Tylerzap

I used the search, but nobody has a definitive answer to my problem.

I'm editing this so people will stop flaming me.

98 XJ, 4.0, AW4

In May I decided to take my parents and friend to go wheeling in Uwharrie.

checked the oil. Tad bit low. figured it would be fine.

Got into Uwharrie, started overheating. put water in it. temp went down.

Started driving again since we were a mile or less away from camp and temp went back down.

Saw steam pour from right side of hood. Figured it was the hose that had gone.

Checked and saw radiator sprung a small leak

put a little more water in.

Checked the oil. it was only about halfway up he dipstick. Lower then when I started.

Drained some from the fourwheeler and put it in.

temp was still normal

Started driving AGAIN.

Finally get it to camp.

All of that had happened within 1 mile of the site.

Next morning I JB welded it and it sprung again.

Ended up having my sister bring us some oil. Put it in.

Checked the oil. was a little high. my dad and my friend who are mechanics said it will be fine to get home.

Started driving home. Stopping to put water in it every 15 minutes or so on the 30 minute drive.

Wasn't overheating but still had a leak.

I kept saying it had too much oil in it but my dad wouldn't listen and said it should be fine just to get it home.

Started hearing a loud knocking in the bottom end, lost power, overheated, and it shut off. IMMEDIATELY Pulled it into a gas station. Went back next day to get it.

Drained the excess oil, and no more knocking. Still ideling rough. Fires right up. No abnormal noises. Just ideling a little rougher than before.

I need to know if I need to rebuild my engine before a new 2 row radiator, or just run it until it dies?

What internal damage could if have been done?

I decided to check here before I assess the damage myself.

I just want some ideas before I pull the head and oil pan.

Bustedback

Get a bus pass.

Demonoid369

X1000 there is so much fail. If smokes coming out and stuff is over heating, you keep driving?!?! Who know what all you damaged and messed up but I feel sorry for that jeep.

freegdr

4.slow95

Run a compression test. how does your oil look? is there oil in your coolant or vise versa? Loud knocks from the bottom end are generally a bad sign

mike albo

I'm confused,were you trying to blow it up?

xjsnake

Kalali

Dig a hole 5' long, 4' wide and 6' deep. Carefully pull the engine out and bury it. R.I.P.

RTorrez1

I'm sorry, But I have no sympathy for people that keep running there Jeeps when they know that they have a problem especially a over heating problem!!

Bustedback

Preaching to the choir.

Tylerzap

I drove it a mile while it was overheating. if that. And I was putting water in it. Not smoke. it was steam. I was tired when I wrote that. It stopped steaming right after the radiator got a leak in it.

Second of all, I was on a tight trail a half hour from home. couldn't pull over very often. Definetly couldn't park. I wasn't on a road. I was on a narrow trail when it started having problems. And we were very close to where we were going. about a mile or less.

Anyways I've rebuilt engines before and I know I'm not SUPPOSED to run it after it overheated, but at that point I didn't have much choice. and I let it cool down so it didn't overheat after the radiator sprung a leak. It overheated only ONCE.

It was not overheating when the knocking started. It had a quart too much oil in it.

Anyways thanks for the help 4.slow95 for actually trying to help. I will do that. I was going to do a compression test anyways. No oil in coolant or vise versa. Both are clean.

I am going to pull the oil pan and head. if something is wrong I am just going to spend $150 for a new motor. Plus this is a beater Jeep. I have $1200 into it. I don't care too much about a $150 engine. No reason for flaming me when I had to drive it a short distance to park it.

Tylerzap

Maybe some of yall will understand it now. I edited it. Knocking isn't because of overheating. Its from habing about a quart too much oil in it.

Radi

Two problems come to mind,
one- pouring water into an overheated engine without letting it cool first causes thermal stress and can crack things.
That's possibly what took out the radiator. I've seen it take out engine blocks.
two- depending on how overfull the crankcase was, when the crank hits the oil it churns it up and aerates it causing air bubbles. That can starve bearings- possibly your knocking noise. Whether or not there is long term damage done, I don't know.
You could find out more with a compression test, a cooling system pressure test and (since you're pulling the pan) checking a couple bearings.

Radi

edit double post

DFlintstone

There is some chance that having too much oil let the crank froth it up like an egg beater. I'm told that can happen, haven't seen it. If the oil was foamed it might knock. I wouldn't be surprised if some plugs got fouled if oil was flinging all around in there.

Basics, check the plugs, make sure it's clean under the cap. Yea, never bad to know the compression. (if you need to JB weld in a pinch, open the hole/crack a little and mix some fiberglass in the JB). (on the hole is not as good as in the hole). the 4.0 is pretty tough, it may well be fine.

Btw my GF melted the aluminum block in my Vega with 206K on the odometer. "I was just 1/2 mile from home when the light came on" It was 1/2 a mile straight up on a gravel road!

I'm OK with the Jeep being the topic here. Best of luck to you!