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HELP! I'm stuck at a truck stop in Iowa


Geonovast
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Right now I'm kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere. I'm at the intersection of 218/27 and 92 at a big BP Truck stop.

 

XJ has been hemmoraging oil and I've not really been able to stop it. I've got a total of 247 miles and it's dumped probably 8 quarts. I changed the valve cover gasket before we left, but I've put some rags at the back of the head directly underneath the gasket and it's not picking up any oil. I can't seem to find the leak, I'm guessing it's either the head gasket or RMS.

 

Is there anyone in the area that can lend a hand or have any ideas?

 

Here's where I'm at. Apparently just outside of Ainsworth, IA

 

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Well we're gonna trek out again here... gonna jump for Mt Pleasant to find some gear oil and stop leak stuff.

 

If anyone's in the area and has any ideas or some way to help... please call my at 608-279-6977

 

I appreciate any help any of you can get me.

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If it's your RMS, then stop-leak ain't going to do anything. I lost 5 quarts inside of a half hour when that went. :( But the leak was pretty obvious and you could see dripping down even at idle.

 

Good luck to you!

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Do not put gear oil in the crankcase.

 

Definitely sounds like the rear main seal. I had one blow out in an XJ on I-80 about halfway across PA on my way to Montana. I stopped at a Wal-Mart, bought a case of their house brand oil in the heaviest weight I could find, and just added a quart about ever 150 or 200 miles. The entire undercarriage was coated and it was sucking back up and putting an oily haze on the rear bumper, hatch, and hatch glass. Still ran fine.

 

Once it's blown it's blown, but you can reduce the amount of oil that gets pushed out somewhat by keeping your speed down.

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Well, we made it here ok, just took awhile.

 

As for the gear oil, it had been suggested to me that I put a small amount in with the regular weight oil. I dumped in just shy of a quart, didn't seem to make any difference, so I didn't put any more in.

 

But yeah, the entire hatch and bumper are covered in a film of oil. Something I somehow neglected to mention in the first post... my Oil Pressure is really high. After the first leg of the trip it jumped to 60-70 while running and maybe down to 35 at idle. This maybe has something to do with the RMS blowing? But if that's the case.. what caused the high pressure in the first place?

 

After we get home, I'm probably going to yank the whole motor and re-seal the entire thing. Hopefully nothing inside is too screwed, although I have noticed a valvetrain tick at idle.

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I was wondering about your pressure. Since it doesn't usually improve with age, you probably have some sort of restriction in the system. Either something is partially blocking a oil passageway (not using a cheapie disintigrating oil filter, are you?) or a bearing (cam most likely) has rotated a bit and is blocking oil flow. This will certainly give you a valve train tick.

 

How did the inside of your engine look when you had the VC off? Any sludge living in there? Maybe time for a full rebuild and not just a reseal.

 

Now, what you also need to check is the CCV system. Especially since you just had the cover off. It only takes 3 to 5 psi of crankcase pressure to start blowing out engine seals. See, the pressurized oil coming out of the rear main bearing doesn't shoot directly at the RMS. There is a metal ring to deflect it to the cutout in the bearing cap and back to the pan. But if you combine excess oil and a too much crank case pressure you will certainly have a case of Jeep ebola.

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I had the VC off also to fix the blowby.. I was given a VC that supposedly had the PCV system completely rebuild. Well, the front one's either shot or the Crankcase pressure is so high that it's blowing through.

 

I use the carquest brand filter, which from what I understand are manufactured by WIX. I stopped using FRAM after I found this site. There was a black, nameless filter on the XJ when I bought it.

 

The top of the head looked beautiful when I had the VC off. The inside of the old cover was covered in gunk, but everything on the head was clean.

 

The RMS is probably pretty old. I think it was just starting to go out when I did the oil change, since we were getting a little smoke off the exhaust before I started dinking around with it. If I can find the right tools down here I'll probably tackle the RMS, I'll have the whole week to do it.

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Next time skip the gear oil and use Lucas oil stabilizer. Does the same thing... thickens the oil... Gear oil additive packages contain some things you don't really want running through the engine.

 

Lucas is just base stock, a bunch of thickening agents and a small amount of additives. So there isn't anything that would negatively effect the engine. This is the only thing that Lucas is really effective at, thickening the oil.

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The front port is for incoming filtered air. I assume you still have the rubber PCV grommet in the rear hole? Make sure that there is vacuum getting to it first. Then pop it out and make sure the hole is clear. Then look in to the hole it came out of. There will be a metal flapper there. Make sure it isn't gunked closed. If the problem is with too much pressure, then you may find that fixing it may at least calm down the hemorrhagic fever at the RMS.

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How did things end up working out?

 

For those of you giving Correy a hard time about the gear oil, it was me that gave him that idea. :???: From the desperation in his voice when he called me and with about 5 seconds to think of something for him, it was the best thing I could think of to help thicken the oil up and get him to a mechanic, other than getting some of the Lucas stuff - but that is not normally stocked at Gas Stations... It sounded to me that it would not hold oil at all and I figured that some oil is better than none.

 

I didn't know that there are things in gear oil that could damage the engine. Hopefully by thinning it out with regular oil everything is ok internally...

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Well, we didn't make it home, we made it to where we were going. Tomorrow I'm doing the RMS, and hopefully that was all it was, and we won't have any problems on the way home on Monday.

 

How from that station are you? If it's not far, I'm certainly opening to meeting up anyway and seeing the MJ.

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Well, we didn't make it home, we made it to where we were going. Tomorrow I'm doing the RMS, and hopefully that was all it was, and we won't have any problems on the way home on Monday.

 

How from that station are you? If it's not far, I'm certainly opening to meeting up anyway and seeing the MJ.

 

about 2 hours away, but I will be in Hamilton, IA on Sunday with about 160 other trucks.(see http://www.miobi.org for more info) I know it's a little out of your way, but I thought I would let you know.

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Yea to the oil pressure problem. If you can't find the cause, you might blow another RMS. When did the OP increase, after or before your baby began hemorraging? If after, could maybe a restriction in your CV system have caused too much pressure in the pan, blowing the seal, and a piece of it somehow lodged somewhere, increasing oil pressure?

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Let us know what you find when you drop the pan. I am a little worried about the increased oil pressure. Might be a piece of the old RMS in the oil passage on the rear main cap too. Hope it is not a spun cam bearing.

 

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18276

 

Off topic but every time I read this posts title all my mind sees is "Help! I'm stuck in Iowa", and I think to myself.....hey me too. :wall:

 

Yeah... not the most thrilling state. Luckily I usually just have to drive through it. :banana:

 

Yea to the oil pressure problem. If you can't find the cause, you might blow another RMS. When did the OP increase, after or before your baby began hemorraging? If after, could maybe a restriction in your CV system have caused too much pressure in the pan, blowing the seal, and a piece of it somehow lodged somewhere, increasing oil pressure?

 

It had a small oil leak from when I bought it... but so did every 4.0 I've ever had. Right before the oil change/VC change(did at the same time), the leak had started to get worse. Before the VC change the pressure stayed right about 40, then afterwords jumped up to 60-70 while operating and about 35 at idle.

 

I guess I'm taking a break from the procedure cause it's raining and there's like an 80% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon, but if I get a break from the rain I'll run out there and see what I can pull apart on the CCV system. I'm hoping that there's something plugged, and that that was the problem.

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