Topic: Has the Head blown on my Cherokee 2.5 VM??? (Read 5362 times)

bengingle · « **on:** March 18, 2011, 10:19:38 AM »

Guys, need some advice from those in the know about my mint but potentially blown Jeep Cherokee 2.5 (VM Engine) Limited on a P-Reg (it’s the old shape on though).

Yesterday on M25 it over heated, limped into a garage looked for an airlock in the cooling system, basically decided it could be a stuck thermostat. No thermostat (new) to hand, so we cut the middle out of the existing one and put it back in so water could flow through. This actually seemed to work.

However, driving home, it over heated again, by this time it was dark, but taking the lid of the header tank it did bubble over (drove it back to my mechanical friend with lid off header tank to let excess flow out – only about 4-miles). Also as I was driving home it went from hot to cool, then starting getting hot again?

So right now I’m wondering what the hell is up, have you guys got any thoughts.

Jeep only has 102k on the clock and is so spec’d up with leather, electric everything, low miles and tip top condition I’d quite like to keep it (having only paid £800 for it about 2 months ago).

Can you chaps give me any advice or thoughts so i can make a decision to sell or repair.
Have read some posts about ‘magic fluid’ but really need some other opinions if possible.

Mike Pavelin · « **Reply #1 on:** March 18, 2011, 12:08:41 PM »

It has one or more cracked cylinder heads.

bengingle · « **Reply #2 on:** March 18, 2011, 12:32:42 PM »

Will the cylinder sealer stuff work that people are mentioning on here - ever tried it?

bengingle · « **Reply #3 on:** March 18, 2011, 01:30:55 PM »

Here's the stuff I'm looking at... looks the best bet to be fair

http://www.kalimex.silkhosts.org.uk/acatalog/KalimexFullProductRange.php#a23
http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=41508 (where I got the above link from)
http://www.holtsauto.com/company/testimonials/7

scrw · « **Reply #4 on:** March 18, 2011, 02:45:09 PM »

Quote from: bengingle on March 18, 2011, 12:32:42 PM

Will the cylinder sealer stuff work that people are mentioning on here - ever tried it?

it may work, doesn't cost much to try

Dave69 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2011, 03:30:21 PM »

K-seal does work also Liquid metal (?) but it all does depend on how bad the head has gone or where it has gone. these products rely on heat to work properly. do a search for diesel engine problems and diagnosis as there are plenty of threads on the subject with the information you need

Mel B · « **Reply #6 on:** March 18, 2011, 04:34:04 PM »

K-Seal only worked for a month for me, only one bottle was used, perhaps i did not put enough in for my KJ.

bengingle · « **Reply #7 on:** March 18, 2011, 04:56:43 PM »

How many bottles do you reckon is best to use then?

bengingle · « **Reply #8 on:** March 18, 2011, 05:38:18 PM »

Guys, what colour is the K-Seal stuff and how does it work...

Reason I ask is I just looked online and saw a picture and it looked like a brown liquid. One random thing I couldn't work out is some odd 'sand like' substance in the header tank - I reckon this could be K-Seal!!!

Does the substance stay in the water system all the time making the 'seal', meaning if i'd drained the system (as i did in Feb), I would have lost all the K-Seal, hence it's now over heating and wasn't before.

Does that make any sense?

Dave69 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:17:25 PM »

K-Seal is a rust colour with shiney metal flakes which can be seen. this stays in the coolant and is a constant repair so if you drain the coolant you need to add another bottle of the sealant. if looking into the filler cap on the top of the rad you should be able to see the metal flakes (copper coloured IIRC).

sounds like you drained the system and the temp repair so the guy who sold it to you probably knew the heads were gone and not mentioned it

wildrover · « **Reply #10 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:34:45 PM »

I put two bottles of steel seal in my VM when it became a boiler....then drove it 650 miles to Poland , done thousands of miles since , including two trips to Ukraine....The old oil burner is going to Moscow next month.... STEAL SEAL.... does what it says on the bottle...

Later when when water pump went and i lost all the water i thought i would have to put more steel seal in , but the guy who did it for me said it would be ok.... and it has been , no further trouble from overheating since the stuff was put in....

bengingle · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:39:20 PM »

Thats good to hear!

Have emailled the company, but you reckon 2 bottles is good, what does it recommend, do you need to keep putting more in or does 1 bottle do the job?

bengingle · « **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2011, 07:05:46 PM »

Just Re-read those posts.

Yeah the bloke must have know (what a rob dog!), but I guess as these products are not widely known by joe public (have spoke to 3 really good mechanics today and none had heard of it!!!) so I didn't even think of look for traces of it.

