Wrangler wont start or stalls after head gasket repair

G

gerryger413

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2024
Messages
4
Location
Ct
FIrst Symptom
Misfire on cylinder 1
Replace all plugs and coils
Replace thermostat.
Still getting misfire codes

2nd Symptom
Starting noticing white smoke from tail pipe
Had compression test done. No loss of combustion.
Had Coolant pressure done. No external leaks.
Replaced head gasket. $3500

Picked up car and drove about 2 miles and it completely shuts down.
CEL comes on. Do not know what the code was.
Manage to restart it and drive it back to mechanic.
They can't restart it now.
They replace crankshaft sensor.
Still won't start .

All of this has ocurred in a one month time frame.

Any clues or suggestions??
 
I have an update. Upon completion of my head gasket repair the car was test driven by the mechanic. He said it was good to go. I pick it up and 5 minutes of driving it the engine shuts down. New diagnosis is the bottom half has failed. Cylinder one is shot. Is this normal for a car to fail that fast after a gasket job. Car was running fine before bringing it in despite the early stages of seeing some smoke out of tailpipe. I would say that started only 5 days before the gasket job. I truly believe I caught this gasket problem early. No engine knocking or ticking, no over heating, I was losing coolant, but not much. I'm being told crankcase is being filled with coolant. Could this have been determined prior to doing the head gasket job. Fyi...my jeep has never overheated. One week before the head gasket job i did have a compression check done and that indicated no loss of compression. Coolant pressure test showed no external leaks. One last question....he wants to put in a used engine he found...not sure if it's been rebuilt or just an engine that was scrapped. Will find out tomorrow. It has under 90k on it. I also am considering going with a new engine. What other costs for parts are needed for the new engine. I'm assuming plugs, coils....what else. Does a failed engine sound weird or unlikely after just driving it for 5 minutes and after the mechanic test drove it themselves. One other thing that concerns me is the mechanic said he did something to the seals. No new ones. "Did something" is a vague response. What and where are these seals located and do they have anything to do with the crank shaft or flywheel. It's a long post because this has been a LONG ordeal with a mechanic that does not communicate well which makes me suspicious. 11 days in his possession for a head gasket job without any feedback from them with a reason why it took so long.
 
gerryger413 said:
I have an update. Upon completion of my head gasket repair the car was test driven by the mechanic. He said it was good to go. I pick it up and 5 minutes of driving it the engine shuts down. New diagnosis is the bottom half has failed. Cylinder one is shot. Is this normal for a car to fail that fast after a gasket job. Car was running fine before bringing it in despite the early stages of seeing some smoke out of tailpipe. I would say that started only 5 days before the gasket job. I truly believe I caught this gasket problem early. No engine knocking or ticking, no over heating, I was losing coolant, but not much. I'm being told crankcase is being filled with coolant. Could this have been determined prior to doing the head gasket job. Fyi...my jeep has never overheated. One week before the head gasket job i did have a compression check done and that indicated no loss of compression. Coolant pressure test showed no external leaks. One last question....he wants to put in a used engine he found...not sure if it's been rebuilt or just an engine that was scrapped. Will find out tomorrow. It has under 90k on it. I also am considering going with a new engine. What other costs for parts are needed for the new engine. I'm assuming plugs, coils....what else. Does a failed engine sound weird or unlikely after just driving it for 5 minutes and after the mechanic test drove it themselves. One other thing that concerns me is the mechanic said he did something to the seals. No new ones. "Did something" is a vague response. What and where are these seals located and do they have anything to do with the crank shaft or flywheel. It's a long post because this has been a LONG ordeal with a mechanic that does not communicate well which makes me suspicious. 11 days in his possession for a head gasket job without any feedback from them with a reason why it took so long.
Click to expand...


Sounds to me like you need to find a new Mechanic.

If the crankcase is now filling with coolant after he replaced the Head Gaskets then he did something wrong. Did he have the heads sent out and checked for cracks and make sure they weren't warped?

