nakosd

This morning i finished installing my new head. The old head had a crack where they typically all cracked.

Just for some backround information - The old oil looked like coffee, and the valve cover was gunked up with some crap that almost looked like cheese. Yes, my leak was that bad.

The final thing I did before starting it for the first time was removed the coil pack and then turn the starter for about 10 seconds to pump some oil.

I then reattached the coil pack and it started and rain really well.

I topped off the coolant overflow and i got on the free way.
About 5 miles down my temps went crazy and to top that off i started getting rattling which was definitely a rocker head.

Pulled over, found that my lower hose had come off slightly. Didn't have tools so I tried getting off the freeway until my throttle position sensor starting bugging out (probably wet from coolant) which made my RPMs blip randomly. And eventually i lost total power, i tried starting it with my clutch but it soon died.

Got it towed home and im seeing that all but one of the rockers arms are secure. One rocker arm is slightly loose. I can get the jeep to run but its extremely rough.

Do you think i may have busted a lifter?

Radi

Might have a plugged up lifter from the crap in the oil. What caused the overheating? Did you lose quite a bit of coolant with the loose hose?

nakosd

i pulled over before it overheated, but the opening on the lower hose was big enough to stick my finger in, my fault for not doing the clamp perfectly.

I have had gunked lifters in the past, nothing a little seafoam couldn't fix, but ive tried running and revving this thing and its not freeing up even with half a bottle poured into the pushrod guide holes.

at this point im considering that the lifter itself was damaged or caved in somehow. If i cant get it going more smoothely i might consider taking it all apart again and inspecting the lifters

the other option could be that the crank sensor got wet when coolant sprayed everywhere (i found coolant everywhere ranging from on top of my fuse box and even on the underside of my hood). Not getting any CEL indications at this point.

also after i ran it a bit in my garage there was black soot on the ground from where my tailpipe was. Also the garage quickly filled with some very noxious gas that almost made my eyes water. Did NOT smell like gasoline


What makes this weird is that none of the pushrods actually looked like they were depressed, which would indicate a lifter not getting pumped up.

nakosd

So i let it sit over the weekend, started it up this morning and it runs great and smooths out, still some jitters with the throttle but i think that's just a little extra moisture getting worked out.

Probable cause: when the lower hose clamp came undone, coolant either got under neath a sparkplug cover or got onto the crank sensor, causing a non-firing condition in a cylinder. The black soot and noxious gas that came out was most likely gasoline being cooked (not burned).


New problem: Filled up the radiator again, and drove it around until it got to operating temperature, temperature spikes up to overheating levels.

Im going to try replacing the thermostat first before i consider the radiator.

Before I swapped the head i did have a pretty gunky thermostat that i believe was operating as intended. The gunk was a mixture of water/oil/whatever that got into the cooling system. So perhaps the thermostat is no longer opening up after i let the car sit.

Radi

Did you clean all that gunk out of the cooling system? I've used cascade automatic dishwasher soap for that and it gets the job done. About a cup of soap, fill with water, heat it up good, rinse, repeat.

nakosd

Yes i have a flush kit that lets you plug a garden hose into the heater hose and circulates water through the top hose and into the radiator. I'm pretty sure I am getting good circulation through the radiator and top hose side.

I pulled off the top hose today, and then removed the thermostat. I then put the housing back on and then filled the head up with coolant from where the top hose clamps on. Then, with the top hose disconnected i turned the engine on and sprayed coolant all over the passenger side of the engine.

So now I know my pump works. At this stage i believe I didn't actually put enough coolant in. I bought some unmixed coolant and mixed it 50/50 and put a total of 8qts, and a quick lookup tells me it requires about 12. That would explain why my temps shot up as soon I drove up a hill.

I'm going to burp the whole system tomorow morning and if that doesn't work then im going to replace the pump.