Hello all, I am quite new to this forum but you guys helped me get to the bottom of an intermittent fault that had my local garage stumped (just needed a new fuel filter!) and I am hoping I can pick your brains again if I may..

I have a 2003 Jeep Cherokee Sport 2.7D, and am based in West Sussex in the UK. A couple of months ago Jeep started leaking engine coolant, I had it looked at by the local garage, as well as the Audi garage my Dad works at (he is a driver not a mechanic) and the only leak they could find after pressurising the system was a tiny one by the clip on one of the hoses. This was replaced, but about a week later the coolant light came back on.. I took it back to the garage for them to look at again, and by this stage Jeep had started spitting out white smoke when it was first started up. They checked for external leaks again, and found nothing. They did a couple of tests, including a head test, to see if it looked like a head gasket problem, but these came back clear. Man at the garage is not 100% convinced that it is the head gasket, and of course said it is a very expensive thing to replace, and only by stripping the engine would it show if that was indeed the problem. Mr mechanic suggested waiting until Jeep shows more symptoms (e.g. overheating, which it is not doing at the moment) before we decide what to do. In the meanwhile I am having to top up the coolant every other day.

I do a lot of miles (about 400 a week), as well as using it to tow my horse, so need Jeep to be in good working order. Therefore, I'm slightly reluctant to just leave it and see what happens..

I love my Jeep and want to keep it, so I really want to get to the bottom of this. I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem which wasn't the HG? Or do I need to man up and accept I need to look at getting the HG changed? (And while I'm here, has anyone in the UK had this done recently so I can get an idea of cost?

Many thanks,
Krissi

The white smoke at startup is not a good sign. It could be a cracked head that is dumping coolant into the chamber. To fully test the head it would need to come off. It might just be a gasket leaking and these are also difficult to detect as times. Either option requires tearing into the engine a ways. If there are no external leaks and nothing in the oil, the engine is burning it or pressurizing the bottle and blowing it out. Hope this helps.

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If you have any pressure on a cold engine it is a good sign of a gasket leak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Go4FC0riQs

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2006 LTD Bright Silver loaded with all the needed mods, CCV intact.
Proudly supporting CRD vendors, and their development of quality parts and accessories.
Equipped with HDS thermostat, plenty of heat, faster warm-ups, increased fuel mileage.

Thanks for both your replies!

I will do a pressure test later when the engine is cold, and also check the oil. I am pretty sure neither have been a problem before, but best to double check!

Any update?

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Light Khaki 2.8CRD: TJM alloy bumper; Skid Row &Asfir skids;ext. breathers; SAMCO hoses; Grabber At3 235/70/16; Fumoto; Euro TC; Odyssey PC1500;GDE FTEcotune; OME lift; lightforce driving lights;ARB diff cover;nylon fan+Hayden2905;ss vortex exhaust; Airflow snorkel; Frontrunner roofrack; rock rails

No, not yet. No pressure when engine is cold, and no coolant in oil either. Engine still running sweetly, still having to top up coolant every other day but the leak is no worse..

On a completely unrelated note, I had to have the Jeep recovered last night due to an issue with the air con pump (?) causing smoke and a burning smell. Chap who recovered mentioned the leak and white smoke could be something to do with the cooling system? Frustratingly I cannot remember the exact word he used for some reason, supercooler springs to mind but I could be completely wrong! Jeep is being looked at again by a second pair of eyes while I am away a week tomorrow, hopefully he can come up with a solution!

Intercooler?

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Light Khaki 2.8CRD: TJM alloy bumper; Skid Row &Asfir skids;ext. breathers; SAMCO hoses; Grabber At3 235/70/16; Fumoto; Euro TC; Odyssey PC1500;GDE FTEcotune; OME lift; lightforce driving lights;ARB diff cover;nylon fan+Hayden2905;ss vortex exhaust; Airflow snorkel; Frontrunner roofrack; rock rails

This sounds very similar to my situation. No obvious over pressure in the coolant, but coolant was getting into the cylinder. I had a crack in the head on the low pressure side of the valves. At rest, it would leak past the valves into the cylinder.

If that is your situation, you my hydrostatically lock the engine one of these days unless you deal with it.

Have you done a pressure test to see if the coolant system holds pressure? You can do that and start blocking off subsystems (radiator, heater core, etc.) and narrow it down to where only the block and head are left. If it still doesn't hold pressure, the head needs to come off anyway, gasket leak or crack.

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George Reiswig
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
Suncoast, SEGR, lift, InMotion tune, homebrew B100
At 138k, new head & gasket, timing belt, rockers and swearing vocabulary

Thought I'd update this in case anyone was interested... I ended up putting the Jeep in the garage for them to get the issue sorted whatever it was. It went into the garage on 5th Jan, and by this point it was having some problems starting as well (can you guess where this is going). So they took the head off and sent it for testing, and it failed miserably. There was an internal crack which could not be repaired, so a 'new' head was needed, as well as a new starter motor and all the other bits of kit they replace when doing the head (water pump, belt etc). The garage rang me once they knew the head had failed the test and told me the revised repair bill would be about £2900, so I made the decision to stop there and scrap my beloved Jeep as it just wasn't worth it as the Jeep was worth less than that. I managed to sell it on eBay to someone who collects Jeep (all the way from Wales!) and got almost enough for it to cover the garage bill for the work they did so far (removing the head and testing it).
So that is the end of my love affair with the Jeep, I couldn't risk buying another one that might have the same problems (with the money I had I would have been buying another the same age with same mileage) so I have ended up with a Ford Fiesta (it is growing on me) and I bought a little lorry to transport my horse in as I no longer have a car to tow with.

Sorry to hear about your ordeal but good luck with your new vehicle. Everything must come to an end.

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2006 Liberty Limited CRD, Deep Beryl Green, Yeti tune, Arp studs, new cams, rockers, lifters, TB. "Green Monster"
2005 Liberty Sport CRD, Deep Beryl Green, GDE Hot Tune, ARP studs. "Rocket"
1982 Fiat 124 Spider Convertible. "Fiona"