ok so i took the first road trip in my new jeep (99 cherokee). an hour in to the trip i encountered a serious problem. going up a hill at about 3500 rpm i look out my rear view and.... cloud of smoke. i figure its out of the exhaust but when i pulled over i saw that oil is dripping profusely out of the engine bay and the oil was just burning off the engine (exhaust manifold?). i also feel like i lost a lot of power, i had one person in the truck and i could barely hit 75, granted the hill was steep. i couldn't tell where the oil is coming from though because it spewed everywhere. its coming from the passenger side for sure just not sure where. so after letting it sit i take it back into town and the truck runs fine. temps are at 210 (what it usually is) and once i got off that hill no oil spills. the only thing i can notice is that the oil pressure goes from about 30 at idle to 60 at highway speeds but i never paid attention to it before the trip. what do you guys think? thanks in advance for any help

 

has there been any changes in the factory air box ,is there a cold air intake kit on it, is there valve cover gasket leaks

 

hey freegdr, how would a CAI result in an oil leak? and power loss? or you're asking that in case he got a CAI and the engine got hotter going uphill which would result in power loss and the valve cover gasket for the oil pressure going up and a leak in the vc would be a explanation for the oil mess??

 

alot of people put on cold air intake and pull the front hose on the valve cover to air box off and put a little breather there this will result in no crankcase pressure ventilation under driving and heavy load conditions resulting in oil blowing out of dip stick tube leaking valve cover gasket issues

 

"its coming from the passenger side for sure just not sure where."

If its coming from the passenger side, its likely either the oil pressure sending unit or oil filter adaptor.

 

heres what im talking about the hose that went here needs to be connectd to the throttle body intake inlet tube not filtered like this

 

op says no spills on level ground suspect here valve cover gasket issue or crank case pressure only leaks on steep hill ,oil runs to back of valve cover and heavy load pulling up hill...jm2cw...

 

loss of power feeling could be detent cable needs adjusting no kick down in tranny happening

 

When climbing a long hill you lose manifold vacuum. My 94 leaks by the compression rings so it has low manifold vacuum and pressure in the crankcase. Get very little blowby in town. When I do the long climb going to the lake the vacuum drops, crankcase pressure climbs and get tons of blowby out the dipstick tube. It blows back onto the cat and muffler. Looks like it's on fire going up the road. Also leaves lots of little oil spots all over the rear hatch. Mine also feels fine running around town.
I'd do a vacuum and compression test and see what you get. Replace bad gaskets and go from there.

 

no changes to air box or aftermarket intake and i looked all around the valve cover and didn't see any obvious oil leaking. what is the detent cable? sory i guys, i am a super noob.

mike mike: your jeep sounds very similar to mine, my rear hatch is covered in little oil spots as well.

so my best bet here is just to take it into a shop then right? i only have the most basic of tools.

 

also, i checked the oil this morning and it seems like it might be overfilled. the oil on the dipstick is well above the 'safe' level and into the 'do not overfill' line. i looked around the valve cover again and the passenger side looks clean, but the driver side toward the cab actually looks gunky (nice scientific term eh). when the whole thing happened though, the oil filter and the starter (i think) were just covered in oil on the passenger side. is there a simple way of knowing my valve cover is leaking? i had a blown head gasket on my old nissan pickup but it was super obvious. my jeep is running fine right now (except for the oil pressure fluctuation if that is a problem).
thanks guys

 

Your "fluctuation" in oil pressure from idle to normal operating RPM is normal. If it was fluctuating wildly when idling or at speed, I would look at the pressure sending unit.

 

you're right i've seen some of those little filters before, no vaccum... and that's why i have the elbow connected to the CAI with the original hose.

 

Should I do this? put little air filter on the ccv or replace the tube to the airbox? I have oil blowing out the oil dipstick tube, running down the engine and burning on the exhaust. Any other ideas?