Yup, me and a buddy are working on his '91 XJ, and found no head gasket when we pulled the head! Also, no thermostat, and lots of corrosion in the water journals.
Has anybody ever encountered this? It ran fine for over a year this way!
The previous owner cut some major corners apparently.

 

Hard to believe it ran fine for over a year...

 

The P.O. cut so many corners he ended up with a bowling ball.

I'm surprised it ran at all, must be the case of rad sealer that was dumped in that kept it from leaking like the Valdez.

 

Umm.... somethin is not right here

 

pics or it didn't happen

 

either we are being trolled, or you got real lucky. cant decide yet, lol/

 

Yeah I cant believe it either.
There is evidence of something cruddy in the water journals, and thermostat
housing. Also the water journals in the head were gunked up with some type of coppery material/rust.
He took the head today to get it to a machine shop, sorry no pics.

 

OK some pics:

http://imageshack.us/f/707/1000362ho.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/f/42/1000366it.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/f/844/1000365o.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/f/534/1000363u.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/f/269/1000361sf.jpg/

 

YIKES! i hope he plans on either getting a new short block or taking that to the shop. otherwise this rebuild will be short lived.

 

Nope, gonna clean it up and run it. Why? Because he got it for $600 and he might as well save up for another jeep. Hell, for the machining costs he can get another XJ in better condition

 

Ok, Just saying tho. if your already going that deep into rebuilding may as well pull the block. A machine shop could clean out the journals alot more thouroughly. but its his jeep. i just wouldnt wanna have to go through the head ache twice but thats just me. i do realize that in a situation like that where you only payed 6 for it you may as well run it till it blows.

 

Yeah I hear you on doing it right, but the cost here in this case is prohibitive.

 

Was there something wrong with it? What made you take it apart to discover the missing head gasket?

 

He new it was blown, or in this case gone
He spotted oil in the coolant.
I'm not sure, but I think the guy that sold it to him knew and told him. I'll ask.
What seems to be the case is someone slapped it together to make a quick buck, and my buddy is left holding the dunce cap.
The machinist will let us know if that head is worth using at all. Otherwise, I'm gonna recommend a complete tear-down, re-build.
Or he can get another XJ and keep this for parts.