Blown headgaskit, tranny slippin, etc.

[JEEPSTER4EVER]

I have a 2000 XJ FREEDOM, when I bought it, it had problems up the wazoo. Then having my wife drove it on day it over heated on her and the lil hose for the over flow bowl popped off and all the liquids poored out. Instead of calling me so I can tell her what to do, she drove it another 10 miles with no water or antifeezw in it, and it over heated on her AGAIN to where it stopped on it's own. Anyways theres no water in the oil at all (Thank G O D) But I do have watr going out the tail pipe. I put some (head gaskit-crack block) sealant in it and been driveing it since. She runs fine, I did buy the gaskits kit just weather to cold here to put it in yet. That sealant works great so far. My biggest prblem is so far (other than the blown headgaskit) is she's since I've had her has always had hard starts, I have to turn it over 2-3 times to get her to start, and now since the new problem the tranny doesn't want to down shift when on the hwy, sometimes it feels like it takes off in 2nd gear or third, occasin. if and when the tranny does shift down it feels like it's slippin, the RPM's rev up without gaining any speed then it shifts up and then moves. Is my tranny going out now, or once I can finally fix the blown headgaskit, will all these other problems finally stop and she'll go back to working propper? She still gots good power to her, even sometimes when I take off from stopped the tires will spin at tmes, and the other times sh'll take off in a higher gear. Any help would be greatfull.
Thank You,
Steve B

[Mudderoy]

I have a 2000 XJ FREEDOM, when I bought it, it had problems up the wazoo. Then having my wife drove it on day it over heated on her and the lil hose for the over flow bowl popped off and all the liquids poored out. Instead of calling me so I can tell her what to do, she drove it another 10 miles with no water or antifeezw in it, and it over heated on her AGAIN to where it stopped on it's own. Anyways theres no water in the oil at all (Thank G O D) But I do have watr going out the tail pipe. I put some (head gaskit-crack block) sealant in it and been driveing it since. She runs fine, I did buy the gaskits kit just weather to cold here to put it in yet. That sealant works great so far. My biggest prblem is so far (other than the blown headgaskit) is she's since I've had her has always had hard starts, I have to turn it over 2-3 times to get her to start, and now since the new problem the tranny doesn't want to down shift when on the hwy, sometimes it feels like it takes off in 2nd gear or third, occasin. if and when the tranny does shift down it feels like it's slippin, the RPM's rev up without gaining any speed then it shifts up and then moves. Is my tranny going out now, or once I can finally fix the blown headgaskit, will all these other problems finally stop and she'll go back to working propper? She still gots good power to her, even sometimes when I take off from stopped the tires will spin at tmes, and the other times sh'll take off in a higher gear. Any help would be greatfull.
Thank You,
Steve B

:wow: Steve it appears no one wants to be associated with bad news. :wink:

So the head seal stopped the water coming through the tail pipe?

You're transmission problem could be bad solenoids, I mean if the set up is like my 1998. Have you tried shifting it manually? It could be that when the extreme over heating occurred it heated up the transmission and didn't do those solenoids any good.

[bigjim350]

The sealer probably only worked a little bit and is still letting water into the cylinders when it sits . Which would explain the hard starting issue.

Sent from my VM670

[4.3LXJ]

Any check engine lights on this? I am thinking there might be a computer problem on the tranny side. Does it ever shift into 1st gear?

[JEEPSTER4EVER]

It's a automatic tranny, I put it in (1,2) when costing down hill and it works fine there, the 3rd gear works works fine too, but when I drive it in drive mode sometimes when I take off normally, even on dry ground the tires spend easy like it's in 1/2 gear instead of 1st gear but most of the time it's like takeing off in 2nd or 3rd gear if it was a manuel tranny. then once I get on the hwy the speed picks up good xcept going up hill, or if I have to pass someone regaurdless it's 35 or 55 she just won't drop down to pass. I work for a pizza hut as a driver. For the past 2-3 months the heater never really worked, last wk during the day it was around 35 degrees then at night it would drop down to 20 but in the jeep it'll be like 22 degrees in the jeep itself, no heat at all, then last sat. befor going to work, I took her to a car wash and took off both hoses to the heater core and stuck the washer hose in it and sprayed it like crazy, about 2-3 min. of that a BIG mass of dirt came washing out. now the heater kicks butt. I think that was the reason why it kept over heating in the 1st place. AAMCO does a free 5 multi point check so I was/is going to take it there after I replace the blown headgaskit to get them to see if thrers anything really wrong wwith her. but befor I do I'm hopeing get help with her befor that incase they try claiming things that might not be true, I'm always affraid to go to those places sinse I've heard about some auto shop scams, I'm a do it your self and if needed get some help on here befor trusting those places. a free 5 point multitest has got me worried, when all it might needed after replaceing the headgaskit is the computer to be reset type of thing if i'm lucky.

[JEEPSTER4EVER]

Oh sorry 4.3XJL I just got off of work 1am this morning, yes the check engine light is on, and now that I'm thinking of it everytime the tranny would sound/feel like the tranny is slipping or just not ingaugeing all the way the check engine light would go off, then once it's in gear the check engine light would come back on. Strange ain't it or is that just me???

[bigjim350]

FYI you could take a brand new car to aamco for there 5 point inspection and they would still say it needs something. Take whatever they say with a grain of salt.

[4.3LXJ]

Oh sorry 4.3XJL I just got off of work 1am this morning, yes the check engine light is on, and now that I'm thinking of it everytime the tranny would sound/feel like the tranny is slipping or just not ingaugeing all the way the check engine light would go off, then once it's in gear the check engine light would come back on. Strange ain't it or is that just me???

You might want to get those codes read at Auto Zone or someplace that does it for free and see what they say and go from there.

[JEEPSTER4EVER]

1st all I want to say, Thank you all for your in-put and help on this. Since the last time I was on here I read everything everybody said and been thinking REALLY, REALLY hard all day long, at work, etc., etc., and last night it hit me!!

The thing what BIGJIM350 said (The sealer probably only worked a little bit and is still letting water into the cylinders when it sits . Which would explain the hard starting issue.) I relised it When on the HWY I can do the speed limit fine unless going up hill my RPM's wont go over 2800 RPM's It's gotta hit what 3000+ to down shift I think. Right??? Since I'm getting some water into my cylinders even a lil bit while it sits and probly while I'm DRIVEING, I may not be firing up all 6 cylinders, if I am then the water iis mixxing it in and not letting it burn hot enough to get the RPM's up high enough. Right.
Last night she was acting up really bad for a couple of hours of driving, then around 9pm she went back to normal, normal as far as it's been since the headgaskits went out. Last night while at work she kept dieing on me, the idle would stay at idle even when I had the peddle all the way down, I wasn't going anywhere with the peddle to the medal, etc., etc., because I topped the water/antifreeze off befor going to work.
That's what I think, if I'm wrong PLEASE let me know, til then I'm gonna go with it, and just watch what I do. If the weather is decent this tuesday and wed. since I got both days off I'm gonna fix her up, and no more of this.
Like I said if I'm wrong on this, PLEASE let me know so I can relax from all the worries for once. but eather way
THANK YOU ALL for your help on this matter.

[4.3LXJ]

I think you are on the right track. Replace that head gasket first and then go from there.