I've got a 98 XJ with an unknown motor in it ( I was told it was a 2000 XJ motor but I'm not too sure. It has an 0650 head).

It has what sounds to me like wicked lifter tick.

Every 300 miles or so I need to add more coolant.

If I change the oil the tick goes away for 50-100 miles.

There are no real signs of coolant in the oil other than the oil seems to lose viscosity (which is what I believe is causing the tick). No foaming or milky appearance, and no oil in the coolant.

I was just going to drop in a new motor from my other 98 with a bad trans but it's currently about 6 hours south from my house so I want to be sure of what I'm getting into before I have my brother-in-law bring it up for me. I already have an entire engine gasket kit and I could get a JY head or have him pull the head from my other Jeep instead of towing my whole jeep up.

 

She's been sitting for over 6 months but I started her up today. It's now sounding more like rod knock and theres some white smoke coming out her backside. Also smells like it's running extremely rich.

 

heres a video of it.

 

And another one.

 

From your vid the oil pressure looks good..have you done a compression check? how about have you checked to see if the flex plate is making the noise, kinda sounds like that. Here is a link https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/ho...ocking-125547/

try to let the jeep run a little to see if the exhaust clears up, might be just condensation in the pipe..

The 2000-2001 XJ with the 0331 head had the problem with cracking.. so if its not the 0331 like you say check the flex plate, do a compression check. It wont hurt to take the valve cover off and take a look at the rocks. after doing all the checks and it still is doing it.. I would pull oil pan and take a look to see if anything is in the pan or if something dont look right or feel right after trying to wiggle stuff,,you know..lol

 

Dumajones, thanks a TON! I'm not sure how I missed checking the flex plate bolts as this was a problem on another jeep of mine and on my friends. I haven't done a compression check yet but I'll try and do it today. The Jeep has been sitting for over 6 months so maybe that's the white smoke. I'll have to get a new battery as the one in it is shot from sitting(I tried charging it twice and it won't hold a charge more than a day or two).

 

If it is not the flex plate pull the pan and see if one of the piston skirts broke off. It happened on my 98 TJ and sounded like a real bad lifter tick or a light rod knock. I changed out that piston and re-ringed the engine and put new rod bearings in it and it ran like new.

 

Not a prob,, that's what we are here for.. When you get the jeep going and the noise is gone (crossing fingers) Take the Jeep for a long nice calm drive get it to temp and drive for about 45mins to get any moisture out of the motor/oil from it sitting for a while.

 

It's not looking like the flex plate bolts. I re-torqued all of them and none seemed loose. Waiting for my battery to get enough charge to start and see. Should I be able to turn the flex plate with just a wrench? When I turn it I hear air leaking from somewhere which I'm assuming is not a good thing.

 

HMM..lame,, I would pull the oil pan might be a skirt like dans98xj has suggested..

 

Yeah, it's looking like that's what I might need to do.

 

Here's a question. If I don't know what year my motor is, how do I choose the correct piston? The head casting is 0650 which could be from 91-2000. The guy I bought it from said it was either a 2000 or 2001 but it has a distributor and a Renix oil filter adapter.

 

This pic shows that the build date code in on the left side of the motor look there.

from Cruiser54's pics




Here is a pic of my number on my 2000..

 

You can't get to it without removing the transmission.
not my pic

 

[QUOTE=Turbo X_J;3231358]You can't get to it without removing the transmission.
not my pic

I pulled the inspection plate and torqued the 4 bolts on the plate. I'm now more concerned because I was able to turn the flex plate with just a wrench without much effort.