So we just picked up a second Jeep Cherokee, this one being a 2000 Limited, with what seems to have some strange symptoms.

First of all, the oil pressure seems a little low, wouldn't you say?



Second of all, it runs a little hot.

Lastly, it seems to chug a bit. You can see from the video I recorded (below) that it makes some weird noises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjR6...ature=youtu.be

It is a 2000, and it seems to smoke a bit almost like oil is burning on the hot exhaust pipes. It also has a lot of red/brown gooey residue inside of the radiator cap.

Is is a likely candidate for a cracked 0331 head?

Since we just picked it up, we're going to use our OBD II scanner to see why that engine light is on, and we're also going to run a compression test, so I'll report back with the results. In the mean time, anyone have any additional insight?

 

210 degrees is not hot for an XJ, it's actually pretty normal.

 

My 98 idles at the same oil pressure

 

13psi is the minimum oil pressure at idle. Rule of thumb is 10psi for every 1000rpm.

 

Just seems a little weird compared to mine:



I know that 13 PSI is the bare minimum according to the owner's manual, but if it's all the way down at the bare minimum, that would indicate a problem anyhow, wouldn't it? I mean, just scraping by at the bare minimum is never a good thing. My own 4.0L doesn't even get that low.

What about the chugging? The last time that I saw a Jeep chug like this, it was due to a leaky exhaust valve when the head was bad. Considering all of the symptoms, I was thinking this 2000 might be a cracked head suspect.

Today, we'll be putting the scanner on it and looking at some of the problems. First up, we'll be pulling a compression test. Afterwards, we'll put a mechanical oil gauge on

 

Update: compression is good.

Just really need to figure out this chugging.

 

Okay, so we fixed the chugging problem by replacing the coil pack.

Compression was excellent, and we replaced 1 fuel injector. So we had compression and fuel, meaning the only thing left that could cause the misfiring in cylinder 1 was spark, so we replaced the spark plugs and it didn't fix it. Lastly, we added a brand new coil pack, and the chugging is gone!

We replaced the coolant in the engine and put in a new 195 thermostat and the engine is operating just under 210 degrees now instead of creeping above 210. There was a crap load of stop-leak in the coolant system.

Now the only issue is that the Jeep holds just about 0 PSI oil pressure. We attached a manual gauge and got the same reading. So we're going to look at the main bearings soon.

 

When you replaced the coolant, did you just change it like say, an oil change, or did you flush it?

That's my plan for today.

 

Full flush, of course!

 

When my cat brick was breaking up, and blocking the exhaust path, I would get some chugging.

 

pressure seems fine no worries there

 

It's running at 0 PSI oil pressure now.