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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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Ok going to see if I can find a video on how to remove the valve cover. My personal opinion is that it’s quite possible that one of the valve seals broke, which is why there’s leaking oil. In the event that I have to redo the valve seals, do I have to remove the whole engine? Also once I change the timing belt, is it safe to see if the motor turns even if I haven’t replaced the valve seals?
[quote=”Iznogood” post=169944]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.[/quote]
[quote=”Evil-i” post=169957][/quote]
Do you think it’s possible to use an endoscope? It’s similar but I can just hook it up to my phone, here’s a link:
Even if you have replaced the timing belt, you need to make sure, that you can turn the engine by hand. At least two full revolutions. If you have pulled the plugs, there shouldn´t be much resistance.
I would still do the long bar in the cylinder test… turn the engine like 25 degreese sor so for each test and mesure the distance of the rod to the pisten.. on each piston…and turn another 25 deg… and remusure…. what your many checking is to make sure the piston is moving up and down… not completly broken off the connecting rod…
now with it turning in one direction and having trouble turning in the other dirction… dont forget you are also trying to turn the oil pump too so you are having the oil pump suck ver push oil out…… thats why techically you should turn the engine the correct way… but for all else fails before giving up you can try to turn it in the other way… thats the theiry[quote=”tenpin3000″ post=169960][quote=”Evil-i” post=169957][/quote]
Do you think it’s possible to use an endoscope? It’s similar but I can just hook it up to my phone, here’s a link:
https://www.amazon.com/BlueFire-Android-Endoscope-Phones-Function/dp/B013HZCYXK%5B/quote%5D
only thing about those are their wires are not stif and very fixable…. so you might have to use some electrical tape and solid wire like they use in houses… different thicknesses will give you different stiffness.or a metal clothing hanger … some hardware stores cut by foot you dont need a 100′ roll… now some of the versions have s slow refresh rate…. but I still think they are a good tool to have
I can’t remember if he mentioned if it was a 2.4 liter or 3.7…If its a 2.4 most likely timing belt snapped in my opinion also. If its the 3.7 Liter with the timing chain my money is on the valve seat dropping. I’ve worked on Jeep engines before and the valve seats are notorious for dropping into the combustion chamber at the first sign of overheating. Either way, this is looking at an extensive job if the engine is binding when he tries to turn it over by hand and he may be a little out of his depths on this one sorry to say. I’ve done complete head tear down on a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited V8, took forever and a day! I don’t recommend it, many tools required. Just my two cents guys…
It is the 3.7L V6 that I have 🙁 Now I’m really worried. I finally got the car jacks so tomorrow I will be taking video and photos for you guys, hoping for the best
[quote=”Trod” post=170059]I can’t remember if he mentioned if it was a 2.4 liter or 3.7…If its a 2.4 most likely timing belt snapped in my opinion also. If its the 3.7 Liter with the timing chain my money is on the valve seat dropping. I’ve worked on Jeep engines before and the valve seats are notorious for dropping into the combustion chamber at the first sign of overheating. Either way, this is looking at an extensive job if the engine is binding when he tries to turn it over by hand and he may be a little out of his depths on this one sorry to say. I’ve done complete head tear down on a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited V8, took forever and a day! I don’t recommend it, many tools required. Just my two cents guys…[/quote]
Hey guys just wanted to update and ask more questions. I got under the car again and tried to look at both sides of the oil pan. I took a shot of the oil pan right under the crankshaft below. I didn’t see any holes or any leaks on either side of the pan. The oil leak source has to be right on top of the pan in my opinion. I also checked both sides of the motor from the type, both dry and rusty . So if there is a hole it must be literally on top of the oil pan. The endoscope I ordered from amazon will arrive tomorrow nd I’ll take a look at the pistons then.
I am about to pull off the engine valve cover. Would appreciate advice on how to remove the crankshaft pulley bolt, I’m assuming since it’s already partially locked I should technically be able to just pop it off but I didn’t want to damage anything. I saw online they have these clamp setups but it seems for those I may have to remove the front bumper, let me know what you guys recommend thanks
You don’t have to mess with the crank pulley to remove the valve covers.
