i stuck this in the grand cherokee side but not as many folks in there and since this is a motor issue it can relate... belows a copy of what i posted over there...

Its a 00 WJ inline 6... its at my house now but its a buddies... said his girlfriend a driving around 60 when it quit on her... turns over but wont start and hold... itll kinda hit and miss speraticly (spelling) but it making all kinds of noise from the engine... no trouble codes... went right to "done"... theres no milkey anything on the oil cap... the oil doesnt look old on the dip stick and is full... no metal shavings and doesnt smell any more burnt then it should i dont think... also stuck my finger down and around in the oil fill hole and i didnt bring any crap up with it that would indicate ignoring oil changes... coolant is green... but havent drained either to check yet... probly tomorrow but i wanted to get some hits tonight just to check... I know there bad about cracking the head between 3 and 4 and leading to overheating and killin the motor... ive read up on that... i plan to pull the valve cover and see if anythings up with under there... but was wondering what it sound like to the rest of you? maybe busted timing chain? but would it studder at all with either of these issues? thanks for the time and help!!

 

back to the top

 

Anytime I have a problem with something not running I say to myself "You need 3 things to make a motor run...Spark, Fuel, and Compression." I check all that stuff first. Does it crank over smoothly? I'd pop off the distributor cap, because I had a rotor that half broke once and would almost start, kind of a studder, and the piece flying around in there didn't sound too great. Just food for thought, though.

 

huntingman have you checked to see if you are getting fuel and spark? Start with the essentially simple stuff first. May be a bad fuel pump or the CPS or any number of other things. You have eliminated the oil but that would not have kept it from starting.

 

its pretty loud engine noise from somewhere in there... it cranks over easily but sound real quiet kind of... or maybe like its spinning over really fast... i dunno... ill just pull it apart tomorrow and see what i can find... if it warms up... lol

 

If its "spinning over really fast" it sounds like there may be a loss of compression somewhere, or maybe a busted rod...
Do you hear anything clanking around in there?

 

yeah i checked all the norms first... its not something as small as fuel or spark i dont think... itll try and start and every so often itll run on its own for about 5 seconds then pop and cut back off... i gave the information about the oil because im not finding anything leading to internal problems... but from the way it sounds... its ugly in there lol... freakin 19 degrees so havent pulled the valve cover off...

yeah lots of noises... doesnt make them at any certain point in the motor turning over... just cracks and pops at all different times... this is what im thinking... or the timing chain snapped and the sounds the chain swinging around in there... but i dunno... i hope its somthing up top so ill only have to rebuild the head... that would be nice...

 

froze my fingers off and had to do it in two trips outside but i pulled the valve cover and didnt see anything crazy... everything was where it was suppose to be and still no metal shavings or anything anywhere on top... no milky lookin oil anywhere so doesnt look like he had a blown head gasket or anything from the common head crack... not to say it didnt happen but no signs of it... whatever it is has gotta be in the bottom or front... is there any way i can test the bottom end and see if everything is working properly? im gonna drain the oil next and see what it tells me... i would think if the bottom end fell apart there woud be metal in the oil right?

 

messed with it some more yesterday... i drained the oil and it was pretty black... looked at the sticker on the windshield and it had 10k on this oil change... i found no metal shavings in the oil... also i turned it over with the oil out and the darn thing started right up... was making racket still but actually ran... so i stuck about 4 quarts in it to see and it was about to start again and it backfired real bad and shot white smoke out of the TB (intakes off)... buddy said he thinks its head gasket is shot and that was the exhaust... also with the radiator cap off and spinning it over water was being forced out... of the top which doesnt normally happen until the motors warm... thinking its exhaust going into the radiator... once we tightened the radiator cap on is when its backfired (guess cause it had nowhere else to go)... this is kinda weird so i wanted to confirm with yall about what it might be? i know backfiring out of the TB can also mean timing?

 

If exhaust gas is going into the radiator its a headgasket...

 

just double checked... pulled the cap off the radiator and started it... started right up and shot water out the radiator everywhere... lol... looks like the motors done for sure... none of which will end up being salvagable... on the prowl for a new one i go!

 

Pour some head gasket repair crap into it! We saved a Chevy Blazer like this. Sold it very soon after, though, in case we found other problems. You can fix it with some snake oil for now and either sell it or beat the crap out of it. Don't buy a new Jeep yet, you gotta try and kill this one.

 

lol... its already dead man... head gaskets been bad... see my first post? jokers rattlin and knockin and everything else... lol... if the exhaust cant got through the radiator (cap on) then it comes out the intake with a bang! lol

 

Hmm, sure sounds dead but I'd try it anyway. Never know what could happen, haha. Time to recycle the WJ and get an XJ.

 

oh i got an XJ... this is my buddies that he said stick a motor in it and sell it and give me a grand of that... so thats what im gonna do lol... i got another buddy that works at LKQ and says they get them in pretty often but there still going through cash 4 clunkers so may be a couple more weeks till they start buying vehicles worth a dang again... he can get me one for a couple hundred bucks... lol... its a 4x4 WJ too... ill have it for sale on here before long i think... lol... theres also a BDS 5in lift for a WJ on craigslist for $500 that i wish i could buy and stick on it too... lol