![]() I also broke out my compression gauge, finding all cylinders to read between 100 psi and 120 psi - these are below the 120 to 150 spec, but maybe the gauge isn’t reading right. If there are combustion gases in the coolant, they will turn the blue detection fluid yellow, meaning there’s a head or head gasket issue. The second tool I used was a “block tester” (shown on the left), which basically involves pouring a blue detection fluid into a cylinder, shoving that cylinder into the radiator, and sucking air from the cooling system through the blue fluid. Sadly, that leak does not appear to be external, as even a close inspection of the radiator, water pump housing, and thermostat housing shows no dripping ethylene-glycol mixture. The needle fell, indicating that I have a leak somewhere. Unfortunately, the Jeep wasn’t running properly a compression check confirmed that the cylinder head had failed, and a machine shop later confirmed that it had cracked. I heard a fairly loud knocking sound coming from the bottom of the motor, but once I learned that this was just the water pump banging around a bad bearing, I felt at ease. And this time I’d be on the receiving end of the most painful blow yet.Īfter the Jeep overheated 20 minutes into the buyer’s (that’s Tracy) drive, she drove back in the car she’d piloted to Michigan, and I’d agreed to mend the engine. I haven’t driven the Jeep, I’ve spent years fixing it, and once I finally had all of those repairs done and I thought I could finally part ways with this mechanical menace that had haunted me for far too long, the XJ decided to come right back and kick me one last time. This XJ Cherokee ownership experience has been a failure in every way. Holy crap that’s a lot of work, and for what? So I could store the vehicle (which I considered the most perfect Jeep ever made when I bought it, with plans to keep it forever) for four years and only drive it a total of maybe 50 miles. Replaced front windshield wiper motor/transmission.Replaced control arm bushings on front axle.Replaced rear bumper (which I had professionally painted).Replaced front bumper (which I had professionally painted).Replaced front left fender flare (which I had professionally painted).Replaced front left fender (which I had professionally painted).You’ll understand why I was so bummed when you look at this list of repairs I made prior to the sale in April: I was inching towards freedom soon I’d no longer be weighed down physically and emotionally by American iron, but the AMC gods thought differently, and shoved the 9/16 swivel-head ratchet wrench right back into my hand. It was a tough call to get, because the amount of work I’d done to this XJ since going through hell to buy it back in 2018 - just to get it into selling shape - is shocking The fact that the Jeep still isn’t finished made my heart sink. Sadly, 20 minutes after the buyer left with the title (no money has exchanged hands, she was going to wire it to me) to head back to Chicago, she told me the Jeep had overheated. It was a simple cylinder head job I’d conducted the job four times prior, so I wasn’t anticipating any trouble from the beautiful 1991 Jeep Cherokee five-speed that I’d sold to the family that had ordered the Jeep from the factory way back in 1990. But more often than not, any budding cockiness is swiftly crushed by the wrenching gods before it ever sprouts that’s what happened this weekend. And every now and then, like when I - even encumbered by a case of trenchfoot - revived a 1958 Willys FC that had sat for decades, I do begin to wonder if I’m hot shit with a toolset. You’d think that the result of a youth spent with machines and not people my age would be an ability to fix damn near anything. That’s seven years of my youth occupied by the ol’ wrench. Truly, I think at least 90 percent of my non-travel weekends between age 24 and 31 (well, in two months) have involved wrenching on a shitbox. I cannot even think back to the last weekend where I wasn’t fixing something. I’m thoroughly annoyed, I’m thoroughly tired, and the buyer of this Jeep Cherokee may be thoroughly screwed. All day Saturday and Sunday - the entirety of my weekend - involved me, a former Jeep cooling system engineer, being absolutely decimated by an overheating Jeep Cherokee XJ. I’m covered in oil and coolant lack of sleep has sprouted saggy bags under my eyes, which now stare blankly into this screen as my fingers bang out the words you’re reading with little input from my now barely-functioning brain. I should have been in Chicago on Sunday, but instead I sit utterly defeated here at my house in Troy, Michigan.
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