Crazy Trip in my XJ

[Muad'Dib]

So im in the middle of a trip from Bend, Oregon to Atchison, Kansas to pick up my GF's mom and move her to Bend. (3400 miles all in my XJ)

On the way to Kansas we just drove and drove till we got there. Took 29 Hours including the time zone changes. Anyway, we got the 4'x8' UHaul trailer loaded and off we went.

Were taking a different route back so we can check a few things out. Were in Denver, Colorado right now, and were getting ready to leave to Moab, Utah. Were staying there for about a day, and then heading out to Ogden, Utah. Were staying there about a day, and then heading to our last stop at Twin Falls, Idaho and doing the same until we head back home to Bend.

If anybody lives at or near any of these areas and want to talk Jeep ... let me know! It would be cool to meet some different Jeepers!! Ill check this again when i get to Moab!

See ya then!

[Muad'Dib]

Well im in Moab now .. looks like there is a Jeep Safari here right now. There is a whole shit load of Wranglers here. Not many XJ's at all ... i think ive seen maybe 5. Anyway, i didnt have internet at the place i stayed (Red Rock Inn), and my cell phone wouldnt connect to the internet either, so i wasnt able to get on here and update until i went to a internet cafe this morning.
Were off to see the arches here and then head out to Ogden.

Later!

[Muad'Dib]

Update ... im in Ogden .. almost all the way back.. only one more stop till back to Bend.

I jumped the gun about the Jeep running great. Well i cant really say its "not" running well, it is, but i have some huge blow-by. I lost about a full quart out the intake / cone filter. I didnt notice it till the morning that we left Denver to go to Moab... so it must have happened trying to maintain the speed limit up the hills from Kansas to Denver. Now i gotta figure out what causes that!

Ill update again in Idaho.

[Jeep-Power]

Did you get to 'wheel at all in Moab??

[Muad'Dib]

FUCK! I was lucky the woman even let me take the damn UHaul trailer off to go check out the arches. We have her Mom with us, and she is "fragile" its just about hell for me.

Anyway, im in Jerome \ Twin Falls tonight, and then on my way back to Bend. So for only 1 problem with the XJ, and that is losing all the oil through the intake... Lost a total of a quart and a half now. Not your typical blowby. I dont know what it could be really. The only thing that comes to mind is shot rings!

What do you guys think?

See you when i get back home!

[Shark]

what your oil pressure look like? how many miles you got on that thing? good luck.

[Muad'Dib]

what your oil pressure look like? how many miles you got on that thing? good luck.

Oil pressure is never below 20, and its only 20 @ idle. Its usually constantly @ 40 when cruising. It Jumps up to above 80 when the hammer is down and im @ 4000 - 5000 RPM's trying to maintain 75 up hills. I just put in a new oil pump about a week before this trip, so its almost like its not bleeding off the excess pressure when at those RPM's. That seems to be the only time i am getting that much oil out the intake. (high RPMS when the oil pressure is also high) I guess thats why im kinda confused on what it could be...
I have almost 200,000 now on this thing.

[oletshot]

Not to bring up a post from another forum (naxja), but you are still using that RENIX CCV sytem, aren't you?

[Muad'Dib]

Sure am ... Its all clean and is never an issue ... i guess until this trip.

[kryptoniteXJ]

I had this same problem with my '91 XJ this is the reason Im building a stroker. One morning on the way to work (About 40 mile drive) I started loosing power and eventually the motor shut down. I pulled over to find all 6 qt. of my oil on the ground. Upon closer inspection their was oil on both sides of the engine bay but not on the block??? Very weird. I called AAA for a tow to the office where I took a closer look. When I opened the air box I found more oil just sitting in their. Some how all of my oil was pumped into my air box I guess it came in through the CCV and the PVC. Does anyone have any ideas why the 4.0l does this. When I did a google search on oil in air box the first thing that came up was Jeep Cherokee blowby. After I pulled the engine and disassambled it I found that the #6 piston was just about gone, and the #4 exaust valve was cracked and missing a chunk of it, also quite a few of the valves were not even seating against the seat.

If anyone has an idea what causes this please let me know. So that this does not happen to my stroker.

[gradon]

This is the first that I've heard of a blow-by issue as bad as yours. It had to of given you warnings(noises, oil in filter,) before it came to that, right? When you pulled the valve cover, were the oil drains clogged?

[kryptoniteXJ]

No the drains were not clogged. and their was no sludge or anyhting to indicate engine death.
It was starting to burn a little oil but nothing serious.

[gradon]

Gotta love those crazy trips

[Muad'Dib]

As an update from me, this hasnt been an issue since i stoped towing that covered trailer.

This is what i think was causing it:

The rear CCV line from the intake to the rear of the rocker cover has a metered orfice on one end, and a rubber elbow on the other. The rubber orifice on mine was getting cracked and starting to get a little hard(even though it was super clean) so maybe i was loosing some vacuum out the sides of the thing. Also, the rubber elbow failed on me awhile back.. so being cheap i replaced it with an elbow from a old egr valve i replaced a long time ago. The rubber for this elbow was "softer" so i guess its also possible that it was collapsing... or not the right size causing the metered orfice to get thrown off as well.

As i previously stated this would only happen at 4-5000 RPMS going 75 towing that trailer. At that high of RPM's, im sure the engine vacuum was super low. Combine the low vacuum with cracks in a rubber metered orfice, and the wrong elbow... and bam there goes your oil out the front CCV tube into the intake.

I have since replaced it with a whole new kit from the dealer (the price wasnt "to" bad), and i immediatly noticed how much beefier the elbow was, and how much tighter the metered orfice fit into the valve cover.... So even though these things appeared to be ok and still functioned ok... the extreme condition i was putting my system in, was causing even the most minor things to show failure. Now everything is great though... so no worries from me!