Ok on the way into work today 5:30 am I noticed that my temp guage was running very high (just figured that it finally died) but then on the way home I got all but 2 miles home and it was dying and dying pulled over the side of the road and smoke/steam rolled called a buddy he brought some coolant and put about a gallon in drove it home and let it sit for a couple hours... went to walmart and got some coolant brought it back did a radiatior drain/refill and started it up! seemed to do good for about 2 min then it started smoking again... tried to look around quick to see where it was coming from engine cut out too early tried it a few more times and seems like it is coming out everywhere... OUT the tail pipe, under the body... I am sorta stumped, the smoke is a thick, I believe white smoke but it was 11:00 pm while I was messing with this... did the exhaust go out at the same time? DO I have an even MORE serious problem? I am all ears!!!! HELP!!!

 

Without a more thorough look... I'm going to say the white smoke leans towards a head gasket problem. White smoke is from coolant being burned.

 

Ya I'd also say head gasket.

Also replace the thermostat, they can get stick and not open fully when old.

 

sound slike a head but double check to make all hoses are good with no leakes. the "smoke" could just be steam from the exhuast as its cold outside and the exhiast is burning hot. If coolant is comming from under the vehicle there is a chance a line blew, which is cuasign the overheating.

 

Unfortunatly check all under and no obvious leaking (dripping)! I was afraid of Head Gasket!!! Perfect time for this to happen right before Christmas and of course strapped for money as it is

 

4.0 headgasket isn't real hard, but lifting the head off and putting it back should be a two person job. I'm a big dude and I prefer to have an extra set of hands when doing this.

I know what you mean being strapped. If you are lucky, the head is still flat and the cylinders/pistons are fine too. Last year I did my 95 ZJ with 160,000 miles on it, everything was good. Just did my 90 XJ (200,000 miles) a couple months ago and while the oil galleries had some gunk, the cylinders and pistons looked good. Has even numbers now for compresion test, and leakdown wasn't too bad...

I would suggest, if you can swing it, replace the waterpump at this time too. Just because you have stuff apart and it might be a little easier than doing it later.

 

before you go and take the whole thing apart check your oil dipstick to see if there's coolant mixed in. If yes then you for sure have a blown head gasket. If not, do the cheap fix first. Just try the thermostat and really examine your hoses. On my 94 a hose split and was spraying coolant all over the manifold. Smoke was crazy bad and seemed to be coming from every corner of the jeep. Turned out the thermostat stuck and pressure caused the hose to split. The hole was not even visable, just a pin ***** size but as soon as pressure hit it you'd think I parked my jeep ontop of Old Faithful.

 

Don't forget to check your plugs too... If you're burning coolant, they'll be able to tell ya. Just make sure you pull them all when you check.

 

That's a quick way to tell for sure.

 

well never tried anything this serious before but I guess when you are tight for money there isn't any choice this is not going to be fun!

 

actually I found a used motor online for 450 buck with about 10K less miles on it than mine does now... would that be a better way to go?

 

It' might be depends on how long it's sat. Also what is the year on the replacement motor? Cause yours has a Carb on it and I believe after '90 there all EFI...

 

same year as mine 89. it has been in a heated garage since summer. come with Carb, intake and distributer. with 78K miles on it, so bout 10K less than mine does now.

 

If you pull the plugs...take pics of them and post...I'm curious about this engine now...

 

what made you more curious?