Low rough idle and stalling. Need help
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Newbie
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 2
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Model: Cherokee
Low rough idle and stalling. Need help
2000 xj 4l I6 106k
long thread , i want. To be thorough
purchased the jeep about 4 months ago ran fine since then aside from a couple of rad. Leaks a while back. That is until about a week and half ago, went to a friends house jeep was running fine, a little hot but nothing unusual, leave the next day and had to drop off my friend, running very rough poor power response in 1&2 gear and had white steam cominbg from around cyl. 3/4 under the valve cover, tightened bolts around valv cov. Steam was less bad for the next week and she seemed to run pretty well.(also during this week ran an e-fan overide switch to my cab) a few days ago went to get food, got up to opp temp maybe went to 220deg. Came back(40 min tops) tried to start it wouldnt go, gave it a few tried it again ran and put it in reverse got half way out of my parking spot (VERY rought loud idle coming out) jeep stalled half way out. Pushed it back in to spot waited till car in front of me left and drove it home only in drive, ran as normal maybey a lil rough. Looked on the fourms, cleaned IAC ran a little better but not a solve. She'll run and start fine cold but once i get up to around 160 I start dropping RPMs and at stops will run very rough and sometimes have to drive with both feet to keep from stalling (will stall out if hot and no gas given). Replaced the gasket under the valve cover this morning (in hopes of stoping the steam/ oil leak) ran it in park up to 160deg. ran like complete crap. Definite misfires on at least a couple cylinders (no CEL) and when i gave it gas it would not be very responsive and this when most of the misfires happened. Some shaking but nothing worse than usual.
I am a loss, this is my first car and my DD, right now im back to my bike and none of the fourms seem to have definite answer to the problem and help is much appreciated, thanks!
long thread , i want. To be thorough
purchased the jeep about 4 months ago ran fine since then aside from a couple of rad. Leaks a while back. That is until about a week and half ago, went to a friends house jeep was running fine, a little hot but nothing unusual, leave the next day and had to drop off my friend, running very rough poor power response in 1&2 gear and had white steam cominbg from around cyl. 3/4 under the valve cover, tightened bolts around valv cov. Steam was less bad for the next week and she seemed to run pretty well.(also during this week ran an e-fan overide switch to my cab) a few days ago went to get food, got up to opp temp maybe went to 220deg. Came back(40 min tops) tried to start it wouldnt go, gave it a few tried it again ran and put it in reverse got half way out of my parking spot (VERY rought loud idle coming out) jeep stalled half way out. Pushed it back in to spot waited till car in front of me left and drove it home only in drive, ran as normal maybey a lil rough. Looked on the fourms, cleaned IAC ran a little better but not a solve. She'll run and start fine cold but once i get up to around 160 I start dropping RPMs and at stops will run very rough and sometimes have to drive with both feet to keep from stalling (will stall out if hot and no gas given). Replaced the gasket under the valve cover this morning (in hopes of stoping the steam/ oil leak) ran it in park up to 160deg. ran like complete crap. Definite misfires on at least a couple cylinders (no CEL) and when i gave it gas it would not be very responsive and this when most of the misfires happened. Some shaking but nothing worse than usual.
I am a loss, this is my first car and my DD, right now im back to my bike and none of the fourms seem to have definite answer to the problem and help is much appreciated, thanks!
Banned
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 2,379
Likes: 18
From: Florida
Year: 2000
Model: Cherokee(XJ)
Engine: Golen 4.6L
You may have more than one problem going on here. How is your oil pressure? Also, you say you have no codes, but have you scanned anyway to see if there are pending codes that haven't lit up the dash yet?
Before you waste a lot of time and money going through the normal diagnosis steps, I would do few tests to see if you have a cracked 0331 head or a blown head gasket, especially since you mentioned steam around the #3 and #4 cylinders. Some of the original casting 0331 heads installed in the 2000 and 2001 XJs have a casting flaw that makes them prone to cracking between #3 and #4 for no reason. It doesn't have to be overheated to crack.
