Datig Hand
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Santa Clarita
I've got a 2000 Cherokee Sport (XJ, I'm told), 4.0L inline 6 4x4. Had my valve cover off the other day (CCV breather complications) and when I closed everything back up and turned the key, everything seemed groovy. Drove 8 miles into down (windy canyon road, 35-55 mph), stopped to grab something from the gas station, and then went through a drive through. After I finished eating my food in the parking lot, I started old JeeP back up , and that's when things got dicey.
Took a little longer than usual to turn over, and sounded like it was struggling to do so. Engine was shaking pretty hard at idle, white smoke was sputtering out of the exhaust, accompanied by dribbles of fuel. Oh, and the check engine light came on.
I decided to see how it drove to the grocery store across the street (intended destination, and easier location for the likely auto-club tow) and the engine light started flashing. The manual foretold great misfortune, so I went with the tow after all.
So that's where I'm at. Wondering what the problem is, and how I can fix it. I've got a couple of suspected causes, but I'm new to mechanicry, so I'm reaching out here to suss them out.
There were a few complications while I was replacing the valve cover. First, I lost one of the bolts in the back that I ended up finding in a bundle of cables/wires running back on top of the transmission (you don't even want to know how long that took me to recover), so there's a chance I may have jostled something out of position in the wiring/connections behind the valve case and above the transmission.
... and then I snapped a bolt, and spouted some curses. In the process of loosing that bolt, I had to remove the coil pack, and it was something of a struggle to get it back into place.
Now, through parts of this process, I had to literally climb up on top of the engine area, taking care of where I distributed my weight... except for when I accidentally cracked what nearest I can tell is the fuel injector wiring harness. Plastic casing that runs along the driver's side of the valve cover, out of which the fuel injector pigtails feed. Ill try and post a photo of that, but this is my inaugural forum post, so we'll have to see if I can figure that out; or if it's even possible.
Recent Jeep history: Had what turned out to be a failing freeze plug that I replaced with a rubber one, after getting a metal one which turned out to be a bit too small. Before I discovered the freeze plug issue, I overheated a couple times (the second being pretty significant), and there were also a couple instances of a load whistle that would go away when I depressed the accelerator.
Thought everything was cool with the freeze plug fix, and after about a week of driving about 150-200 miles, I decided to change out that CCV breather (contributed to a failed smog), and the elbow cracked...
Which brings us up to speed.
Any thoughts on what I can do to get JeeP up to speeds higher than parked? I'm really hoping it's just a plug/wire that came loose, what with my limited access to funds and specialized tools.
Took a little longer than usual to turn over, and sounded like it was struggling to do so. Engine was shaking pretty hard at idle, white smoke was sputtering out of the exhaust, accompanied by dribbles of fuel. Oh, and the check engine light came on.
I decided to see how it drove to the grocery store across the street (intended destination, and easier location for the likely auto-club tow) and the engine light started flashing. The manual foretold great misfortune, so I went with the tow after all.
So that's where I'm at. Wondering what the problem is, and how I can fix it. I've got a couple of suspected causes, but I'm new to mechanicry, so I'm reaching out here to suss them out.
There were a few complications while I was replacing the valve cover. First, I lost one of the bolts in the back that I ended up finding in a bundle of cables/wires running back on top of the transmission (you don't even want to know how long that took me to recover), so there's a chance I may have jostled something out of position in the wiring/connections behind the valve case and above the transmission.
... and then I snapped a bolt, and spouted some curses. In the process of loosing that bolt, I had to remove the coil pack, and it was something of a struggle to get it back into place.
Now, through parts of this process, I had to literally climb up on top of the engine area, taking care of where I distributed my weight... except for when I accidentally cracked what nearest I can tell is the fuel injector wiring harness. Plastic casing that runs along the driver's side of the valve cover, out of which the fuel injector pigtails feed. Ill try and post a photo of that, but this is my inaugural forum post, so we'll have to see if I can figure that out; or if it's even possible.
Recent Jeep history: Had what turned out to be a failing freeze plug that I replaced with a rubber one, after getting a metal one which turned out to be a bit too small. Before I discovered the freeze plug issue, I overheated a couple times (the second being pretty significant), and there were also a couple instances of a load whistle that would go away when I depressed the accelerator.
Thought everything was cool with the freeze plug fix, and after about a week of driving about 150-200 miles, I decided to change out that CCV breather (contributed to a failed smog), and the elbow cracked...
Which brings us up to speed.
Any thoughts on what I can do to get JeeP up to speeds higher than parked? I'm really hoping it's just a plug/wire that came loose, what with my limited access to funds and specialized tools.
