So, i bought a 07 jku about a month ago with the 3.8 and156k miles. Always taken to the dealership and generally in good shape. I had a tj before and i loved it, thing was bulletproof. So since i picked up the jk, it leaked coolant from rad. I replaced the rad with an aftermarket unit, and issue was fixed for all of 4 hours. It started overheating, mind you it never overheated before even with the leaky rad. After burping it for hours and throwing a thermostat at it, I was stumped. I decided to bring it in to the dealership(I work for mopar so pretty convinient). Turns out I have a bad head gasket which is dumping compression into the coolant from cylinder 3. Explains why I always had a cylinder 3 missfire since buying it. So now im spending a crazy amount of money (for me at least since Im 19) on a car that I just got. Just jeep things? totally!

 

I'd say that could be just as likely as with any 14/15yo car with 150k miles on it. Head gaskets ain't just a jeep thing at all. When purchasing older vehicles you just have to be very thorough inspecting them prior to purchase and get em at a price that makes sense for some surprises popping up along the way.

 

Toatally agree with you, I checked the car when I bought it, no milky oil, no brown coolant, no white smoke out the tailpipe. The only issue the car had which i knew about was the coolant leak, I just had no way of knowing it was internal at time of purchase. I even drove it 650 miles home with no issues other than topped off the coolant half way which is impressive to say the least.

 

Yeah, that's a bummer. Usually it's the intake manifold that causes this problem, not a head gasket, on the 3.8. Gosh, I hate to put this in wiring because I know I'm tempting the fates, but at 286,000 miles my 2007 has had the intake manifold gasket replaced (about 50K miles back), but never a head gasket. The engine is getting tired, though, and I expect to replace it sometime this year. It does seem to me, though, that a compression check of each cylinder for such a high mileage purchase would have been informative.

 

Man thats awesome, the longevity of your rig is most likely a product of a careful owner. I suspect mine came from negligent people who would just wait until the car was undriveable then theyd take it to the dealership. i can only hope mine breaks 200k and is still healthy.

 

Mine just turned over 168k this weekend. So far, so good. It did get a new OEM radiator installed by the dealer a couple years ago, along with a water pump. But she's going strong.

Hope you get her fixed up and back on the road in good health!

 

I have the same issue, did the head gasket replacement fix the problem and if you don’t mind, how much did the dealer charge? Somebody else here said he was told he had to have the “Heads” machined….TIA

 

yes, i had the heads re machined and i paid 2800 with employee pricing