First, a little background on my Jeep. It's a 2013 Wrangler Sport, manual shift transmission, 63,000 miles. I bought it new 5 years, 11 months and three weeks ago. Aside from a sheared traction control sensor wire to the right front wheel a few years ago, I've never had ANY trouble with this rig. New battery two months ago. So, yesterday morning, up here north of Boston, it was kind of cold. Not arctic, but cold. 24°F. I hadn't run the Jeep for a couple days but that's pretty normal. I think I drove it Saturday. Less than 1/8 of a tank of gas.
Anyways. Yesterday morning I started it up, it turned right over, then immediately died. I tried to start again and it cranked but wouldn't turn over. Tried again, same. I pulled the key, got out, walked around it looking for leaks & etc but it looked fine.
Cranked it again and it still wouldn't turn over but did rumble a little. I took that as an encouraging sign and cranked and pumped the gas. It started, but white smoke started pouring out of the tailpipe. A huge cloud of it at first, then a steady stream but not "billowing". It smelled like gas, not sweet. It ran weak for a few seconds then settled into a steady idle. I let it idle for about 5 minutes and the smoke kept up. Still white, and smelled like a garbage fire. Almost like paper burning. But not sweet. And there was a LOT of condensate on the driveway directly under the end of the tailpipe. I smelled that, too. It smelled kind of like gas/oil but not really sweet. That froze and has since evaporated. The white smoke had me spooked so I shut it down and did not take note of whether or not it was running hot. (that is a huge failure on my part, but what can I say - I was freaking out)
Trying to diagnose car trouble on the internet is just like going to WebMD, so yeah, it could be a cracked block or blown head gasket. I don't think either of those things happen without some kind of run-up, though, do they? I haven't had ANY issues with the Jeep. No overheating, no hesitation, it hadn't been running rough, etc. It went from running great on Saturday to sitting in my driveway while I freak out and try to assess my options.
Moving on...
Last night after work I went out there with the shop light and a flashlight and took a good long look under the hood. The radiator is full up to the top, and no milky film or mayonnaise-like goop. The reservoir is full. It's maybe 3/4 inch below the FULL line, but WAY above the ADD line. In other words, it doesn't look like it's been leaking. The engine oil looks fine (no froth, no milky film, no sweet smell, it smells normal). It's maybe a little low but nothing panic-inducing. I looked all around the top of the motor with the flashlight but didn't see any indication of anything leaking. I crawled around underneath it with the flashlight and didn't see anything leaking. I took a good, long look at the driveway under it and didn't see any evidence of any leaks.
I've never dealt with a blown head gasket, or anything like this, so I'm at a loss. I know I can't drive it if the head gasket is leaking, so I'll get it towed to the shop if I need to, but I'd like to do a little more troubleshooting and could use a little advice.
I'd like to put some fresh gas in it with a little drygas, and see if it helps, but I'm afraid to even try to start it - I don't want to make a bad problem worse because I want to troubleshoot. Then again, I don't want to pay to get it towed to the shop only to find out it just needed fresh gas and a little drygas.
Any advice?
Anyways. Yesterday morning I started it up, it turned right over, then immediately died. I tried to start again and it cranked but wouldn't turn over. Tried again, same. I pulled the key, got out, walked around it looking for leaks & etc but it looked fine.
Cranked it again and it still wouldn't turn over but did rumble a little. I took that as an encouraging sign and cranked and pumped the gas. It started, but white smoke started pouring out of the tailpipe. A huge cloud of it at first, then a steady stream but not "billowing". It smelled like gas, not sweet. It ran weak for a few seconds then settled into a steady idle. I let it idle for about 5 minutes and the smoke kept up. Still white, and smelled like a garbage fire. Almost like paper burning. But not sweet. And there was a LOT of condensate on the driveway directly under the end of the tailpipe. I smelled that, too. It smelled kind of like gas/oil but not really sweet. That froze and has since evaporated. The white smoke had me spooked so I shut it down and did not take note of whether or not it was running hot. (that is a huge failure on my part, but what can I say - I was freaking out)
Trying to diagnose car trouble on the internet is just like going to WebMD, so yeah, it could be a cracked block or blown head gasket. I don't think either of those things happen without some kind of run-up, though, do they? I haven't had ANY issues with the Jeep. No overheating, no hesitation, it hadn't been running rough, etc. It went from running great on Saturday to sitting in my driveway while I freak out and try to assess my options.
Moving on...
Last night after work I went out there with the shop light and a flashlight and took a good long look under the hood. The radiator is full up to the top, and no milky film or mayonnaise-like goop. The reservoir is full. It's maybe 3/4 inch below the FULL line, but WAY above the ADD line. In other words, it doesn't look like it's been leaking. The engine oil looks fine (no froth, no milky film, no sweet smell, it smells normal). It's maybe a little low but nothing panic-inducing. I looked all around the top of the motor with the flashlight but didn't see any indication of anything leaking. I crawled around underneath it with the flashlight and didn't see anything leaking. I took a good, long look at the driveway under it and didn't see any evidence of any leaks.
I've never dealt with a blown head gasket, or anything like this, so I'm at a loss. I know I can't drive it if the head gasket is leaking, so I'll get it towed to the shop if I need to, but I'd like to do a little more troubleshooting and could use a little advice.
I'd like to put some fresh gas in it with a little drygas, and see if it helps, but I'm afraid to even try to start it - I don't want to make a bad problem worse because I want to troubleshoot. Then again, I don't want to pay to get it towed to the shop only to find out it just needed fresh gas and a little drygas.
Any advice?
