Good Morning,

A buddy of mine was in need of money. So he offered to sell me his 1993 Cherokee with a 2 in rough country lift on it. It’s got 167k. There are several problems that maybe you guys can help me with. I know nothing about cars but would like to make this thing work.

It sat for a few months. He had to charge it to start it. Drove it the 12 mins to my house by then the battery started to lose voltage. When I put the headlights on the engine started to shut off then finally did. Tried to start it again and it sounded like a deck of cards getting shuffled. I jumped it using my car and it started back up. But again the battery started losing voltage after a few mins. He believes the battery is just shot from sitting so long. Is it really or is the alternator gone?

Next there’s a crack in the exhaust manifold where all the pipes meet. I can see the crack. When I first started it up and drove it down the block I saw nothing. But after the 12 min drive on the highway to my house a decent amount of white’ish smoke was coming out and the entire engine bay was pretty hot. Even the hood latch was hot to the touch. My friend said it was due to the crack and the hot exhaust air pouring into the engine bay. It also drove a little weak and loud. Even idling it is loud and rattles. The rattling sounds like its coming from the exhaust manifold but again I don’t know much about cars so I can’t be sure. My questions are is the white smoke really from the manifold or is there a bigger issue at hand (head gasket). Will welding the crack seal it?

I got it late last night and that’s all I know so far. When I get home after work I’m going to try to start it again and look around. Money is really tight right now due to my wife’s medical issues and basically any spare money I had I gave to my friend to help him with his own issues. I was going to give him the money anyways so I figured if he’s offering the XJ (I have always wanted one) why not. Anyone have any ideas on how these issues can be fixed or at least patched up for now for cheap. I only need it to work for a little longer until I get a little more money. I’m hoping that it’s not a lost cause.

You All have a blessed day.

 

You could have both a bad battery and bad alternator.

Generally speaking, if the vehicle starts with a jump-start and stays running - you'd look at the battery. If you charge the battery up and the vehicle eventually dies you'd look at the alternator.

Both a battery and alternator can be tested either on or off the vehicle at your local parts retailer (Autozone). If you can drive the Jeep to the parts store - I'd do that and get both the battery and alternator tested.

You could also have an issue with the PCM (Engine computer) since the voltage regulator is located there. This is less likely, but certainly a possibility.

What I would do is:
1) Go through the vehicle and clean and tighten all the grounds and battery cables. By clean I mean get out your sandpaper, wire brushes, etc. and make sure there are shiny bare metal contacts between the wires and the body. I like to use a bit of di-electric grease as well to keep the moisture out. This is a very low cost and important first step in ANY electrical troubleshooting.
2) Get the vehicle if possible, but if it's not drive-able just remove the battery and take it down to the parts store to do a full "load test" - this is the best way to know for sure what condition the battery is in. The XJ is very picky about the battery quality and if it's not certainly good then you aught to replace it. If you can drive down to the parts store, do that and have them do both the battery load test and the alternator test. These tests are free and available at most major auto parts retailers - if in doubt give them a call first.

Once you have a better idea of what's going on with the battery and alt, you can decide what your next steps are.

 

As far as the exhaust manifold - you certainly could get it welded, but whether you replace or repair it you'll probably have to remove it from the vehicle. You don't need to be a master mechanic to remove or replace it, just research the job, make sure you have all the necessary tools and give yourself plenty of time.
If the crack is so bad that you can easily see and identify it, probably it is exhaust smoke in the engine compartment. If you're worried about a head gasket you can inspect the oil (if it's milkshake then you know there's a problem) and if it's normal you can do a compression test. You can get a compression test gauge from your local auto parts store as a free rental (you just leave a deposit).

Edit -- An exhaust leak will make the engine loud at idle and while driving. Also the engine compartment of an XJ is pretty hot when running normally, but it's reasonable that excessive exhaust gas under there would up the temp.

 

PatHenry thank you very much for your replies. I appreciate it more than you can imagine. I'm going to take a better look at everything when i get home. I'm hoping its just the battery but going what you told me will help me get a better idea. I will also check the gas for the "milkshake" and report back.

 

If you unhook the battery while it's running and it dies it is your alternator.

 

I'm Mainly worried about it being a head gasket issue. that has to be worse than the exhaust manifold

 

The crack

 

That is bad - it seems to go across the whole thing.

Really a head gasket just in and of itself is pretty simple on the I6 - sure it's more work than the exhaust manifold (which has to come off as part of the head gasket) but when you have the head off it's prudent to have a machine shop inspect for cracks and warping, etc etc.

Many of us use blackstone labs oil analysis to verify and monitor the condition of our engines. It's only like $30 per sample and can help verify the condition and can find problems before they grow into major failure.

 

Certainly a rattle sound is common with exhaust issues. You can check that the hangers are not rusted off - there's one above the crossmember, one under the rear seat and one at the end. There's a very common issue with the pipe hitting the crossmember either due to broken hanger or bad tranny mount.

 

Can you please point out some of these parts. I am not familiar with what a hanger is

 

a hanger is just as it sounds there are a few down the length of the exhaust system and they hang the pipe. most have one by the transmission ,one by the muffler and one at the end closest to the back due to many different brands and styles of replacement exhaust there could be more or less of them. what I do to check for exhaust rattles is go to the rear and kick the tailpipe a few times and listen for the rattle .

 

pics of the oil cap and radiator opening . Im definitely going to do an oil change. But does everything look normal. Also i got a new battery to test if its the battery or alternator

 

Anything?

 

Looks normal, Did you try disconnecting the positive battery cable while the engine is running to see if it dies,If it does die it is a bad alternator .

 

i did ao. It is definitely the alternator. I ordered it and im going to try to change it myself when it comes. Any tips would be appreciated.

thank you