What does he mean by cyl 1 is shot, does your CEL come on?
 
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gerryger413 said:
One week before the head gasket job i did have a compression check done and that indicated no loss of compression
Click to expand...

Did you have a leak down test done when they checked compression? A compression test alone will not diagnose a failing gasket in its early stages. A leakdown test will.

Agree with @BLACKJKU - it sounds like a mechanic issue if the cylinder is being filled with coolant AFTER the head gasket replacement.
 
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BLACKJKU said:
Sounds to me like you need to find a new Mechanic.

If the crankcase is now filling with coolant after he replaced the Head Gaskets then he did something wrong. Did he have the heads sent out and checked for cracks and make sure they weren't warped?

What does he mean by cyl 1 is shot, does your CEL come on?
Click to expand...
I agree apparently when the mechanic did the repair he didn't check too see if all the coolant was out of the block or the head has a crack or warped
 
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tJKrider said:
Did you have a leak down test done when they checked compression?
Click to expand...

I also add, a leakdown test can help diagnose other failure points in the combustion chamber: rings, valves/seats/guides, etc. it's possible there were multiple issues happening and only one was resolved.

What was the mileage on your vehicle? I don't think I would go through the trouble of replacing it with a 90k donor engine.
 
gerryger413 said:
FIrst Symptom
Misfire on cylinder 1
Replace all plugs and coils
Replace thermostat.
Still getting misfire codes

2nd Symptom
Starting noticing white smoke from tail pipe
Had compression test done. No loss of combustion.
Had Coolant pressure done. No external leaks.
Replaced head gasket. $3500

Picked up car and drove about 2 miles and it completely shuts down.
CEL comes on. Do not know what the code was.
Manage to restart it and drive it back to mechanic.
They can't restart it now.
They replace crankshaft sensor.
Still won't start .

All of this has ocurred in a one month time frame.

Any clues or suggestions??
Click to expand...
$3500 dead gasket...that's near a new long block with my mechanic, good grief.

Without codes it's hard to assist. He should have codes somewhere.
 
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No leak down test done. CEL indicated misfire on cylinder 1. Head was sent out to be machined.

As far as cylinder 1 goes he used a boroscope and said he couldn't see the cylinder. Not sure what that means.
 
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gerryger413 said:
No leak down test done. CEL indicated misfire on cylinder 1. Head was sent out to be machined.

As far as cylinder 1 goes he used a boroscope and said he couldn't see the cylinder. Not sure what that means.
Click to expand...
Ok so when you put a boroscope down the spark plug hole if you can't see the thats usually a sign of it being out of round or taper
 
gerryger413 said:
FIrst Symptom
Misfire on cylinder 1
Replace all plugs and coils
Replace thermostat.
Still getting misfire codes

2nd Symptom
Starting noticing white smoke from tail pipe
Had compression test done. No loss of combustion.
Had Coolant pressure done. No external leaks.
Replaced head gasket. $3500

Picked up car and drove about 2 miles and it completely shuts down.
CEL comes on. Do not know what the code was.
Manage to restart it and drive it back to mechanic.
They can't restart it now.
They replace crankshaft sensor.
Still won't start .

All of this has ocurred in a one month time frame.

Any clues or suggestions??
Click to expand...
"White smoke" is not usually smoke, as such. Commonly, it is coolant, and the "white" appearance is condensing vapor (steam). Poor carburation tends to discharge sooty, dark smoke. Oil commonly causes a blueish "smoke." If this appeared following the replacement of the head gasket, I would be wondering if the gasket was properly installed. As concerns the CEL, do you have the OBDII code?
 
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gerryger413 said:
No leak down test done. CEL indicated misfire on cylinder 1. Head was sent out to be machined.

As far as cylinder 1 goes he used a boroscope and said he couldn't see the cylinder. Not sure what that means.
Click to expand...


A misfire could have been a fuel injector, spark plug, spark plug wire, bad connector or wire harness or even coil.
 
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