survailencewagon

k so, Bernice is a 99xj 4.0, and she's been down here in the desert since September... she used to live in the brutally cold regions of new England... drove her all the way from maine to phx, dragging an overloaded trailer through just about every mountain range this fine country has to offer
she performed admirably (when she wasn't trying to overheat, stall and die)

since I got here, she's been a little weird.

• she was showing low oil pressure in idle -low like no oil pressure, but when I was on the throttle she would stay just under the middle of the dummy gauge...

• she eats coolant like its free. initially I thought this was the new environment getting to her
• she's been stumbling in idle from cold starts (well as cold of a start as phx will let you have) and some times she stumbles at stop lights... but she's never stalled out on me

until yesterday...

yesterday she was showing the same oil pressure problem with a disturbing new twist... now she shows no pressure in idle, then it climbs like it used to but only through the first 2 gears... when she hits 3rd it drops off to nothing again...
she started fine before work, and she started fine leaving work... yesterday that is

now today, she finally stalled out on me. hard too. she coughed pretty hard at what used to be her standard idle range and blew a bunch of water out of the tailpipe...
after that, she has a real hard time starting, if she starts at all. it'll turn over and I can hear the fuel pump acting normal... if I give a little gas she'll start, but not smoothly. and if I let off the peddle she quits on the spot


I figure it's the head gasket being completely ruined

or it's the FPS (which is still factory stock from 99)

shoot, might even be both!



so there it is folks, I have just under 2 weeks to get her going again, and if you couldn't tell, I aint no mechanic, although I kept this old girl alive this far... some body with moresmarts sure would be a big help

XJwonders

Hmmmm

Did u do compression check?

Verified the oil pressure with a mechanical gauge?

What color is the oil?

Start the engine when it's cold and open the radiator cap and see any smoke coming out?

survailencewagon

oil is black burnt and dirty, like how a real man takes his coffee


I got no gauges or nifty tools to do them checks

and I can't start it now anyway, so's I cant check the radiator cap

i'm pretty sure she's burning coolant, you know that smell...
not to mention the puddle that shot out of the tail pipe right before she stop starting....

i'm looking for dummy check that I can do with my clown shoe tool kit/abilities

I got half a mind to just pull out the cover, fuel rail, cylinders, my hair and about everything else and start shinning up the parts that aren't toast, and walkin to o'reilieys for the ones that are toast

but if theres something simple i'm missing, that would be a lot of work for the fun of it

XJwonders

Check the casting number on the head on the intake manifold near where the oil fill cap is. Does it say 0331 or 0630?

survailencewagon

yeah, I aint that smart... where'm I lookin
got a picture?

97jeepxj40

survailencewagon

awesome thanx for the dummyproof pic
0630 is the #

XJwonders

Be glad lol cause 0331 heads are notorious for cracking.

Without checking oil and cylinder pressure I don't have much to tell u.

survailencewagon

well thanks anyhow, I guess i'll count my blessings for now...

survailencewagon

soooo, looks like i'm alone in the woods on this huh?

any brains out in sunnyslope az wanna give a dummy a hand?

JBimmolate

all these fancy tools can be borrowed or rented from most auto parts stores. I would start there and see what you can come up with. I would do a compression test and a radiator pressure test.

Miles

survailencewagon

the good news is everything moves... there's no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil.... no bubbling when I hand cranked with the radiator cap off... appears to be full range in the piston travel...

reset the comp and checked all the pertinent fuses

what kinda pressure should I find in the fuel rail? and will a tire pressure gage give me a good enough read?


still wont go

97jeepxj40

You said you are losing coolant. You need to find out where that coolant is going/gone before you check fuel pressure, and I wouldn't be using a tire gauge to check the reading.

Have you filled the coolant back up again?

XJwonders

Hand cranking won't cause any bubbling in the radiator, the engine need to be running in order to find out.

I agree about finding out where the coolant is going, first.

ryrycars

When she was running what temps was it at? Any overheating issues with normal driving?