88XJSteve

Ok so I bought a 1998 ZJ with the 5.2L V8 today I got it for 2K$. It has 203,000 miles on the clock. This rig runs perfect, it idles nice and shifts and accelerates perfectly. No odd sounds coming from the engine IE knocking.

On the way home I got a beeping sound of low coolant level but it wasn't overheating it was just above the 210* mark and it also raised half way but would always lower back down. So I got to an auto parts store 10 miles away and bought some coolant and added it to the tank, the coolant in the tank was just below the add mark so I filled it up to the full mark. Filled with peak 50/50 coolant.

And all the way home about 35 miles away it stayed right at 210* or just above it, a couple times it went halfway between 210 to the turn off your rig mark NOW but went back down. But the last and ONLY hill to get to my home which is probably a 45 - 55 degree hill. Well I was climbing the hill and as soon as I got to the top the "check gauges" light popped on and it was the temp gauge and the temp was all the way to the red mark.

I drove for maybe an eighth of a mile (until I could find a place to stop) then pulled over and shut the jeep off. When I opened up the hood the reservoir tank was bubbling furiously!! And the radiator cap has this foil over the top and was bubbling up and down.

So what should I check for first when I can drive it again after it cools off?? Should I replace the water pump and thermostat first?

What would cause this to happen only on a hill?

88XJSteve

Well I went back to my ZJ (it broke down less than a half mile away from my house) and tried to start it and I'm hearing horrible clunking and rattling...

OMFG!!! I had the ZJ less then or just a little more than 2 hours and the engine is completely screwed up!!!

So has anybody else here had this kind of problem??

I'm thinking this is just basically a bad head probably more problems with my luck.

2K$ gone two hours after I bought this dang thing. Aren't there laws pertaining to the fact that you can't buy a used car and have it break down? Kind of like a lemon law sort of thing.

sc0r1a

Mine was over heating like that.
1: do you have a shroud fan cover?
2: is your radiator clean or dirty?

Mine was caked with mud and grass, you'd be surprised how just washing it helps.
Power washers help A LOT

well besides that motor being ****ed
Could have warped something from it getting so hot

88XJSteve

Warped something else like what?

And yeah there's a fan shroud and no its clean.

88XJSteve

I figured id give a little update...

Getting a new engine rebuilt for me and installed a race shop here's doing that for me. Oh and they're doing the 231 swap also for me!! Can't wait to have selectable 4WD

This is gonna cost me the same as the price of the ZJ!!! God I'm broke now