1974CJ5

Thanks for the reply. On the 2.5 four banger it is the driver's side closest to the radiator that get the thread sealant... This one seems to leaking near/at the next one towards the firewall. Can the intake manifold leak coolant near that area? I am not sure how the coolant is routed through the intake manifold I assume it would have to be cracked to leak, but I am not sure...

I have a 1987 MJ with 2.4 liter and ax4. I have rebuilt the engine, and put it in the truck to find that the head gasket leaked out the rear of the head due to a score leading from the water jacket to the exterior of the motor. So I had the head gasket resurfaced (again) and put new head bolts in it and torqued to spec. (During the time I was testing before I found the original leak, I found that the truck had an erratic idle, have very little power when climbing hills, and misses when relieved of load.) So now, with a new head gasket on a resurfaced head on a block that was checked by a machine shop to be straight and good to go, it seems to be leaking at or around the second head bolt from the front on the intake side of the engine. I can't tell if its a freeze out plug or an exterior head gasket leak again. The missing and lack of power are still present. So I performed a compression check and found the following: (a wet test was not performed because one of my friends apparently needed my hand can more than I do and it was frikkin cold out so I didn't do much searching for an alternate means of performing it.) Cylinder #1: 141 Cylinder #2: 121 Cylinder #3: 120 Cylinder #4: 138 With the middle two cylinders being lower, that would lead me to believe a failed head gasket between them. (note: I have no evidence of coolant in oil just for the record) I would however think that the compression would be even lower in these two cylinders if the gasket failed between them. I am planning on performing a leak down test on the engine soon, to see if I can detect air in the other cylinder from the one being tested. So does anyone have any thoughts as to what the culprit, or culprits are to the various problems I am having? I am about to push the darn thing off a cliff while its on fire :headpop: .

Sweet! thanks for clearing that up. I will do just that then when my new head bolts arrive. Seriously hope this is last time I have to get into this head for a while.

If I am understanding you correctly you want to put a pcv system on a ccv equipped truck. The valve covers are the same you would just put a pcv valve in place of the 2mm fixed orifice. You can google search "2.5 jeep vacuum diagram" and you should find what you need. I am not certain why you would want to do this however. If it is because of excessive oil being "sucked" out of your valve cover, you could try a baffled grommet you can usually find these on summit, or jeggs. (that is if you have checked to make sure that the orifice is not plugged) I have also heard of guys cutting a half inch off of the baffles inside the valve cover for fear they are acting like a straw and sucking oil out. Again, I am just assuming it is because of an oil leaving the valve cover issue, because I had this happen and I to was thinking it must be the ccv system, when actually it was a broken piston ring and oil wasn't being sucked, but blown out because of compression being forced into the crankcase. It wasn't until I completely eliminated the ccv system and ran breathers and watched as oil would bubble out of the rear breather and run down the engine until I finally accepted that it was time for a rebuild. This may not be your issue or the reason you want to do this, I just thought I would put my 2cents in since no one else has.

Okay just for the record: I am a wiring idiot. Please don't take offense to me asking but: Is the bulb burned out?

So basically you are saying using the torque values for the composite gasket listed in the haynes manual for the felpro aftermarket gasket? Do you think there is any value in me searching out the stamped steel version of the gasket? I am assuming I would have to go to the jeep dealer for this. I just ordered some headbolts today, so I hope that helps. I did check the bolt holes very very well, and blew them out with comp. air several time before installation, the head was professionally cleaned also. Do you guys think I should use gasket shellack on the head gasket when I re-do :fs1: it?

Bolt number 8 (in tightening sequence) gets 75 pounds, and the rest get 85 pounds. bolt 8 however is on the driver side of the engine closest to the fan. Maybe I should just replace the head bolts and see what happens.... thoughts? As far as I know it was the first time the head was off, but I have no guarantees. coolant down block.

I have recently rebuilt the engine in my 87 2.5 MJ because of a broken piston ring on cylinder 2. Everything worked awesome, except my head gasket is leaking a bit under the back right corner against the firewall. I had the head resurfaced, no warping detected, block was professionally cleaned, used a felpro gasket installed dry. After this problem began I starting reading in a haynes manual that composite gaskets shouldn't be used. Well the only gasket I can find is the same felpro gasket covering 85-2001 jeep 2.5 engines. The haynes manual says that 87's should only have a stamped metal head gasket that should be sealed with copper sealant. Does the felpro gasket supersede this? What do you guys think? Should I be looking for a different gasket or is there another problem? Note: I cannot detect any white smoke in exhaust or coolant in oil (yet). I am reasonably sure that it isnt the freeze out plug on the back of the head.

http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/ax15.htm http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/ba10_5.htm Just click on these and check under the "identification" section on the pages. Hope this helps.

