Jeep overheated, dies when driving then smokes from under the engine.

Asked by Saabman97 Jan 20, 2016 at 03:58 AM about the 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My jeep has always had temp issues although i
always handled it buy just not letting it idle to long.
Last week my dad borrowed it and had it heating up
outside. Long story short the jeep overheated. He
called me that it started right after but he was
gonna let it cool down i decided to go and saw that
all the coolant had been used i had no antifreeze so
i had to put in water let it cool for a bit then drove it
home. The engine light was on the way thereand
about half way there the jeep completely loss power
and died. It would not start again and was smoking
a bit from the engine underneath the intake
manifold.  I let it cool again for about 2hours then
came back and had to jumpstart it then i just had to
drive it home quick, it got home it was about
6blocks away but would not go over 20mph on the
way there and died right infront of my house again
theres oil in the engine. But coolant looks kinda
weird not sure if oil in the coolant or its from the
water i put in there right before. At first i thought it
couldve been the battery causing it to die but the
jeep will start but still will just drive a couple blocks
before it makes a weird knocking noise that gets a
little quicker and louder when accelerating then it
dies and smoke comes from the engine i cant see
exactly where it coming from but its from under the
intake manifold and other stuff but its defenitely
from near the engine. The jeep will start again but i
have to jump start it. Please help i dont know much
and this was my daily car.

1 Answer

223,885

The motor sounds like it is toast from all the overheating. Do a compression test to see if it has any life left.

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