Josh,

My 01 XJ had not even showed low oil pressure. I had overheating and coolant
loss and could not find a leak anywhere. The dealer did a pressure check and
found the pressure OK after 4 hrs of sitting. They sent me on my way and
told me to monitor the coolant loss for a while. After a while, they check
engine light came on and I took it to a dealer that only replaced the #6
spark plug and sent me on my way again. Before I was 1 mile away the engine
light came back on and I turned around and took it back. The dealer kept the
XJ over the weekend and looked at it the following Monday, called me and
informed me I needed a new short block. They found metal filings all over
the top of the cam/lifter area and said the #6 lifters were deeply scored
and mushroomed. Jeep replaced the lower half of my engine under
warranty(29K miles) and all was fine except the coolant loss did not get any
better. I took it back to the dealer after a couple of months and told them
I was going to bring it back every time the overflow bottle went empty.
After 3 visits in 3 weeks they asked me to leave the jeep again and I
agreed. They pulled the head and sent it out for a professional inspection.
A small crack in the head was the root cause of all the previous problems
and after the new head not 1ounce of coolant loss in the last 9K miles.

MY recommendation to you is push hard to replace all of the engine, not just
the short block. Since you don't have warranty... Get one from a reputable
rebuilder somewhere else. Or buy a crate motor and put that in. The money a
crate motor would cost vs. the dealer soaking you shouldn't be too bad.

Luck, Brian


"Josh" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> It's been a rough couple of weeks. Two weeks ago, my engine overheated
> because unknown to me, my radiator was leaking like a sieve. I had
> topped it off a couple of weeks prior, but when I opened the hood, the
> tank was empty. So, after a trip to the dealer and $400 later, I've
> got a new radiator. Since it was in the shop and I was due, I asked
> the dealer to go ahead and change the oil for me.
>
> Driving home the other night, I got off the highway and while waiting
> for the light to turn, my oil pressure dropped down to 0, and the check
> gauges light came on. So, I pulled over, let the Jeep cool down and
> checked the oil levels, and everything was fine. After starting it
> back up and driving for a bit, I stopped at a stop light, and the
> pressure dropped again. Stick 'er in neutral and rev, and up the
> pressure goes.
>
> So, I took it back to the dealer and asked them to poke around. The
> ascertained that my oil pump was bad and replaced it. After replacing
> it, though, I was still losing pressure. They hooked a gauge up to the
> block, and pressure was hovering below 10.
>
> They are recommending a new lower block at this point because they
> figure the bearings must be bad. I'm having a real tough time with
> this because I have really babied this Jeep. Oil change with Mobile 1
> Synthetic every 3000 - 4000, maintenance, you name it. Could it be
> something else or am I screwed? It only has 129,000 ( mostly highway
> ).
>
> HELP!!
>