So, I had the usual leak problems, and I had the catalytic converter changed, I replaced the o-rings inside the oil filter adapter, and replaced the oil pressure sensor switch. Those three fixes completely stopped my quart-per-day leaks.

So, yesterday morning - the day after I fixed all that, on the way to work in the morning, she drove like new. I got to work early, so I decided that I'd run through he 4wd selections without moving, just to run them for 10 seconds each, because I haven't run those gears in quite a long time... After I got off work, I drove up to about 60mph, and every time I let off the gas, it felt as if I was driving in low gear and was drawing back and shot forward when I pressed on the accelerator again. So I pulled over to a plaza parking lot and realized my steering was off and it seemed to jump a little bit when I cut it too hard. I parked, and saw a small amount of smoke coming from the bottom. No leak.

Since I was about 10 minutes away from home, I continued to drive, until I heard a very loud rubbing sound, like two very dry hunks of metal grinding and rubbing against each other while slowing down. The slower I moved, the louder the sound was. I felt the vibration in my nose. Very loud. And there was a great deal of smoke coming through the vents. I pulled over and shut the engine off and looked underneath. There was what looked like oil, but smelled like transmission fluid gushing out of the front axle area. I popped the hood and there was a small flame starting on the top of the block, right under - and cooking - my fuel injection line's plastic covering. I put it out with a short splash of water from a water bottle, and called the FD just in case. They showed up, and put a little soap/water solution to make sure there would be no more flame.

There was lots of oil all over the top of my engine, but all of it was on the opposite side from the work I did on it. The oil filter, adapter, and oil pressure switch were dry and normal-looking. The other side of the engine is soaked in what looks like oil, but smells like transmission fluid.

Did I screw it all up by fiddling with my 4wd gears? I don't know where to begin, and I'm out of mechanic funds. Maybe I can get a little experienced advice and hopefully skip the diagnostic trial/error step on this one...???

 

can you post pics of the area wher fluid is and fire area

 

By the way, within a 20-foot radius of my Jeep, you can smell transmission fluid. Thanks for taking the time!

 

sure your not leaking gas from the injectors in the burn area

 

Did you remember to take the truck out of 4wd before hitting 60 on the way home?

 

What do you think he blew up?

 

the fire was in that area theres no tranny anything in that area maybe leaking injector oring gas washing old oil off adnd caught fire

 

In the last picture is the entire area around the master cylinder covered in trans fluid?

 

mine stick is the vent tube for the trans in that area?

 

Power steering fluid, you burst a line.

 

Damn, man, you are really, really lucky you caught it before worse happened!

You manual or auto?

Autos have trans cooler lines under pressure that go to the front of the motor, but I think they are on the passanger side, not the driver's.

This is probably right. My pressure line blew and was pissing fluid almost right where yours caught fire.

 

you get the gold star in his op he stated the steering got funny

 

@freegdr: I made sure there was no fuel leaking where the flame burnt down the fuel injection line, thank god...

@opake: I did make sure the 4wd was off. When I pulled over the first time, I was almost sure the Jeep was still in 4wd because of the whole low-gear-feeling, and I triple checked the selector and it was all the way down...

@ezab: In the pictures, every dark spot you see is where the "mystery fluid" is.

@Gee oh Dee: Auto.

@freegdr and Turbo X_J: Power steering fluid actually sounds about right. Not sure yet, though. I was starting to think it was a combination of motor and tranny oil! And yes, when I turned into that first parking lot the steering felt as if I was slowly driving over small curbs. The second time I turned in, the Jeep just really did not want to turn anymore, so I just cut it off.

I'm gonna go check all fluid levels and let y'all know. I'm sure they were all topped off before the incident.

 

start it and haveome one turn the steerung wheel watch for fluid spraying

 

Check fluid levels on everything.

With the amount of fluid sprayed out, when you find the level down on one fluid, that is the biggest suspect.

Start with the power steering fluid.