WJCO's Build Thread, 1999 WJ

OverlanderJK said:
This may be the only time I’m glad I don’t have ac. Lol


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Well, I will say, with the ac on, the issue shows up quickly. But without ac on it still shows up but takes longer. So I agree with you.
However, there is still something wrong with the cooling system and now with a new radiator, it is still showing up on the highway even with ac off. What a PITA. I can honestly do without AC, but now it's reached the point of the jeep not taking me up the hill which means no jeep at all. No fun. Regardless, if it needs a new engine at worst, I'm prepared to swallow that pill, lol.
 
wayoflife said:
I apologize if this has been covered before but have you checked your heater core for possible blockage?
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I bypassed the heater core and it still does it. When hooked up, heater works great and inlet and outlet temps are near equal. Also, I flushed the heater core manually with a hose last year in both directions and no debris came out and water flowed well.
 
WJCO said:
I bypassed the heater core and it still does it. When hooked up, heater works great and inlet and outlet temps are near equal. Also, I flushed the heater core manually with a hose last year in both directions and no debris came out and water flowed well.
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Okay, I figured you would have done this but just thought I throw it out there just in case.
 
Just got the call. They found hydrocarbons in the coolant. This was my gut feeling after the radiator didn't fix it. I still don't know why my block tester didn't find it. I know the tech working on it and trust him. So they're going to run some different repair numbers for me and I'll make a decision from there. We will be fixing it and keeping it regardless.
 
WJCO said:
Just got the call. They found hydrocarbons in the coolant. This was my gut feeling after the radiator didn't fix it. I still don't know why my block tester didn't find it. I know the tech working on it and trust him. So they're going to run some different repair numbers for me and I'll make a decision from there. We will be fixing it and keeping it regardless.
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Well at least now you found the issue. Would have sucked if they said they couldn't figure out what the problem was.
 
"We will be fixing it and keeping it regardless."

Yes, keep it if you can. Has become an extension of you. Lots of personal touches. Need to see it around for a long time. Here's hoping they treat you reasonably.
 
WJCO said:
Just got the call. They found hydrocarbons in the coolant. This was my gut feeling after the radiator didn't fix it. I still don't know why my block tester didn't find it. I know the tech working on it and trust him. So they're going to run some different repair numbers for me and I'll make a decision from there. We will be fixing it and keeping it regardless.
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Does that indicate some sort of head or block problem?
 
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I hope they will treat you right and get it fixed. I love your WJ and I hope it sticks around. I wish you luck [emoji482]
 
Snboarder113 said:
Wahooooo! Now you know!
View attachment 303056

Thinking head gasket or cracked jacket?


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No misfires or codes, so I don't think it is a gasket. I'm assuming a crack. They won't know unless they tear it down. I'm waiting on an estimate to replace both heads. If it's not much more to R&R the engine, I may just do that. Seems strange that this happened after a water crossing, I would hate to have them replace the gaskets assuming that's it, and then put it back together and find that it's doing the same thing due to a block crack.

Here's the crossing. Same one that I'd done many times before with no issues. I will say it started after this trip, so the exact water crossing may not be the cause, but that was the deepest spot that day.

IMG_3229.jpg

boardsurfer said:
Does that indicate some sort of head or block problem?
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Yep. Hydrocarbons are a byproduct of combustion. The only place that they should be going is out the exhaust. So when they get in the coolant, that means a crack, head warpage, or head gasket failure. Engine compression is much higher than cooling system pressure which is why I'm not losing coolant. The combustion gases are likely creating air bubbles in the coolant which is why it's heating up. I actually checked for this last year and am not sure why it passed. Maybe my testing chemical went bad :idontknow:
 
Heat + sudden cooling can stress an existing hairline crack/anomaly into an actual crack. Not familiar with that v8, have cast or aluminum heads?
Depending how far you wanna go with the rebuild it could be a good deal to refresh it a bit, but it’s sill pretty young honestly to do a full rebuild.
Also it looks cool in that picture, wish water crossings weren’t super illegal here.


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Snboarder113 said:
Not familiar with that v8, have cast or aluminum heads?
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Aluminium heads. Iron block.

Snboarder113 said:
Depending how far you wanna go with the rebuild it could be a good deal to refresh it a bit, but it’s sill pretty young honestly to do a full rebuild.
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Along with my fear of a block issue, these engines do occasionally have piston skirts crack, timing chains stretch, and issues with the valve seats. So I'm kind of thinking it may not be a bad idea to gamble a little and just get a new engine.
 
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