Birty Dastards Jeep Club

Tech Forum => Workshop => Topic started by: rekab69 on January 13, 2011, 06:34:04 PM

Title: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: rekab69 on January 13, 2011, 06:34:04 PM
Hi Guys,

Head gasket (I suspect) has blown on my wife's 1999 / 2000 XJ 2.5 TD Cherokee. Can anyone point me it the right direction re torque setting for head bolts, tightening sequence, (no manual available), any known problems I might encounter when stripping it down?

Thanks in advance,

Dave.
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: Mike Pavelin on January 13, 2011, 07:46:18 PM
More likely to be a cracked head.
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: Dave69 on January 13, 2011, 07:52:47 PM
use the search function on here as this subject has been covered plenty of times,


and welcome
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: 72 watch on January 13, 2011, 09:17:47 PM
before you strip it go to the carspares shop and ask for a bottle of wonderweld brilliant stuff seals headgaskets instantly. just take the top rad hose off and pour in then start.costs about £12.00  dont use k.seal it not so good.i sealed acrack in the block of a p38 v8 4.2 and 18mths down the line still no probs .trust me what have you to lose nothin many people dont know about this stuff
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: rekab69 on January 14, 2011, 05:07:54 PM
Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies, I suspect a cracked head is a possibility too. Plan on keeping the old girl so will go ahead and strip it down with a view to sorting it out for the long term.

Any links to the info I need would be appreciated as I don't seem to have any luck with search facilities on the forum...

Cheers

Dave..
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: tim_aka_tim on January 14, 2011, 05:55:35 PM
I don't recall any thread telling how to do the heads. Threads usually go something like

"I think the head gasket has gone on my VM"
"It's a cracked head. It has 4 individual heads. Fix it yourself, or it will cost 4 figures. Consider scrapping it"

The parts you need can be had from here....
http://www.vmdieselspecialist.com/ (http://www.vmdieselspecialist.com/)
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: Dave69 on January 14, 2011, 07:31:26 PM
take the water gallery of first, looking from the front of the jeep towards the engine the water gallery is to the left of the rocker cover and joins all the heads together. with this off start the engine and air bubbles should be seen where a porus head or where your problem is. head gasket failure is uncommon. you shouldn't have to run the engine long to see the problem.

use the k-seal or liquid metal to start with as this will give you time to save for the replacement parts and or labour bill at the garage.

cost to fix is probably £400 plus and that might jusdt be for parts delivery and vat

if your doing it yourself then it can be done in a day but allow 2 days to complete. the hardest bolts are the exhaust manifold ones around cylinder number 3 and your turning them one face at a time.

at the front on the engine you can see the head gasket and this should have some pre drilled holes either 3 or three, these refer to the gasket thickness, also look to see if the gasket is one piece or four individual ones, this is obvious but you might be asked this information when you talk to the VM specialist. He is the cheapest place to get parts and he knows what you will need when you describe the symptoms your encountering.
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: isle of man on January 14, 2011, 08:20:29 PM
Sell the fooooooker as is.....
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: wildrover on January 14, 2011, 09:04:14 PM
Put some steel seal in it...and carry on driving..did my VM cherokee a year ago..done thousands of miles....no problems....

Its really not worth spending time and money on an old VM when you can fix it with a bottle of magic fluid...

I love my Jeep cherokee , but i do wish i had not got one with a VM engine in...

I shall just keep driving it untill it falls to bits...
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: rekab69 on January 16, 2011, 04:29:43 PM
Mmmmmm!!  Thought I'd try the wonder stuff in a bottle tobuy some time, found which cylinder it was pressurising the water jacket, rear one. Fan it for 20mins with injector and glow plug removed. Ran fine, no overheating, no pressure in water jacket. Replaced injector etc.. Pressurised water jacket as before... Doh!!

Removed injector etc again and ran for another 20mins, (how loud??!) Then noticed oil being pumped out of injector hole....!

Head gasket failed between oil way and compression....????

Back to plan A then.....!

Oh, hum....

Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: isle of man on January 16, 2011, 04:32:05 PM
Good luck!!!
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: rekab69 on January 16, 2011, 10:58:34 PM
Toque settings, anyone??
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: gazjeep on January 17, 2011, 11:19:51 AM
PM me your e-mail & I'll send you the pdf file I have.

Will try & post em later

Cheers

Gaz
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: gazjeep on January 17, 2011, 11:25:04 AM
Here you go

Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: tim_aka_tim on January 17, 2011, 03:35:56 PM
Gaz, what the fuck is that? You do realize this is tech, right? And that that was a meaningful and relevent post?
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: rekab69 on January 17, 2011, 05:23:05 PM
Thanks for the tech info Gaz, all parts ordered and on their way, just need the rain to hold off..

Cheers All.
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: gazjeep on January 17, 2011, 05:58:42 PM
Gaz, what the fuck is that? You do realize this is tech, right? And that that was a meaningful and relevent post?

I know I know...... the tech guru's must be rubbing off on me  :003:

Just happen to have the info to hand as some kind Birty sent it to me when local mukanic needed the info  :icon_winkle: So thought I would spread a bit of Birty happiness

Thought for a minute I had posted the wrong thing ya git :003:
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: tim_aka_tim on January 17, 2011, 06:26:14 PM
Thought for a minute I had posted the wrong thing ya git :003:

 :hysterical:
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: gazjeep on January 17, 2011, 07:44:33 PM
Tis true I tell you.... thought for a horrible minute I might have uploaded some gentlemens special interest literature  :hysterical: :hysterical:
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: MOCAJ on January 17, 2011, 07:45:44 PM
Tis true I tell you.... thought for a horrible minute I might have uploaded some gentlemens special interest literature  :hysterical: :hysterical:

no, that was someone else yesterday  :hysterical:
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: isle of man on January 17, 2011, 07:47:43 PM
**cough**
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: rekab69 on February 14, 2011, 10:07:47 PM
Hi,

Many thanks to all the advice and wishes of "good luck (Isle of Man, you know who you are!). Jeep is back up and running a dream, one new head, a few gaskets, and a few scraped knuckles to boot but drives fine, no smoke and Oh! so Cool....


Cheers Guys, great forum.

Dave.
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: gazjeep on February 14, 2011, 10:46:45 PM
Glad your all sorted...

Dont skimp on very regular oil changes & annual coolant changes & perceived wisdom is that this will aid a longer happier engine life  :icon_winkle:
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: Bishops Finger on February 15, 2011, 12:04:51 AM
Gaz is right and getting mucho techie.. :greggmo:
Title: Re: XJ Jeep TD 2.5 head gasket.
Post by: big g on February 15, 2011, 06:23:26 PM
Yep.His report for tech studies should be pretty impressive this term.