My XJ

[Fred]

OK after a full day of work heres what I found today. The jeep has been misfiring and smelling strongly of gas.

First thing we dove into the tune-up. Changed plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, oil filter, cap and rotor. After that it was still running stupid and we could smell a STRONG gas smell. Well I noticed the valve cover was leaking some and you could see it bubbleing at the manifold. We check the oil and it is VERY thin and wreaked of gas. So at htis point I say ok lets pull the valve cover and see what we can see, thinking a valve may be stuck, or bent. We do so and all the oil inside was "water thin" due to gas in it. We chack it out under there and everything looks good, so we kick the motor over and everything was moving as normal. Then we start it and let it run a hot second, it ran FINE and the code cleared (this is with no valve cover).
SO We think lets go replace the valve cover gasket, change the oil, and clean all the electrical connections. We do so and fire it up, mis-firing again and blowing white/blue smoke out the tailpipe. Out of curiosity we remove the filler cap and start it and it ran fine with no smoke. We put the cap back on and it ran like crap again smoking again.
At this point I parked it and called it a night. The best pronosis we made was either a stuck, bent, or burnt valve. Basicly solution would be a valve job or get a new head with valves in it.
Does this sound like we are on the right track? Anyone have ideas? Anyone care to confirm or debunk our prognosis?

[CutterN55]

Bro it's been a bit since I've messed with Xj's, do you have a cold start/crank sensor or Coolant temp sensor? Sometimes when these go bad, they think that you need the extra fuel to get going and flood your engine and it gets worse the more you crank it. I had issues similar, with a 90 'Burban. Was dumping gas like crazy and ran like poop for a second and die. Drained the oil (more like fuel half way up the dip stick )Replaced the cold start sensor and was up and running after an oil flush & change. $12.00 sensor and a case of oil at the hobby shop vs. some Jack-tard at a shop telling my buddy to change his engine for $3K. Something to try for cheap....