TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Trying to figure out why ny heater isnt working the best and why my brakes have no pressure, come to find white sludge in my PCV and hose. Its pretty nasty, never seen it before. Anyone have an Idea on what it is? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Usually indicates coolant contamination of the oil. Check your compression. Could be a head gasket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Usually indicates coolant contamination of the oil. Check your compression. Could be a head gasket. Ah great, I hope not. Ill run a compression test tomrrow hopefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oyaji Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Could just be condensation from water in blow-by in the crankcase. If you mostly drive short trips, your engine oil may not get hot enough to boil out all the water that accumulates. If the above is your situation, you might not have a problem at all. The cure would be to take an hour-long (or longer) drive once or more per week... more frequent oil changes might be a good idea too. Since you have noticed a potential problem, you should definitely follow Eagle's advice and run a compression check. For that matter, it's a good idea to run one every time you have the spark plugs out, in my opinion. The small added effort is a cheap enough price to pay for peace of mind and having an ongoing good general idea of your engine condition, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92tanMJ Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Trying to figure out why ny heater isnt working the best and why my brakes have no pressure, come to find white sludge in my PCV and hose. Its pretty nasty, never seen it before. Anyone have an Idea on what it is? Thanks PVC? The thing I know PVC is short for is polyvinyl chloride. lol Aka the pipe they use in plumping your home. Usually indicates coolant contamination of the oil. Check your compression. Could be a head gasket. ^ exactly what Eagle said, IF that's white stuff in your oil. Not white stuff in your coolant. I could be wrong with this- but he's dealing with his coolant system- so why I would think he has white stuff in his coolant not oil. But I could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oyaji Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Trying to figure out why ny heater isnt working the best and why my brakes have no pressure, come to find white sludge in my PCV and hose. Its pretty nasty, never seen it before. Anyone have an Idea on what it is? Thanks PVC? The thing I know PVC is short for is polyvinyl chloride. lol Aka the pipe they use in plumping your home. >>>Usually indicates coolant contamination of the oil. Check your compression. Could be a head gasket. ^ exactly what Eagle said, IF that's white stuff in your oil. Not white stuff in your coolant. I could be wrong with this- but he's dealing with his coolant system- so why I would think he has white stuff in his coolant not oil. But I could be wrong. Not PVC - PCV - Positive Crankcase Ventilation. That means he's dealing with engine oil, and the cooling system is not involved... unless he has a blown head gasket, or cracked head or block. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92tanMJ Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Not PVC - PCV - Positive Crankcase Ventilation. That means he's dealing with engine oil, and the cooling system is not involved... unless he has a blown head gasket, or cracked head or block. Dyslexia strikes again :doh: Right, I got the rest of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimoshel Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 It's possible to have white sludge in the engine oil and there isn't a thing wrong with the engine.It's condensation from the atmosphere. To many short trips, starting and stopping the engine and it just isn't getting hot enough to burn off the condensation, sludge. Check your pcv valve and thermostat. Short trip less than a block? Walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 Would this also cause the brakes and heater to not work? checked all the hoses, they are ok. Heater gets hotter when the RPM is high, and the brakes I have to pump a few times to get max pressure. Otherwise it sinks to the floor, then works. As for the short trips, Ive been driving to Springfield a lot, about 1 hr one way. Almost every weekend. And drive about 20 miles a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Like Jim said, check your thermostat. They're cheap and easy to replace, and if they stick open, they can lead to the engine not warming up properly, which in turn can lead to a funky heater and possibly even the white sludge. Course, a funky heater could also be because you've got low coolant, and low coolant and white sludge could still be a bad head gasket. But you'd likely be noticing other symptoms of a bad head gasket by now. Your brakes issue sounds more like they're in need of a bleed to me. A vacuum leak could potentially cause both brake and heater symptoms, but I think it's unlikely. I believe the respective systems get their vacuum off separate vacuum ports. But again, check your thermostat first. Or just replace it because they're cheap and you'll have to pull it out to check it anyhow. A bad tstat recently lead to my MJ taking typically more than ten miles of highway driving to warm up to operating temp after sitting idling for five minutes after having the block heater plugged in all night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 Like Jim said, check your thermostat. They're cheap and easy to replace, and if they stick open, they can lead to the engine not warming up properly, which in turn can lead to a funky heater and possibly even the white sludge. Course, a funky heater could also be because you've got low coolant, and low coolant and white sludge could still be a bad head gasket. But you'd likely be noticing other symptoms of a bad head gasket by now. Your brakes issue sounds more like they're in need of a bleed to me. A vacuum leak could potentially cause both brake and heater symptoms, but I think it's unlikely. I believe the respective systems