Update: After complete engine tear down.... Broken upper piston ring in cylinder #2.

The truck has 130,000 miles on it. I am not 100% that it is the original motor, but I am 99.9% sure. It is serpentine belt, not v-belt truck. I am hoping that a new t.b. will help ensure that the valve work will eliminate the problem. The machine shop has said that the valves "looked" fine, and white valves are normal (well i have never seen them look like these.) I have a theory that the way I have my ccv system eliminated might be causing or adding to a lean condition. It may be getting significantly more air under the butter fly of the t.b. that it should be. That doesn't however explain the gas in the oil. I am probably going to go ahead and rebuild the bottom end of the engine while I have the head off even though I don't have any smoke. So if anyone has any advise beyond what the repair manuals tell please let me know, as far as the bottom end rebuild is concerned. The cylinder walls are very smooth, so I think I can get by with honing and re-ringing, plus normal other work ie: rod bearings and etc. Also, do I understand correctly that you can make an ax4 into a ax5 by just adding a couple parts to the case? Is that very involved, that may be something I do while i have the motor out. Thanks for all the responses.

This sentence makes me think it can't be drive shaft, or wheel bearings or anything not rpm dependent. I would probably start by seeing if maybe it has something to do with the power steering since you said it seems to intensify when turning. I am not much real help with your problem, just thought the previous posters missed that sentence. (cause I too was thinking wheel bearing until then)

If the 94's fuel panel is in the same place as it was back in '87 (this post is irrelevant if it isn't) It could be break fluid leaking through the firewall and running into the fuse panel. Probably not that easy, just a thought.

Thanks for tip airspeed. I wish i had read the take the wrench off the crank part before I did the test. It scared the crap outta me but no one was hurt and nothing was damaged thankfully. I conducted the leak down test: The first thing I noticed was the spark plugs showed a bit lean, pretty white. Then I conducted the test and nearly every cylinder leaked out the exhaust (went back and made sure I was not on the exhaust stroke). So I figured the exhaust valve seats and or guides are in pretty bad shape. So I remove the head, the valves are WHITE! So this is pretty lean (or that is how I am reading it, please chime in if I am missing something.) So my understanding of this situation is the exhaust valve are leaking so bad it is putting pressure in the valve cover which is pushing oil out of my valve cover which explains the oil loss. With the exhaust valves leaking The whole time the compression stroke is taking place is pushing fuel out the exhaust valve and into the valve cover, thus explaining the gas in my oil. Since a portion of the fuel is being pushed out the exhaust valve/exhaust port this would explain the lean condition. Am I on the right track, or is this totally wrong?

That's good advice, it would also seem reasonable on a dry day that you could use a hand held steam cleaner with the spray adjusted to fine, and not spray directly on components, but spray under and around them and let the steam rise up and around. You may be able to isolate the component that is giving you fits. Just be careful not to spray the really hot water on anything that is sensitive. Just a thought. Also depending on outdoor conditions like temperature and humidity you may not be able to see a thing as soon as you pull the trigger on the steam cleaner.

Update: I have went ahead and purchased a leak down tester. It has been shipped I expect it Monday. In the mean time I was researching how to check for a bad fuel pressure regulator diaphragm. All the how to's I found said pull the vacuum line from the regulator and check to see if fuel is present, if so: bad diaphragm. I cannot find a vacuum hose going to my fuel pressure regulator, have I been struck stupid or is there no vacuum line? Is this the correct COA to checking the diaphragm?

Having just recently had to replace the entire AC system on my MJ, I would speak a word of caution on diy ac repair reseal anything. The orifices inside the system are terribly small, and any bit of debris that might fall off of your hands and into the system can make the whole thing go all to hades. Don't get me wrong, I am the number one advocate for repairing your own vehicle, but the ac system is something I prefer to leave to someone else, mainly because if they screw it up, they have to re-fix for free. With that having been said, I'm rooting for you, if you decide to do the reseal yourself, just research it well. It is definitely with in the realm of the do it yourself-er ability. I just wanted to remind that murphy and his law is always around the corner. If your compressor had no need to be replaced, I wouldn't, if you still feel a bit uncomfortable with the reseal, just check around for the little ac repair shops, they will surely reseal it for you. Here in east TN I just got my entire AC system replaced by a guy for 250 bucks plus parts that warranties everything. Granted I had to purchase compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and all new hoses. (all stuff was purchased from AZ so I second the AZ testimony for reasonable prices.) Just my 2 cents.

