Another thing that's gonna save you a lot of money is learning to diagnose problems as well. Most of the big auto parts stores have a loaner program that can allow you to use some pretty helpful tools. It's better to diagnose the issue and buy one part then to buy several parts and hope one fixes it.

-Scuzz

 

^This, hard to say if the OP's head was cracked to begin with, but with multiple major overheats pegging the temp gauge to the max, it is pretty much guaranteed that it is now, and driving for months with the "mysteriously disappearing" coolant indicative of a cracked head has almost certainly wrecked the bearings turning a $500 head into a $1,500-$2,000+ engine rebuild/replacement.

 

OP, Do not let those numbers scare you.

I've bought running 4.0s for $20 before.

I buy running driving jeeps all the time for $300-500 and part them out.

I can't even sell a running 4.0 for $125.

If I were you I'd do a bunch of research on the topic and then dive in. It's really not complicated.

 

Thanks. I live in Maine, about 3 hours from hartford btw

 

So I was quite surprised when I came home from school today to see my Jeep parked on the driveway (it was only towed to the shop last night). Apparently the engine, even the head gasket was OK. Replaced the radiator, flushed all the water out of the lines and replaced it with coolant. They also reset a bunch of computer diagnostics which were causing misfires and other problems. Only 260 bucks

 

That's fantastic news. I'm glad to here that everything worked out. Now it's time to learn a thing or three about that Jeep!

-Scuzz