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Ummm, hi. (Again.)
So, like the title says, I'm pretty sure I screwed something up. Possibly something important.
I have a 2000 XJ Limited, that had the infamous 0331 head. As you might guess, the head cracked. Been paranoid about that happening since I bought the thing (didn't know about the issue until after purchase), so I've been a little hyper-vigilant about it. For all I know, I may have just blown a head gasket.
Either way, a guy in my local jeep club just happened to have an almost brand new (and incredibly clean) head just sitting in his garage. The head is marked "DD" where the 0331 was on the old head. As far as I can tell, this means that it's a re-man sold by Advanced Auto Parts. So, not a TUPY or a Clearwater, or an Alabama, but still better than a 0331, right?
Anyway, swapped out the head, put in new lifters, new thermostat and a new flowcooler water pump while I had it all apart. Put it all back together like a boss and everything was perfect. All was right with the world. Birds were singing, the sun was shining. My wife and my children looked upon me with adoring eyes and they were humbled to be in the presence of such a manly freaking man.
And that lasted for about 150 miles or so.
Once I got everything back together, it started right up and it drove just like it did before. No loss of power, idle was steady, oil pressure was good, temp never quite hit 210, but it was only a little low. No leaks . . . everything was looking good.
Then, I started to notice a slight knock, only after the engine had warmed up, and only on in the 2-3,000 rpm range. The knock was faint, and the thing still ran fine, so I tried not to worry too much about it and just hoped it would work itself out.
It didn't. Instead, the knock started to get a little louder, and my idle would fluctuate up and down at stoplights. Giving it a little gas would take care of that though.
So, things progress. Knock gets a little louder, and now I'm starting to sputter a little. Will almost die if I let off the gas too quickly. Again, gas will make everything right with the world, but I'm starting to think that I'm losing a bit of power on accelerating.
But, since gas makes everything better, I decide to give 'er a little bit of hell to see if this is something I can just "clear out."
That was a mistake. Knock is now a full-fledged knock. No denying it anymore. Sputtering like crazy and eventually the check engine light comes on. Check my OBM reader on my phone and I've got a P0305 - misfire cylinder #5. Boy, I'll say.
Simplest fix first, I change my spark plugs. Twice. First to fancy platinums, then, because the internet told me to, to el cheapo brass. I will say that when it's NOT sputtering, the brass ones do actually seem to make it run a little more smoothly. For whatever that's worth.
BUT, ultimately spark plugs do not make a difference and knock and sputtering come back, bigger and badder. Obviously, whatever is going on, it's getting progressively worse.
Figure I have to see what I can see with regard to cylinder #5, so I remove the valve cover and check out the rockers and rods for #5. There is very clearly wear on the rockers and bridges, right where the convex part of the bottom of the bridges fit into the rockers. There has been some bad rubbing going on here. As far as I know, they were torqued down properly and lubed with engine grease. And, if that's true, I'm not sure how the wear would have occurred there. Maybe bad valve springs?
Springs not compressing right and causing rods to press rockers up in to bridges extra hard?
Well, no one in town had any rockers in stock, so I have to wait a couple days to get new ones to see if that helps at all. In the meantime I put it all back together and took a little video to see if I could get the opinions of this august forum. Unfortunately, the jeep was in my garage when I took the video, so the accoustics leave quite a bit to be desired. Hopefully you'll be able to hear the knock though. Video is here:http://youtu.be/DnAkJUgMWUg
I'm really hoping this isn't something hugely major. Valves or valve springs I can handle. I'd be fine if I just needed to upgrade my fuel injectors. But with that knocking sound, I'm thinking there's something very expensive lurking under my hood. I'm just hoping to not waste too much time tracking it down.
With that in mind, ANY advice you fine folks can offer will be GREATLY appreciated.
Thank you.
________________________________________________
Ummm, hi. (Again.)
So, like the title says, I'm pretty sure I screwed something up. Possibly something important.
I have a 2000 XJ Limited, that had the infamous 0331 head. As you might guess, the head cracked. Been paranoid about that happening since I bought the thing (didn't know about the issue until after purchase), so I've been a little hyper-vigilant about it. For all I know, I may have just blown a head gasket.
Either way, a guy in my local jeep club just happened to have an almost brand new (and incredibly clean) head just sitting in his garage. The head is marked "DD" where the 0331 was on the old head. As far as I can tell, this means that it's a re-man sold by Advanced Auto Parts. So, not a TUPY or a Clearwater, or an Alabama, but still better than a 0331, right?
Anyway, swapped out the head, put in new lifters, new thermostat and a new flowcooler water pump while I had it all apart. Put it all back together like a boss and everything was perfect. All was right with the world. Birds were singing, the sun was shining. My wife and my children looked upon me with adoring eyes and they were humbled to be in the presence of such a manly freaking man.
And that lasted for about 150 miles or so.
Once I got everything back together, it started right up and it drove just like it did before. No loss of power, idle was steady, oil pressure was good, temp never quite hit 210, but it was only a little low. No leaks . . . everything was looking good.
Then, I started to notice a slight knock, only after the engine had warmed up, and only on in the 2-3,000 rpm range. The knock was faint, and the thing still ran fine, so I tried not to worry too much about it and just hoped it would work itself out.
It didn't. Instead, the knock started to get a little louder, and my idle would fluctuate up and down at stoplights. Giving it a little gas would take care of that though.
So, things progress. Knock gets a little louder, and now I'm starting to sputter a little. Will almost die if I let off the gas too quickly. Again, gas will make everything right with the world, but I'm starting to think that I'm losing a bit of power on accelerating.
But, since gas makes everything better, I decide to give 'er a little bit of hell to see if this is something I can just "clear out."
That was a mistake. Knock is now a full-fledged knock. No denying it anymore. Sputtering like crazy and eventually the check engine light comes on. Check my OBM reader on my phone and I've got a P0305 - misfire cylinder #5. Boy, I'll say.
Simplest fix first, I change my spark plugs. Twice. First to fancy platinums, then, because the internet told me to, to el cheapo brass. I will say that when it's NOT sputtering, the brass ones do actually seem to make it run a little more smoothly. For whatever that's worth.
BUT, ultimately spark plugs do not make a difference and knock and sputtering come back, bigger and badder. Obviously, whatever is going on, it's getting progressively worse.
Figure I have to see what I can see with regard to cylinder #5, so I remove the valve cover and check out the rockers and rods for #5. There is very clearly wear on the rockers and bridges, right where the convex part of the bottom of the bridges fit into the rockers. There has been some bad rubbing going on here. As far as I know, they were torqued down properly and lubed with engine grease. And, if that's true, I'm not sure how the wear would have occurred there. Maybe bad valve springs?
Springs not compressing right and causing rods to press rockers up in to bridges extra hard?
Well, no one in town had any rockers in stock, so I have to wait a couple days to get new ones to see if that helps at all. In the meantime I put it all back together and took a little video to see if I could get the opinions of this august forum. Unfortunately, the jeep was in my garage when I took the video, so the accoustics leave quite a bit to be desired. Hopefully you'll be able to hear the knock though. Video is here:http://youtu.be/DnAkJUgMWUg
I'm really hoping this isn't something hugely major. Valves or valve springs I can handle. I'd be fine if I just needed to upgrade my fuel injectors. But with that knocking sound, I'm thinking there's something very expensive lurking under my hood. I'm just hoping to not waste too much time tracking it down.
With that in mind, ANY advice you fine folks can offer will be GREATLY appreciated.
Thank you.