1992JeepCherokee4x4

While checking my oil yesterday I noticed at the end of the dipstick there was a little bubby milky residue. Should I be concerned about this?
The temperature was near 50 yesterday. Does that have something to do with perhaps a little water in the oil pan?
Help?
Thanks

xjsweeney

you could need a head gasket get it checked

1992JeepCherokee4x4

OMG, What would the approx cost on that be to have the head gasket fixed?

LCFRJEEP

Well it's not gonna be too cheap unless your best friend is a mechanic!! If it is your head gasket, you should also have your head checked to make sure it's not warped.
Good Luck!!

98 JeepJeep

Most of the time the water settles to the bottom of the pan....drain the oil and pay attention to what comes out first. then keep a eye on the coolant level and oil condition. However a leak down test should be done...............if the head needs to be removed. I STRONGLY reccomend sending it to the shop and having the surface checked and vaccum pulled on the heads to insure they dont need a Valve job. If they do, have the valve seals replaced and springs pressure tested. Due to the lifter ticking history of the 4.0 i would also reccomend replacing the lifter...They are cheap. There is no short cut to doing it right.

Burns

Your F#$#....that happend to me with a chevy blazer. I just had the motor rebuilt

76ANTHONY

did you check the oil after running it? sounds like your seeing air in the oil from running, not water mix. snap a pic of your dipstick after checking, im thinking you may just have checked it and saw airbubbles.

fivendime

Crap, if its like a milky brownish yeah its a head gasket or cracked block. My guess is head gasket. I just had this problem with the cherokee I just bought, but I knew it before I bought it. Its not expensive at all about 100 bucks for a complete head gasket kit, which will give you new gaskets for everything you need to take off and put back on. I would have the top end checked just for warp and cracks which will cost you around 50 bucks max. If you do have it checked have your gasket kit and give the machine shop your valve seals so they can replace them, dont know how much it costs cause my head was cracked and decided to buy a new motor. I also had 2 bad valves and 2 semi melted pistons, and the 75K motor I bought only costed me 500 bucks and gave me a bunch of extra motor parts. It should only take you a day MAX for all the work yourself and the time to drag the head to a machine shop and back.

Before you do this just make sure its water in the oil, Easy way to check it see if smells sweet out the exhaust, or if the water vapor out the exhaust never stops, or if its overheating quick, maybe a misfire as well.

98 JeepJeep

Or....Know for sure with a leak down test...

zjrog

Headgasket isn't hard to do if you have the time. Have a good set of metric sockets, and I would suggest at the least a 16mm 1/2" drive socket and a 1/2" ratchet for the head bolts (I bent 2 cheap 3/8" drive ratchets when I replaced the 90 XJ headgasket). I had no warpage and cleaned the surfaces really good. I had two cylinders really low on compression, the gasket wasn't gone yet, but was close.

fivendime

Better yet, go get a coolant pressure tester for the radiator, and for a check on valves you dont need any special tools. A can of carb cleaner, turn the head upside down so you looking at the valves and fill the combustion chamber with carb cleaner. Wait a little bit and see if its seeping past the valves. If it then a valve is bad or he head is bad.

Turn your cherokee on for a min and then off then check your oil, milky brown = head gasket or block.

98 JeepJeep

Or you need a VJ ...due to a pitted valve/seat....most of the time the valves can be lapped to reseal...this is all part of the VJ process...I reccomend having the head magnafluxed first to see if its worth a darn.

BowtieGuy3

Head Gasket...
Easiest way to be sure if you want our opinion...

Pull all the plugs, one at a time, and post their pics up here one at a time, starting with cylinder #1, and ending on #6.

Belto

to be optimist and not say its a head gasket, you just have water in your oil, start by draining and replacing oil

fivendime

This cant be any simpler. I took this photo of my oil when the head gasket went out next to the old oil out of another oil change.