Posted: 8/5/2008 3:21:46 PM EDT
how do you know if you blew your engine in your vehicle?
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It doesn't run???? Usually noise when it is running. If it is making a lot of noise and smoke is pouring out, it's probably trashed. You can ruin an engine and it will still run. Sometimes it not running is better than having it making lots of noise and smoke pouring out? What happened? Be more specific as to the vehicle, mileage, what is or is not doing! Made lots of noise before it quit running, etc. |
it is holding a charge of about 12volts but will not turn over, will not click, no power, and this happened after I went to start it and it when poof kind of like a putt putt putt boom type of thing.    oh and the temp. is pegged out in the red...  no oil running out, though my jeep is old and occasionally leaks oil.. nothing major though 1989 Jeep Cherokee, 2 dr, 4L, has about 160k on it. new alternator put in this past march, i keep Mobil 1 oil in it, and i keep up with the fluids and everything. its just old i guess. I am freaking pissed about this!! today is my mom's 50th birthday i am supposed to be down in norman at her house right now for family dinner and such.. one of my brothers is driving up to my place to get me, but i still don't know how and the hell i am going to fix this damn problem. I hate this whole situation. 
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If the temp gauge pegged, not good. If the amp meter bottoms and the starter engages but does not turn - you hear the bendix engage - when you try to start it, the motor may be locked up. Did you run it hot? The good news is that in this heat, sometimes wires burn and engines go dead due to the burnt wiring. |
HELL YEAH!!!!! Get a breaker bar and the proper size socket for the bolt in the end of your crankshaft. Place the socket on that bolt and attempt to turn it. That should tell you if the motors locked up or not. Check fluids. Has there been any mixing? You know coolant with gas or oil? Theres more checks but this should get you started. Has the timimg chain been replaced? |
looking at my records.... but i don't even know what a timing chain is! 
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The motor not tuning over now is the big question…..to rule out the battery you can check it with a voltage meter and have some one turn the motor over while you check the meter to see what it reads. If it drops below 9 volts than there is not enough voltage to turn over the engine. Now you stated that you have 12 volts? So you must have read that some how…If you do not have a meter do the lights get real dim when you try to start it? The temperature gauge? Is it a manual gauge (what was the reading) or is it an idiot light? This is the big question on how hot and for how long did the motor stay hot? It could be a blown head or head gasket. I say this because you got the motor to turn over and than it made the funny noise. With a blown head it can make a hell of a sound when it turns over. Now if the noise sounds like metal on metal or a ping or loud knock inside the motor than it might be a blown motor. Check the radiator and all fluids for proper levels. If the oil seems to be overfilled and has a mucky brown look (water in oil) to it or the smell of antifreeze than this is one indication of a head gasket problem. Also is there any oil? It is hard to diagnose something unseen but to rule the motor out you will half to do a compression check. I don’t know your mechanical abilities and if any of this will help. I hope that it is a minor problem that is fixed with ease. Good luck. |
A timing chain or belt runs from the crankshaft to the camshaft, It basically tells the valves to open and how long to stay open. |
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if you don't see any new holes in the side of the block, in the oil pan and all the plugs are still in the head, it isn't blown, although the head gasket mighta gave way and hydrolocked it, easy to check if this has happened, check and see if there coolant coming out of the tail pipe, if not then pull the dipstick out and see if the oils got a milky color, if not, that doesn't necessarily rule out a head gasket/hydrolock issue, this check just takes a bit more effort than the other two, for that you'd have to pull the plugs and see if the engine will turn over, if it does and it's the head gasket, then it'll shoot coolant outta the plug holes in the head, or it could be something as simple as a bad ingnition switch, simple check it to use a screwdriver and jump it over at the seloniod, if it cranks, it isn't locked up. then again, if it got hot it coulda had the oil pump go out and sieze up on the rod journals (big end), don't know if the 4.0l has an external oil pump or internal pump though, it just takes more effort to replace an internal pump, I have an 82 wagoneer with the 360 v8 with an external pump, the people I got it from got it hot once and the pump gave up and it seized on the crank, so I got it for free if I'd haul it off, cost approx a c-note to get it back going, had to rebuild the oil pump, clean off the smeared rod bearings off the crank and reinstalled some .010 over bearings, installed a new pan gasket, then ran three quarts of ATF with 30 weight oil to seat the oversized bearings (had to run two batteries in series to start it the first time), then an oil/filter change, and another after 500 miles. drove it for over a year trouble free before it ran outta gas on the side of the road and got vandalized before I could make it back with some gas, drove it to the house and it's been sitting every since. |
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dad came over this morning at 7:30 looked the dying jeep over. The engine is just fine, I need new battery cables and/or connectors or something dealing with the battery. He also told me that I need to change out some other things on my car as well... various small things I suppose. I have had so many issues with my jeep this year, December 06 the water pump and fuel injector thing went out, 2007 went pretty well nothing wrong, this past march my alternator went out, and lately I have been having issues starting and yesterday it just went completely dead. I really believe it is really on its last leg. So I guess I will start car shopping Not something that I am looking forward to... I hate driving I wish Oklahoma had decent public transportation or I had someone to drive me around when I had to get out and do something. 
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true, I am not going to just rush into buying a new vehicle, because I really am dreading that, but it is frustrating when I keep having crap go wrong with the one I have.... even if it is minor problems and relatively easy to fix. |
I know it's frustrating as hell. I bought a new truck a year and a half ago because I hated spending money to fix little crap on my old one.. With both shoulders having been operated on and a knee replaced, it ain't too easy for me to crawl under a truck and fix things. Paying $300 for something I should have been able to do for $50 pushed me into a new one. Good Luck, Habs! |
thanks Dan. As far as fixing cars and such... i knew there was a reason God gave me so many brothers..... never understood why and did't really like the fact growing up, but couldn't be any more blessed than i am now  |