Post Roll-Over

[Vertical Norm]

I'm really hoping you guys can steer me in the right direction here....
about a month ago or so i rolled my jeep while dingin' around in some loose dirt. it was upside down for about 2-3 hours before we were able to right it and send me on my way. Under the hood, everything appeared fine so i added some oil and auto trans fluid to compensate for what was lost, started it up and drove myself home.
I thought i made it out fairly lucky having only lost a hardtop and a windshield frame.. but then the problems started. being on a REALLY tight budget, i prefer to do any repairs myself. the problems i'm experienceing include:
-whitish smoke from exhaust
-extremely pungent exhaust odor
-tranny drops out of gear while switching gears and occassionally whilst in motion (i keep adding fluid which fixes it temporarily but for very long). the weird thing is when i check under the jeep, i don't see any leaking fluids.
-oil pan is constantly wet
also, NOTHING is fitting back together right but that's something i just have to deal with.


My friends say i could have a blown head gasket which seems to fit the symptons but wouldn't i notice a loss of oil over a 3-4 week span??????
are there certain key factors to inspect after rolling a vehicle?? things that are prone to happening? Should i be expecting more things to suddenly fail?
also... in the future, should this ever happen again (hopefully NOT!) are there any steps to take directly after a roll-over to prevent future problems?
thanks, justin

[RnEmOvr]

well after righting the jeep first thing you should have done was cleared the top of the pistons by removing the plugs and turning jeep oover and that would blow all the oil out the ttop of motor, then replace plugs and drive, you need to change all your fluids, well dont have to but is recommended, check vent tube on trans and make sure it not clogged, the blown head gasket is very likely and wouldnt notice if its small untill it becomes major

[Vertical Norm]

i changed my oil about a week after and changed the plugs about 2 weeks after. it sounds like i'm sorta' on the right track. thanks for the help.

[Gerg]

That odor and white smoke might be antifreeze. Check your coolant level.

[dr hook]

have you checked to see what your oil LOOKS like? if its milky looking, then you likely have a blown head gasket- which will allow antifreeze/coolant to enter your oil system and produce the smoke (steam) from the exhaust. the longer you drive it the worse it will get... with the probability being a locked up engine.

[Vertical Norm]

mhmm, when i changed the oil, it had a weird light colored film on top of it. someone mentioned to test if a head gasket is blown you can remove a plug and put an air compressor up to it and see if any oil bubbles around the gasket.. is this an accurate way to determine if it is infact blown?

[tommaho]

That milky film is probably coolant in your oil. If you didn't remove the plugs and turn the engine over immediately following the rollover to clear it of oil that leaked past the rings, you could have hydrolocked a cylinder. You'd be fortunate if the hydrolock resulted in just a blown headgasket, so unless you know exactly what you're doing you probably need to get it to a shop.

The air compressor method wont tell you if the leak is coming from a water jacket, so it's a waste of time IMO.

[twistedLV]

Originally Posted by vertical norm

mhmm, when i changed the oil, it had a weird light colored film on top of it. someone mentioned to test if a head gasket is blown you can remove a plug and put an air compressor up to it and see if any oil bubbles around the gasket.. is this an accurate way to determine if it is infact blown?

Only if the gasket leaks to the outside, which is rare. It most likely is leaking into the water jacket. Get someone to do a pressure test on your radiator. It shouldn't cost much. Some of the larger parts chains even have them as loaner tools.

[stogie25]

A blown head gasket would make sense. If you started the motor immediately after righting the Jeep without removing the plugs first there would have been a lot of oil in the top of the motor. With that oil you would have had too much compression on start up. The pressure had to go somewhere, and it seems you were lucky and the part that is supposed to blow blew.

Take a compression tester and check all your cylinders. They should all be about the same. The one (or more) near the blown gasket will be significantly lower. I don't know what compression they are suposed to be, and as I have a 10.5:1 stroker motor I can't just go out and find out for you. Hopefully someone will post up the correct compression.

Hopefully you did not bend any rods. A compression test after the head gasket is installed should tell you that as well. A cylinder with a bent rod will show slightly less compression then one with a correct rod. That is kind of putting the cart after the horse, but if the gasket went, hopefully it saved the internals of your motor.

The good part is the head gasket is very easy to change requiring only a FSM for torque sequence and specs, a torque wrench, a basic socket set and a scraper to get the old gasket off. It should not take you more then a day as the TJ head (either 2.5 or 4.0) is very easy to get to.

Good luck,

[Vinman]

Another way to confirm coolant is in the combustion chamber is to taste the condensation that drips from the tailpipe. If it's sweet. it's coolant.
I don't mean fill a cup or anything, just let a drop land on your finger and taste it.
I know it sounds disgusting but I've done it and confirmed coolant presence a few times.

Vince

[neZZr]

If you're loosing trans fluid and not finding any leaks, check the antifreeze in your radiator for presence of the trans fluid. If your radiator was damaged, transmission fluid from the cooler can enter the engine cooling system.

[malone]

Did the engine run while upside down?

[Vertical Norm]

it ran for about 5 seconds upside down.
my radiator didn't get damaged at all. the hood barely even got dented.
i plan on doing a compression test in the morning to make sure it's my head gasket that's broken and i'll replace it.