Since my valve cover has two breathers in the top of it, and no ccv system connected at all, should I have pressures in the valve cover high enough to push oil out the rear breather? or could this suggest a valve seal/seat issue with compression being pushed into the valve cover via a valve? Could an intake valve seal failure push fuel into the oil if this is indeed the case? :???: so terribly confused. (The term "knows enough to be dangerous" is me to a "T") I should probably just stop thinking now, and listen to responses.

that is where an elbow used to be for the ccv system some one block it off (probably because they were getting oil in the breather box. I believe the rear one on my truck went to the breather box originally with a plastic tubing assembly. I don't remember 100% which ccv hose went where. I think the rear one goes to the breather and the front one goes to the throttle body. I'm sure some of the MJ guru's on here could tell you exactly. I was just looking at that vacuum diagram the other day in a haynes manual, but sorry to say can't remember.

No, I have not. I am currently under the impression that a "leak down tester" will tell me everything that a compression tester would tell me and more. If I am mistaken in this, please advise. I am at the understanding that: A leak down tester could actually show me what component of the cylinder is leaking if that is indeed the issue, ie: leaking down exhaust=exhaust valve seat, and so on and so forth.

I have a 1987 MJ with 2.5L. I will start at the beginning of my issues. Sorry in advance for being so long, just wanted to give as much details as possible. Last year I started noticing oil in the throttle body and in the breather box. I never could find any obstruction in the ccv system, so I just replaced the ccv "elbows" in the valve cover with breathers, I plugged the hose attachment on the breather box, and regulated a hose down to approx. 2mm and put a filter on the end it of where the hose would have attached to the throttle body. This (as dumb as it may have been) seemed to eliminate my issues, and did not effect the way the truck ran (if anything the idle smoothed a bit.) The only downside to this was that some oil would bubble out of the rear breather and run down the engine when the oil level was at the tip top of the full range on the stick. I have no smoke out the exhaust pipe so I figured all was well. Oil was never low either always between add and full. So other than oil on the engine, and smelling oil at interstate speeds no obvious downside. Fast forward to now: I have detected the scent of no small amount of Fuel in my oil. I had to put 1.75 quarts of oil in my truck 2500 miles after an oil change. It has never used oil, and this is totally new. I don't recall detecting the smell of gasoline before. I would immediately assume blow by, but again no smoke out the exhaust, (if you can have blow by, and no smoke, this is unknown to me.) I would think bad valve seats, but wouldn't explain the gas in the oil I wouldn't think. I have scoured the internet for any sort of COA, but everything is pretty foggy, or the scenarios presented in the articles are no exactly like mine. My first thought was fuel pressure regulator, then I thought leaky injector, then I thought I need to attempt to diagnose the problem before I throw parts at it. I am currently thinking of purchasing a leak down tester, do you guys think this is smart, or I am more likely to find that it is an issue somewhere else. Could my CCV modification/elimination cause this problem? It is possible that the fuel in oil, and oil leaving the engine (somewhere, burning or not) problems are unrelated, I just felt it doubtful. The only other issue I have noticed that may help guide those of you with the extraordinary constitution to read this extremely long post, is that a couple time over the past couple months I have had a really strong smell that I cannot identify would fill the cab (if the window was down, or the vent was on) and burn the crap out of my eyes, and I would have to pull off. This seemed to only happen when I was accelerating up a steep hill, and only happened twice then, and no power loss has been observed.

vaquaro, thanks for that post, it appears they make one for the 6ft bed MJ! Softopper Model #TN73. Now all I have to do is free up 600 bucks. http://www.softopper.com/Softopper_Mode ... 3%20inches

http://www.best-tops-direct.com/Special ... pTruck.jpg I have been seeing these around lately, and love them. One of these would suit my needs perfectly for what I use my MJ for. they don't make them for the MJ (go figure). So I was wondering if anyone has made one for another model pick up work?

Thanks eagle. I will look up the shimming write up if I can't get the vacuum right. (the red one being manifold vacuum which I do not have connected.) would this image be correct for what I am doing with the vacuum lines. Rather than shim the motor I might just put a non disconnect front end in, I can usually find them pretty cheap... I am sure there are write ups on them as well. (or are they more trouble than I am foreseeing?) Seems like the same amount of work in my mind, but I could be wrong.

Thanks jaekl, this is starting to help me understand... http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=642930 I found this in a yj forum should this be correct for my application also? If it is it would be a helpful reference. Also it sounds like you are saying that vacuum issue that I am fighting is trying to get the front axle to engage not the tcase correct.? So the tcase should work with or without vacuum.