Did you by any chance look at your engine and fluids afterwards?!? First smart thing to do would be to at least check it out and see if you notice anything, the guy above me said, check your oil, coolant, etc....

EdZ

I never drive a vehicle that has above normal temp or below normal oil pressure... Permanent and costly damage is sure to be the result if you do...

If you got a bunch of white smoke that is a good sign of water entering the combustion chamber... Likely it's a blown head gasket or (as stated above) a cracked head... Being yours is an 89 (not 00 to 01) the former is more likely... If the gasket is blown, then be sure to check the head for warpage before replacing the gasket... I usually just go ahead and have the valves ground and the head milled if I have gone to the point of removing it... Do have it checked for cracks before investing $ into a valve job and milling though...
If you decide to do the above, insure you check out (or change) the thermostat and flow test the radiator for blockage... Else you may have a repeat white smoke performance later down the road...

DieselDaze

OP, not sure about the seafoam and or how you went about it but it could be a number of things...

did the jeep go back down to temp? was it acting sluggish? did it keep blowing white smoke after hill?

brantley55

Sorry for the late reply, didn't feel sluggish, and i exited right after seeing the white smoke, the jeep did go down in temp yes. and some white smoke after stoping

Firestorm500

Watch for unexplained coolant loss. If you lose coolant for no apparent external reason, that's almost a sure indicator of a blown head gasket and/or warped head.

SeriousOffroad

White smoke = Water (coolant) in the cylinders.

Cracked or warped head
Cracked block
Blown head gasket.

brantley55

But it only smoked when i started climbing that big hill?

SeriousOffroad

Do a compression test.

EdZ

Removing the spark plugs will usually identify the cylinder in question... It will be the plug that is much cleaner than the others (steam cleaned)...

brantley55

i did, they are all 130

Radi

230 deg is still in the normal range. Could be that you finally got the exhaust hot enough to burn off moisture, seafoam, etc. that's been hanging out in the muffler and tailpipe.
I wouldn't worry about it unless it happens again, or you start losing fluids without explanation. Pulling the plugs and seeing what they look like is a good suggestion. Might give the tailpipe a sniff too, you can often smell antifreeze if that's what the steam was.