Hopefully it will turn out to be something else, but since the 2000s frequently have this issue, I would rule it out by doing a leak down test and/or sending an oil sample off to Blackstone Labs to test for the presence of coolant in the oil. Often you can actually see the crack by shining a light down into the oil filler hole and looking straight down at the deck between #3 and #4. Sometimes you can even see coolant weeping up from it. You may or may not see "chocolate milk" there, depending on what kind of oil you use. Some oils have good enough detergent packages that they can hold a lot of coolant without ever becoming milky.
If you're already seeing steam there, I suspect you have a head swap in your future. The good news is that it's fairly easy to do and not ridiculously expensive if you do it yourself (about $500 for a new casting 0331 replacement or $200-$300 if you can find a used Tupy 0331). If you pay a shop to do it, plan on $1200 to $2000.
Your other problem:
That sounds like heat soak (although it doesn't explain all your issues). What happens is when you get the motor up to temp and then leave it sitting for a short period, the heat rising off the exhaust vaporizes the fuel in the #3 injector, causing hard starts and rough running. After a few minutes the fuel running through the injector will cool it off and clear the vapor. It doesn't do this first thing in the morning because it's been sitting long enough for the vaporized fuel in #3 to cool off and turn back to liquid. All XJs are potentially subject to this problem, but in the 2000 it's especially bad in the CA emissions version that has two extra catalytic converters under the exhaust manifold.
Heat soak is a relatively minor problem that only happens at hot starts, so I would address the major misfire issue first and then come back to heat soak if it's still around after you get it running normally at all other times.
Before you waste a lot of time and money going through the normal diagnosis steps, I would do few tests to see if you have a cracked 0331 head or a blown head gasket, especially since you mentioned steam around the #3 and #4 cylinders. Some of the original casting 0331 heads installed in the 2000 and 2001 XJs have a casting flaw that makes them prone to cracking between #3 and #4 for no reason. It doesn't have to be overheated to crack.
Hopefully it will turn out to be something else, but since the 2000s frequently have this issue, I would rule it out by doing a leak down test and/or sending an oil sample off to Blackstone Labs to test for the presence of coolant in the oil. Often you can actually see the crack by shining a light down into the oil filler hole and looking straight down at the deck between #3 and #4. Sometimes you can even see coolant weeping up from it. You may or may not see "chocolate milk" there, depending on what kind of oil you use. Some oils have good enough detergent packages that they can hold a lot of coolant without ever becoming milky.
If you're already seeing steam there, I suspect you have a head swap in your future. The good news is that it's fairly easy to do and not ridiculously expensive if you do it yourself (about $500 for a new casting 0331 replacement or $200-$300 if you can find a used Tupy 0331). If you pay a shop to do it, plan on $1200 to $2000.
Your other problem:
a few days ago went to get food, got up to opp temp maybe went to 220deg. Came back(40 min tops) tried to start it wouldnt go, gave it a few tried it again ran and put it in reverse got half way out of my parking spot (VERY rought loud idle coming out) jeep stalled half way out. Pushed it back in to spot waited till car in front of me left and drove it home only in drive, ran as normal maybey a lil rough.
Heat soak is a relatively minor problem that only happens at hot starts, so I would address the major misfire issue first and then come back to heat soak if it's still around after you get it running normally at all other times.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Model: Cherokee
Oil pressure is is maxed out , have not scanned yet, but i was worried about it being a cracked head. I was thinking that whatever steam was comig up from wherever its coming from is actually causing the heat soak because when I run it in my driveway with the hood up no problems (the steam isnt trapped) no matter how long it runs but when I actually drive it it seems have the heat soak symptoms. Ill try and test for a cracked head , any ideas why id be losing rpms though?
You may have more than one problem going on here. How is your oil pressure? Also, you say you have no codes, but have you scanned anyway to see if there are pending codes that haven't lit up the dash yet?
Before you waste a lot of time and money going through the normal diagnosis steps, I would do few tests to see if you have a cracked 0331 head or a blown head gasket, especially since you mentioned steam around the #3 and #4 cylinders. Some of the original casting 0331 heads installed in the 2000 and 2001 XJs have a casting flaw that makes them prone to cracking between #3 and #4 for no reason. It doesn't have to be overheated to crack.
