mikefrost

So just bought my first XJ a few weeks back. It had a knock when I bought it. I changed the oil for the first time today and below is what I found in the bottom of the pan.




Weird thing is my oil pressure seems to be okay, this pic is at idle


I was talking with a guy in the MD Jeepers thread and he seems to think I may have ate a rod bearing. Just wanted to thow this out there and get some opinions on the next move in this situation. I looked briefly and I can get rod and main bearings and a new crankshaft for around 300 bucks. Reman/rebuilt engines I've priced between 12-1700 and there's always the option of picking up a used engine in the 7-900 range. I'd like to hear some of your input. Thanks for the help in advance!

EducatedCracker

It looks like you have coolant in the oil so blown head gasket or cracked head. Since you do have coolant that means the bearings haven't been lubricated properly.

You can look at it this way you can pay a few extra hundred dollars for a newly rebuilt engine with a warranty or pay several hundred dollars and possibly have issues again with a used engine.

mikefrost

I didn't see any coolant in the oil, maybe it's the lighting in the picture, there's nothing in there but oil and some metal shavings

pulltabmike

Hmmmmm.....green pan?!?

bigbadon

How bad is it knocking? I have the same issue with mine,just waiting for warmer weather to fix it. Mine is a very faint knock but the dash gage shows 0 pressure at hot idle and have been driving it like this for awhile and it has not gotten any worse. Don't depend on that dash gage it is not analog and has only 2 readings, zero and a little past half scale...it is just a glorified idiot light!
You need to pull the oil pan and tell us what you find. Replacing a rod bearing is easy and cheap. Worst case could be a spun bearing or bad cam bearing which would be costly to fix. Good luck.

crbnfibr

i see water... all those squiggly lines are water/oil lines... i see it every friday on my finger when i fill the waste oil furnace... if you swash it around in the oil catch pan you can see the oil/water separate very easily... but from that pic its clear to me aswell...

fishtaconc

I had the same issue in my 99, turn out it was a cracked piston/skirt, dont know exactly, as the piston decided it wanted a window in the block. Is this your DD, or a spare vehicle?

crbnfibr

either way, metal in oil...start the tear down... failure is imminent, it may last another 5-10kmi and the longer the more damage will be done, but i would not drive this till you figure it out....

mikefrost

The squiggly lines are because I'm holding the pan at like a 50 degree angle trying to get the quart of oil out of the way to see the metal at the bottom. There's no coolant in oil. I'm going to rebuild the engine (with a little help from my friends) and I work from home so all my driving is local. It's not smoking, no loss in power. The rebuild kit includes pistons, rings, rod main and camshaft bearings, freeze plug kit, oil pump and complete gasket set and I'm getting a new crankshaft. Parts are gonna run me around 700 the experience will be invaluable.

EducatedCracker

I guess it's the lighting because it looks green like antifreeze/coolant

mikefrost

There's NO coolant. I'm no ASE certified mechanic but I know my way around an engine and how to turn a wrench, it's ALL oil and metal in there and the knock is in the bottom of the engine for sure.

bigbadon

How do you know if you need a new crank? If it is not smoking,leaking or burning oil I would pull the pan first and take a look. How many miles are on it? That metal looks like bearing material (non-ferrous)did you try dragging a magnet through the oil. If it is not knocking too loud the crank may be ok but it is easy to check with a micrometer or callipers...I don't like plastigage. You may have only a $50 fix.

pulltabmike

X2 with the oil guage.. mechanical guage is in order...

pulltabmike

I can verify, I heard it this weekend.

redjeep1983

In addition to bearings I could be piston slap, sing on rings going out, either way I'd say......STOKE IT!!!!!! If your gonna take the time to pull it might as well rebuild and stoke it and get some extra horses.