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The car doesn’t start, makes a click thats it. When I had it towed to my place, I noticed oil was leaking from the bottom. My tow truck guy thinks the motor’s completey blown, I’m hoping it’s just the starter and the oil gasket. Battery is fine, I am going to check for error codes in the morning. The car has 157,000 miles and has never been in an accident. The original owner told me the car just stopped on them. Would like advice on what to look for to see if the motor’s completely blown or if it’s something less serious. Thanks in advance to all replies.
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tho I would recomand you taking the battory off when doing it… because if the car trys starting with you having the bar in… it will wipe all over
This picture has me worried:
In the bottom third of the photo, it seems as if a frame member or torque box is rusted and broken completely in two, with the left side hanging lower than the right. The pictures are a bit disorienting, though, so that may not be the case at all. Hope not.
I’m assuming you were underneath and lying on back, and we’re looking more or less upwards in those photos.
Yes, I was laying on my back and looking upwards, now I’m worried too lol 🙁 I’m taking out the spark plugs right now, which is a chore in and of itself, then I will be turning the motor over shortly to see if the engine is the problem first.
[quote=”Evil-i” post=169845]This picture has me worried:
In the bottom third of the photo, it seems as if a frame member or torque box is rusted and broken completely in two, with the left side hanging lower than the right. The pictures are a bit disorienting, though, so that may not be the case at all. Hope not.
I’m assuming you were underneath and lying on back, and we’re looking more or less upwards in those photos.[/quote]
technically you can leave the spark plugs in it is easier to turn with out them… also you cna see if you have like a very long screw driver or some strong rod that is clean.. you can check to see if it moves the piston up and down on each cylinder
next a compression test on each one to check it all out…
with the rod you want to get something that will not brake in it… its not really force your pushing the rod up but if it is very flimsily like a balsa stick it could brake and make you take your head off to get it all out[quote=”Rob781″ post=169858]technically you can leave the spark plugs in it is easier to turn with out them… also you cna see if you have like a very long screw driver or some strong rod that is clean.. you can check to see if it moves the piston up and down on each cylinder
next a compression test on each one to check it all out…
with the rod you want to get something that will not brake in it… its not really force your pushing the rod up but if it is very flimsily like a balsa stick it could brake and make you take your head off to get it all out[/quote]How much harder is it to turn with the spark plugs? I just want to make sure I’m not exerting any unnecessary force. I have the breaker bar just being precautious I guess, let me know and a million thanks for replying.
Not too familiar with American cars, but a car that suddenly stops and subsequently can´t turn over, sounds like a broken cam-belt to me. When you turn the engine over by hand, make sure the cams turns as well.
If the cam belt is broken, you´ll likely not be able to turn it, as there will most likely be bent valves in the head.
@Iznogood I literally just got the right spark plug sockets, gonna turn the engine shortly, for a jeep liberty where would the camshaft belt be located? Is that the same thing as a timing belt? From what I understand there’s a timing belt inside the motor and there’s another rubber belt that’s visible outside the motor for the Liberty, let me know thanks, and thanks for your reply!
[quote=”Iznogood” post=169881]Not too familiar with American cars, but a car that suddenly stops and subsequently can´t turn over, sounds like a broken cam-belt to me. When you turn the engine over by hand, make sure the cams turns as well.
If the cam belt is broken, you´ll likely not be able to turn it, as there will most likely be bent valves in the head.[/quote]
OK guys, I finally made my first attempt to turn the engine, here are the results, interested in your opinions/verdicts:
1) The engine rotates counterclockwise (standing from the front of the vehicle) very well. When I try to rotate it clockwise it will go for perhaps 1/8th of a turn then get stuck. I was told it should rotate CLOCKWISE from the front, so please let me know if that’s right or wrong.
2) I heard a noise inside when I rotated the engine counterclockwise, almost like a loose nut tumbling around, I heard it twice, that’s why I’m mentioning it.
So let me hear it, good or bad, so I know what to do next, and thanks in advance again for all replies, you guys have been great!
UPDATE: It seems that actually the engine rotates in both directions, but there is a “range of motion” after which it stops. While i was trying to rotate the engine counterclockwise to do a cylinder test, the engine actually got stuck as well, and strangely enough I tried going the opposite way and I was able to turn it a few times. Let me know if that means anything, thanks in advance.
Update:
I talked to a few people and the consensus is that if the engine rotates both ways but the range of motion is limited, that more than likely it’s just a timing belt, and as long as there is no valve/piston damage the engine should work after the timing belt replacmeent. Would appreciate your feedback as well, thanks in advance for all replies.
[quote=”tenpin3000″ post=169907]Update:
I talked to a few people and the consensus is that if the engine rotates both ways but the range of motion is limited, that more than likely it’s just a timing belt, and as long as there is no valve/piston damage the engine should work after the timing belt replacmeent. Would appreciate your feedback as well, thanks in advance for all replies.[/quote]
It does indeed sound like a timing belt is broken. I´ll cross my fingers, that it´s the only thing that needs replacing. .I´ve never been so lucky myself. In most cases, there has been a few bent valves and / or broken pistons on the engines I´ve worked on. Let us know what you find once you get the belt replaced.
[quote=”Iznogood” post=169927][quote=”tenpin3000″ post=169907]Update:
I talked to a few people and the consensus is that if the engine rotates both ways but the range of motion is limited, that more than likely it’s just a timing belt, and as long as there is no valve/piston damage the engine should work after the timing belt replacmeent. Would appreciate your feedback as well, thanks in advance for all replies.[/quote]
It does indeed sound like a timing belt is broken. I´ll cross my fingers, that it´s the only thing that needs replacing. .I´ve never been so lucky myself. In most cases, there has been a few bent valves and / or broken pistons on the engines I´ve worked on. Let us know what you find once you get the belt replaced.[/quote]
Any advice on how to check for bent valves/broken pistons?
You can take off the valvecover and check visually, if the valves are going up and down. Otherwise, a compression test will tell you, if one or more cylinders are leaking and a leak test with compressed air, will tell you WHERE it´s leaking.
Odds are a bit against you. Most engines are interference engines, which means, that pistons and valves occupy the same space at different times when the engine rotates. If that is the case, when the engine stopped, chances are, that pistons and valves collided. In worst case, the valves will have knocked a hole in one or more pistons rendering the engine worthless unless you rebuild it and in best case, there will be a few valves bent. The latter still requires a visit to a machine shop to get the old valves out, have the guides changed and the valves, as well as have the valves seats recut. It is also possible that the cams are bent a tad, so they should be straightened as well. Not a cheap procedure, so a replacement engine might be cheaper.
If you are VERY lucky, you can replace the timing belt and nothing else has happened. I wouldn´t get my hopes up untill verified via the above procedures.
I’d visually inspect the timing belt for anything abnormal. If there’s anything wrong with it, wack a new belt on it with correct timing. You’ll soon see/hear if your engine is a write-off.
I’m not a Jeep expert, but I think some of those engines have a reputation for dropping valve seats into the cylinders.
If you can only turn the engine so far before it locks up, you won’t be able to perform a compression check. I’d say you’re at the point where the heads have to come off in order to get a better view of what’s going on.
If you have access to a borescope, you could look into the spark plug holes and check for broken valve heads, fallen valve seats, piston damage, and other nasty stuff that is keeping the engine from rotating. It’ll save you the trouble of pulling the heads just to get a look.
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