JeepMonkey
New member
My Jeep is an '01 TJ, 4.0 so this thread may belong in that forum, but since the 4.0l is pretty much the same throughout the years, I'm posting here.
Jeep just overheated the other day on the way home from work (3-4miles). Turned on the heater and temp immediately dropped to normal driving temp. Got home and started flushing radiator (never done this in 10 years of owning). I noticed some smoke coming from the rear of the block right at the valve cover gasket. Figured I'd change that while I had it in the garage.
Low and behold, when I get the cover off, the inside is coated not with nice black oil, but brown chocolate looking syrup instead! I'm not an ASE cert'd mechanic, but I'm pretty handy with tools when I need to be. However, I don't attempt many repairs on anything anymore without GOOGLE'ing it first. And of course the first few posts I find are all about the infamous ("SO FAMOUS, HE'S INFAMOUS!") 0331 stamped heads cracking. I haven't cleaned mine up to look yet, but I'm pretty sure this is what I'm going to find as that is just my luck.
Has anyone else had this problem? What are your thoughts? I've got about 60k on the motor and the oil was fine on the last change, so I'm pretty sure the problem only happened when it overheated the other day. Are my bearings shot? I did drain the oil and it was not perfect looking, but the worst seemed to be just coating the inside of the valve cover.
THANKS!
Jeep just overheated the other day on the way home from work (3-4miles). Turned on the heater and temp immediately dropped to normal driving temp. Got home and started flushing radiator (never done this in 10 years of owning). I noticed some smoke coming from the rear of the block right at the valve cover gasket. Figured I'd change that while I had it in the garage.
Low and behold, when I get the cover off, the inside is coated not with nice black oil, but brown chocolate looking syrup instead! I'm not an ASE cert'd mechanic, but I'm pretty handy with tools when I need to be. However, I don't attempt many repairs on anything anymore without GOOGLE'ing it first. And of course the first few posts I find are all about the infamous ("SO FAMOUS, HE'S INFAMOUS!") 0331 stamped heads cracking. I haven't cleaned mine up to look yet, but I'm pretty sure this is what I'm going to find as that is just my luck.
Has anyone else had this problem? What are your thoughts? I've got about 60k on the motor and the oil was fine on the last change, so I'm pretty sure the problem only happened when it overheated the other day. Are my bearings shot? I did drain the oil and it was not perfect looking, but the worst seemed to be just coating the inside of the valve cover.
THANKS!