I’d recommend leaving the crank pulley bolt alone for now. You’ll need it to turn the engine over by hand when using your endoscope. If a piston is too low in the bore to see easily, you’ll want to nudge it around to bring it up for a better view.
Update:
Below are the photos of the driver side camshaft/engine valves. I don’t know much about cars, but for 157,000 miles everything looks brand new to me, and to be honest the timing chain as well looks immaculate. at least the part I can see connected to the camshaft. I notices some slight grooves towards the front of the camshaft fitting, and also what appears to be a peach colored scratch/stain of some sort by the first “ring” on the camshaft, let me know if you guys think that means anything. As per the suggestion of @Evil-i, I turned the crankshaft back and forth with the valve cover off, and the timing chain and camshaft definitely turns with the timing belt. Also the guy at Autozone suggested I spin all the wheels on the serpentine belt to make sure those weren’t holding up the engine, and they all spun fairly easy, so it can’t be the alternator or anything like that. Now for whatever reason, the noise I heard the first time is clearly more distinct, it is in the front part of the engine almost precisely where the crankshaft is located. It sounds DISTINCTLY like a small nut or bolt would trapped inside a metal cylinder. And actually, if I rotate the crankshaft back and forth, it seems like whatever it is slips under the crankshaft and I can continue rotating the engine another quarter turn. I’m waiting for the endoscope, I almost think it’s something I can fish out. So at this point I have two theories, either there’s something caught in the timing belt towards the crankshaft area of the motor, or some nut or other small metal object fell into the motor someway somehow. Without knowing much about cars, I don’t think it’s a piston just because I would assume it would just be stuck, pistons are pretty solid and the noise I heard was something very tiny, perhaps about the size of a pebble. It almost sounds like if I had some kind of magnet I could fish it right out. Anyway, give me all your ideas, good or bad. If the pistons look good in the endoscope for me the next step is to take off the timing cover. Anywhere here are the photos, I completely understand why mechanics charge what they do, it took me a good 90 minutes to take off the camshaft cover:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/7VNR0DS.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/N5Y8yLl.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/IsTlI9P.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/2a6asel.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/4JQ3jp3.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/KiQqS1K.jpg[/IMG]
[quote=”Evil-i” post=170198]You don’t have to mess with the crank pulley to remove the valve covers.
I’d recommend leaving the crank pulley bolt alone for now. You’ll need it to turn the engine over by hand when using your endoscope. If a piston is too low in the bore to see easily, you’ll want to nudge it around to bring it up for a better view.[/quote]
Since you now have access to the timing chain, there’s a quick and easy check for chain and sprocket wear.
Just grab the chain at the top of the cam sprocket and lift up. If you can pull the chain up more than 1/4 of the tooth height, you’ve got a worn chain and sprockets. It’s just a fuzzy “rule-of-thumb” type of thing that could give you a better idea of your engine’s condition.
The grey bands on your cam lobes indicate typical cam wear, but I don’t think you’re in any trouble here. Run a fingernail across the lobe’s entire width to see if you can feel a depth difference between the shiney outer edges and the dull grey area.
The chain is supertight sir :unsure: It has a little wiggle from side to side but nothing up and down. At this poing I’m just waiting for the scope. I’m open to tips and advice as to seeing how to properly use the scope to see if something has fallen into the “well” of the engine so to speak thanks
[quote=”Evil-i” post=170288]Since you now have access to the timing chain, there’s a quick and easy check for chain and sprocket wear.
Just grab the chain at the top of the cam sprocket and lift up. If you can pull the chain up more than 1/4 of the tooth height, you’ve got a worn chain and sprockets. It’s just a fuzzy “rule-of-thumb” type of thing that could give you a better idea of your engine’s condition.
The grey bands on your cam lobes indicate typical cam wear, but I don’t think you’re in any trouble here. Run a fingernail across the lobe’s entire width to see if you can feel a depth difference between the shiney outer edges and the dull grey area.[/quote]
Hey guys, I checked with the boroscope and there’s a lot of debris inside the engine, I’m guessing it’s blown. At this point I have 3 options:
1) Try to rebuild this engine
2) Get an engine with a warranty for around $2K it seems
3) Get an engine from a junker without warranty for a lower cost and give it a go.
Let me know what you guys think thanks
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