when I swapped my cam in my jeep, and got it through break in, I went to take it around the block. Well my thermostat failed and it shut down on me about exactly 4 times before I got it back home. new thermostat, all is well. Definately not something you want to test, but in my case, I think I got lucky.

 

i've overheat mine when it had the closed loop cooling system probably 10+ times, and i overheat my old jeep at least 10 times with the closed loop system.

pegged in the red dumping water on the engine and having it boil off. the block and heads... one of my buddies xj has the closed loop still and he has overheated his several times. all without problems. so i guess you could say personal experience.... not to mention all the other cast iron block/heads engines i've overheated without problems.

the 4.0 is very beefy cast iron motor... it can take being overheated... some people might have gotten unlucky and blew a gasket or cracked a head.

these ****ing old xj overheat CONSTANTLY with the closed loop system...

if you google XJ overheating you'll get about 2,000,000 hits... obviously maybe a very few blew a gasket or had any other problems.

 

i overheated mine 3 times, forced it home and am now the proud owner of a blown head gasket. it also might be the head, i'll know when i disassemble it. cheers! on the bright side, the new radiator just arrived. i'd call that too little, too late. oh well.

 

Remind me to never buy an XJ from you guys in the "overheated and proud of it club" guys. I hope you disclose this information when you sell it to some poor sap. Make sure you mention how tough these motors are and how it's no big deal to overheat them 10+ times...

 

...

 

Take your engine apart and look at the pistons and piston rings and tell me if you still think overheating multiple times won't screw the engine up. Also look at everything other than the block and the head. Besides those two things, everything else internally is made from aluminum or some other similiar metal, which CANNOT take the abuse of overheating as well as cast iron.

 

I couldn't agree more with you.

 

I'm about to.

lesson learned: AAA is cheaper in the long run. the next time i overheat in the freezing cold in the middle of nowhere, i tough it out!

the good news: i have two jeeps, and this one has now become franken-vehicle....

 

jeepman. are you a engine building expert? why don't you post all the engines you've built...you don't know what the internals are made of so you prob don't know much else

 

lets not argue. most of the time these engines can be overheated without generating any problems. sometimes if they are extremely overheated you can have a wrist pin get stuck or start knocking, but they usually can get unstuck

its hit or miss. just because it overheats doesn't mean its ****ed.

 

ok guys thanks... i feel like an idiot now. BUT lesson learned. pulled head looked around and no problems... other than the radiator (which i just ordered yesterday. the problem I was having was the radiator cap spraying the coolant out (hence the steam) the shutting off problem was electrical. since the coolant was spraying everywhere. I cleaned everything and dried all the electrical connections I could see and Wala. runs like new. AND yes i did change the head gasket again although i changed it a month ago.
for those of you that said you feel sorry for my Jeep. . I know it was stupid on my part but I am a college kid and I had finals that day. and IF I did not show up or if I showed up late all my work that I did for my classes would have gone down the drain (I would have failed the class. final is worth 35% of final grade). I am training to be a firefighter and really how bad would that look if I didnt show up for one of my finals (which is my EMT class). My jeep is a fighter and its been through hell and back with very few problems.
AND even if there was engine problems efter this incident, Im stroking it out once it dies. so whatever way could have happened i wouldnt have been too upset.

 

Why would you sell an XJ?? Blasphemy you kill it if you can or cannibalize it for parts on a new one you don't sell.

 

Why would you sell an XJ?? Blasphemy you kill it if you can or cannibalize it for parts on a new one you don't sell.

 

Hahaha very true man! I will NEVER sell mine.

 

Even more reason to treat it better than trying to drive as you're overheating...