Now beggars the question.... K-Seal or Steel Seal???

Steel Seal are making a big claim on their products really that good?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steel-Repairs-Gaskets-Cylinder-Blocks/dp/B003MQWHUA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1300471273&sr=8-2

wildrover · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2011, 09:49:18 PM »

well , steel seal did the job for me... I was not very optomistic about their claims , but i had no choice ...i had flown to UK to collect a Jeep i bought without even seeing it the flesh , and i had a ferry to catch back to Holland , a drive to Poland to do , and a Jeep looking like a steam engine...!

So , a mechanic friend chucked two bottles of this stuff in , and to my amazement it worked instantly...

I drove all the way back to Polska with one eye on the tempreture guage , but it ran faultlessly...Done thousands of miles since then with no problems at all...
When the water pump failed and i lost all the water i assumed i would have to put some more of ths stuff in , but the guy who put it in checked the blurb , and said i did not need to replace it , the stuff had already done its job... sure enough , there have been no problems on that score... bloody VM engines eh...?

Dave69 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2011, 11:01:46 PM »

i have used k-seal on a zook sj and it does need replacing each time you change the coolant. WR has many miles under his belt after using the steel seal so there is some credibility with that product

bengingle · « **Reply #15 on:** April 03, 2011, 09:08:45 AM »

Hi Guys, same old same old with my Cherokee, which came home yesterday on the back of a recovery truck. I'm sure it's the heads that have gone, however do you think the water pump has packed up as well???

Only reason I ask is I managed to do 40 miles with temperature sat at about 65 (the thermostat is fully open by the way), then it just went into the red. RAC guy didn't think water was circulating well (water pump) and the bottom hose was cold but the top one was hot?

So, cold bottom hose, overheating, runs cool for about 40 miles then goes through the roof.... CONFUSED.COM!!!!!

FYI, put steel seal in it this week, not overly impressed.... hasn't done anything like it promised.

Also, can you recommend anyone for parts guys, have tried the usual places on here, but are there any hidden Gems.

wildrover · « **Reply #16 on:** April 03, 2011, 09:26:19 AM »

I guess that steel seal does not work in every situation , but maybe it did work and you have some other problem causing the overheating...?

Jeeps can be a bit of pain to get the air locks out of the system when they have run out of water and you have refilled it , are you sure the water pump is working , and the water circulating ok...?

If you have an air lock the water does not circulate and this will cause it to overheat... it would also stop the steel seal from getting to the area it needs to fix...

bengingle · « **Reply #17 on:** April 03, 2011, 10:20:42 AM »

It's been topped up and bled like no ones business. I think in the past month it's had about 3 full changes of water in the cooling system, and we proper flushed it with water too to get all the crap out.

it's not bubbling from the rad particulary so i don't think its an airlock. getting a bit concerned now as I don't really want to go buying loads of new stuff for it (heads, gaskets, water pumps) if the ones on there are ok. I've been told it's not a particulary nasty job to do the heads on the VM as they are just push rod and you don't really have to get underneath the vehicle (like they did in my olf L200).

Quite tempted to go drive it through the bloke I bought it from's front window as he knew it was overheating and masked it up (not that I can prove it which is the ball ache part!).

I guess if i get it all done, and as i keep being told, you know it's good to go and can enjoy it...

Mike Pavelin · « **Reply #18 on:** April 03, 2011, 08:50:27 PM »

"I've been told it's not a particulary nasty job to do the heads on the VM"

Dave69 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 04, 2011, 06:59:01 PM »

after the first time of fixing one you quickly become an expert

bengingle · « **Reply #20 on:** April 05, 2011, 09:03:26 AM »

I'm gutted I don't have the expertise to do something like that and I have no one in my family who can help, so I'm kinda stuck. Looks like I'm going to be biting the bullet and getting my local garage to do it. Spoke to the VM guy in Chesterfiled and he has some good heads I can buy. Proper ticked off as I thought I'd bought a good truck there and now BOOM goes the bank account. My theory is that once it's done, it's done and I should (touch wood) have some trouble free motoring... or a Jeep I can sell for decent money. I hate cars!

Mike Pavelin · « **Reply #21 on:** April 05, 2011, 08:56:19 PM »

Break it up, sell the parts and spend the money on a 4.0.

Author Topic: Has the Head blown on my Cherokee 2.5 VM??? (Read 5362 times)

bengingle

Mike Pavelin

bengingle

bengingle

scrw

Mel B

bengingle

bengingle

wildrover

bengingle

bengingle

wildrover

bengingle

wildrover

bengingle

Mike Pavelin

bengingle

Mike Pavelin