Hey! I think I’m in the right forum not sure new here.
but I have a 99cherokee classic 4.0

issues I’m having is a grinding noise maybe from engine or transmission?

backstory:
It used to make this noise a while ago, my fix was turn it off and on and it went away every time, or if i drove it up the street it went away lol then it stopped doing it for months.

well it started doing it again but this time won’t stop, i drove it and it didn’t go away it got like clanging sounding loud instead of scraping so I shut it off I was in the middle of nowhere so didn’t have much a choice I drove again it went back to normal scraping sound I hit a pot hole on purpose and it went away.. (it makes this noise in park, neutral drive and reverse)
gotta go to work this morning it’s making the noise again I drove it up the street just the grinding sound and I get to red light it started smoking white out my hood
turned around went home tried to see where it’s coming from ran it at park, felt like kinda right behind my oil pan not sure.

Possible ideas:
I had to fill my coolant up with water a few times because of well yeah where I was.. was waiting for it to drain to fill it with coolant again..
that being said i checked all fluids transmission was good, engine oil was a little low I had a pan gasket leak just usually fill it up every few weeks with a quart, i put a quart in a week ago ish and I noticed it was like kinda runny, clear and maybe watery? Or just perfect condition oil not sure lol but I topped engine oil off it needed 2 quarts and I was able to put like half gallon of coolant in
not sure if water leaked into oil or what but that’s supposed to be white and milky if so I think idk.