get their vacuum off separate vacuum ports. But again, check your thermostat first. Or just replace it because they're cheap and you'll have to pull it out to check it anyhow. A bad tstat recently lead to my MJ taking typically more than ten miles of highway driving to warm up to operating temp after sitting idling for five minutes after having the block heater plugged in all night. ill have to look at it. I just replaced the thermostat, so who knows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimoshel Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Sometimes I feel like I've replaced just as many new parts that were bad as I've replaced old parts that went bad. I won't install a new part until I've checked it first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 I know what you mean by that. Have had a few parts like that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oyaji Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Anytime something isn't working right, it's a good thing to consider any recent changes. I agree that just because a part is new doesn't mean it is working as it should - quality control has slipped worldwide nowadays (I blame China). Easy way to get a good idea of whether the thermostat is working without pulling it and tossing it into a pot of boiling water is to simply measure temperature of the cooling system. A thermometer in the radiator filler neck will give you a good idea of the operating temperature. I don't have one yet but the IR (InfraRed) thermometers have gotten cheap, I hear. Next time I need one I think I'll get a cheap one from Harbor Freight and try it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpace6a Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Went through 4 thermostats in a 5.9 ram before one actually worked right. They can be bad from the start, or just gunk from the cooling system causing them to stick open. Annoying buggers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 If you just replaced the thermostat, did you make certain that the system was fully filled and "burped"? In cold weather, the coolant could be low (but not empty) without seeing the engine overheat. But, as gogmorgo has pointed out, low coolant can result in no heat. And those who have mentioned that short trips in cold weather, not allowing the engine to fully warm up, can result in condensation, which will also generate white sludge if exposed to oil vapors in the PCV system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 I think It maybe a vacuum, but I don't know where. Sometimes it idles high, other times it won't. The heater will work good and then it will stop, then work. Brakes have to be pumped in order to get full pressure. Ill have to check the coolant again, I checked the thermostat, seems to be working. And what is "burping" the coolant?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Burping is getting the air bubbles out of the system. I don't know what the procedure is for the 2.5, but when I did my 4.0, I just pulled the rad cap off and topped up the rad. Then I squeezed the upper rad hose repeatedly until air stopped bubbling out of the rad cap. Then I topped up the rad, put the cap back on, and ran the engine for a couple minutes, shut the engine off, and did it again, until there was no air at the top of the rad. I also had the front wheels sitting on a snow bank (about 18" high, but that's pretty well overkill) to make sure the rad was the highest part of the cooling system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91Pioneer Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I bought one of these last year, it pulls a vacuum on the cooling system for a refill, it eliminates the need to "burp". It's handy to have, there are other models: UView 550000 Airlift Cooling Purge Tool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Burping is getting the air bubbles out of the system. I don't know what the procedure is for the 2.5, but when I did my 4.0, I just pulled the rad cap off and topped up the rad. Then I squeezed the upper rad hose repeatedly until air stopped bubbling out of the rad cap. Then I topped up the rad, put the cap back on, and ran the engine for a couple minutes, shut the engine off, and did it again, until there was no air at the top of the rad. I also had the front wheels sitting on a snow bank (about 18" high, but that's pretty well overkill) to make sure the rad was the highest part of the cooling system. I have done similar to that, but will have to check again. I bought one of these last year, it pulls a vacuum on the cooling system for a refill, it eliminates the need to "burp". It's handy to have, there are other models: UView 550000 Airlift Cooling Purge Tool Never seen one of those. Ill have to look into it. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 Well it finally warmed up enough so that I could take out the thermostat. You guys were right, it was stuck open. Thank goodness that it was still under warranty. I now have a heater! Now just to figure out why it only blows air through the defroster........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 The heater controls are all vacuum controls, and if there's no vacuum, they will default to the defrost position. Most likely you've got a leak somewhere. Don't know if there's any particular spot that is known to fail, but check for unhooked hoses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnuck Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Look above the gas pedal first. The vacuum hose on the defrost controller tends to come off from someone putting their foot too high up and kicking it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 or the vac ball behind the bumper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyJeep401 Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 Wow, sounds like one vaccum leak comprimises the whole truck. It blows the hot air through the top and a little bit of cold out the bottom. Ill check the vaccum lines again. Could the vents on it not be hooked up? Just wondering. Thanks for the help guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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