Decision Time

[BrianAg95]

Well.... my wag has been sitting in my garage since September... I had been out of work, and put a used radiator in as my old one was leaking.... the new/used one seemed to be holding up as it had been in for 4 months without peeing on my garage floor. I drove her out one night (after dark of course) and while we were eating dinner, she peed out her coolant, which I didn't notice as it was dark... so driving her back on the freeway she overheated.. DUH... I pulled off the freeway, but not before she had no compression.. Blown head gasket of course, but I am worried about other damage... because of course the idiot lights/temp gauge don't quite read correct so I had no warning what was going on till it was too late.

I can do some things, and while after researching the process of doing the head gasket I am confident I can do that... my fear of course is being a novice, I won't know what else I should be looking for when I dig into her....

So decision time:
A: Replace the head gasket and radiator myself... hope thats all I need to do. ~$400 in parts for new radiator and all the gaskets.
B: Get it fixed at a mechanic. $$$$ One quote told me $1400 and up depending on what they find..
C: Sell and get out of the game... Wife is giving me the "it's not reliable speach each time I bring it up"

It is a third vehicle and not a daily driver, mainly used for hardware store runs, light errands when I felt like driving it, and camping.. The reliability issue mainly matters for camping trips, as the Other GWag I had vapor locked twice on the same camping trip and the wife wants no part of that again.... This is the first time this wag has broken down, but the other one I owned I think gave her a bad taste in her mouth....

So help/advice/whatever.....

[DerekTJeep]

1. I'm guessing listen to wife? Women always know the best, right?

Depeinding on condition of the body and what so, it may be better to just sell it and find a good one for $1500. Here in Chicago area, it can be found for that price range.

[Stu]

If you decide to fix it, you're going to want to pull both heads off, and either inspect them really well your self or (and i recommend the or) take them down to a compitent engine machine shop and have them checked for cracks and warpage. It's pretty hard to crack or warp a head, but its way better off knowing now, than reassembling everyting and finding out you have no compression on a cylinder, or your blowing exhaust gas into your coolant

[[]V[]AXX]

If the engine has significant mileage, don't just try to do a top end. You should completely rebuild the engine. That will make it reliable for the wife, but it does cost money. Either go all the way, or like Derek said, sell it to cool off the wife, and look for another, better condition, FSJ. I had this same thought with mine. I decided to leave it parked out back for over 18 months, and when I had the chance, I jerked it out, and started restoration. It's paid for, and if you have other transportation, let it sit some more.

If it's gotta go, it's gotta go. I dumped a lot of money on mine to rebuild the engine, when I shoulda parted it. If I'd had access to this site when I bought it in 2007, I'd have parted it, and looked for another. Mine has tons of rust, though. Since I had the engine rebuilt, I felt I had to go the rest of the way. If yours is in good shape body wise, and the transmission is ok, then it might be worth putting a rebuilt engine in it, and fixing the cooling system problems.

[Mars]

If it was me I would fix it. You never know when a third vehicle suddenly becomes the one you have to depend on. As another poster said, yank both heads and get em checked. Do a little research and find a competent machine shop. As far as the actual repair goes, take your time and make sure you clean everything really well. If you havent yet, get yourself a good manual, if for nothing else than the torque sequences.

[will e]

You might look for a good deal on an engine and swap the engine out.

This is not difficult. Time consuming, yes. Will there be blood? Yes. Will you get dirty, certainly.

It's possible you warped the heads. Not likely unless you dumped cold water into the system while it was hot.

How do you know you have no compression? Did you test compession in each cyl? What were the reading?

[BrianAg95]

When it happened I had it towed to a local shop, and he told me there was no compression... So I am going off that information.

I had considered putting in a "new" engine, and it is still on the option list I suppose... Actually ran that idea by the wife the other day, and she seemed ok with that idea. As I explained it would alleviate "reliability" fears she is/was having.

She has 120k on her mileage wise so not huge depending on whose scale you use , though I swear I read on these boards before that 100k is an average rebuild age... She is in good shape body wise, very little rust, everything works, except one rear passenger window(not tailgate window that one is fine) which is intermittent. I think She's Worth saving..

[FSJ Guy]

If momma is OK with a "new" engine, have yours rebuilt.

Can you turn a wrench and read/use a torque wrench? Have a machine shop do the (duh!) machining and put it together at home. Since it's a third vehicle, it can sit for several weekends/months.

You'll save a bunch of $$$ doing the assembly yourself.

[geologyjeep]

Decision Time

Your comment on former FSJ vapor locking while on camping trip rang home. I was driving an '87 GW that repeatedly did the same. Same 'happy wife' syndrome. After installing electric fuel pump didn't have the problem. Since you say it has little rust I'd lean toward fixing it. I've had my '69 since 1973 and reparing rust is expensive. Still it's a pet. Good luck from Mr. Ed