Hopefully it will turn out to be something else, but since the 2000s frequently have this issue, I would rule it out by doing a leak down test and/or sending an oil sample off to Blackstone Labs to test for the presence of coolant in the oil. Often you can actually see the crack by shining a light down into the oil filler hole and looking straight down at the deck between #3 and #4. Sometimes you can even see coolant weeping up from it. You may or may not see "chocolate milk" there, depending on what kind of oil you use. Some oils have good enough detergent packages that they can hold a lot of coolant without ever becoming milky.
If you're already seeing steam there, I suspect you have a head swap in your future. The good news is that it's fairly easy to do and not ridiculously expensive if you do it yourself (about $500 for a new casting 0331 replacement or $200-$300 if you can find a used Tupy 0331). If you pay a shop to do it, plan on $1200 to $2000.
Your other problem:
That sounds like heat soak (although it doesn't explain all your issues). What happens is when you get the motor up to temp and then leave it sitting for a short period, the heat rising off the exhaust vaporizes the fuel in the #3 injector, causing hard starts and rough running. After a few minutes the fuel running through the injector will cool it off and clear the vapor. It doesn't do this first thing in the morning because it's been sitting long enough for the vaporized fuel in #3 to cool off and turn back to liquid. All XJs are potentially subject to this problem, but in the 2000 it's especially bad in the CA emissions version that has two extra catalytic converters under the exhaust manifold.
Heat soak is a relatively minor problem that only happens at hot starts, so I would address the major misfire issue first and then come back to heat soak if it's still around after you get it running normally at all other times.
Before you waste a lot of time and money going through the normal diagnosis steps, I would do few tests to see if you have a cracked 0331 head or a blown head gasket, especially since you mentioned steam around the #3 and #4 cylinders. Some of the original casting 0331 heads installed in the 2000 and 2001 XJs have a casting flaw that makes them prone to cracking between #3 and #4 for no reason. It doesn't have to be overheated to crack.
Hopefully it will turn out to be something else, but since the 2000s frequently have this issue, I would rule it out by doing a leak down test and/or sending an oil sample off to Blackstone Labs to test for the presence of coolant in the oil. Often you can actually see the crack by shining a light down into the oil filler hole and looking straight down at the deck between #3 and #4. Sometimes you can even see coolant weeping up from it. You may or may not see "chocolate milk" there, depending on what kind of oil you use. Some oils have good enough detergent packages that they can hold a lot of coolant without ever becoming milky.
If you're already seeing steam there, I suspect you have a head swap in your future. The good news is that it's fairly easy to do and not ridiculously expensive if you do it yourself (about $500 for a new casting 0331 replacement or $200-$300 if you can find a used Tupy 0331). If you pay a shop to do it, plan on $1200 to $2000.
Your other problem:
That sounds like heat soak (although it doesn't explain all your issues). What happens is when you get the motor up to temp and then leave it sitting for a short period, the heat rising off the exhaust vaporizes the fuel in the #3 injector, causing hard starts and rough running. After a few minutes the fuel running through the injector will cool it off and clear the vapor. It doesn't do this first thing in the morning because it's been sitting long enough for the vaporized fuel in #3 to cool off and turn back to liquid. All XJs are potentially subject to this problem, but in the 2000 it's especially bad in the CA emissions version that has two extra catalytic converters under the exhaust manifold.
Heat soak is a relatively minor problem that only happens at hot starts, so I would address the major misfire issue first and then come back to heat soak if it's still around after you get it running normally at all other times.
CF Veteran
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,929
Likes: 5
From: York PA
Year: 2001
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 Litre I6
Oil pressure is is maxed out , have not scanned yet, but i was worried about it being a cracked head. I was thinking that whatever steam was comig up from wherever its coming from is actually causing the heat soak because when I run it in my driveway with the hood up no problems (the steam isnt trapped) no matter how long it runs but when I actually drive it it seems have the heat soak symptoms. Ill try and test for a cracked head , any ideas why id be losing rpms though?