Looking for a trustworthy shop to replace or overhaul the engine in my 16 y/o daughter's 2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited (3.2 litre). According to her, she was about a mile from home and the A/C got hot and she looked at the dash and had an overheating warning. Drove home, parked in garage and called me (she was at my ex's with whom I share 50% custody). She sent the attached picture showing the front of the engine "wet". I went over to check it out and there were puddles of orangish sludge on the floor and all over the front of the engine. Checked oil, none on dipstick. Checked coolant reservoir, pool of orange sludge at the bottom.


So it's definitely a blown head gasket and I'm assuming it will need an engine overhaul or replacement, in addition to whatever flushing will need to be done on the cooling system.

So I'm looking for recommendations for a shop I can trust to do that work and not try to rip me off.
It's her first car and we bought it off a lot in Houston in January with 125k miles for $10k, which I thought was a good deal and the car has a lot of safety features that were attractive, but I have now found that these vehicles have issues, especially with the transmission (it's got the 9 speed auto) and I've already gotten a error code for a transmission pressure sensor, that is intermittent and hasn't occurred in the past month or so after I clear the code to get it out of limp mode.

On a related note, what would be the best way to determine it's market value (and market) for the car in it's present condition (undriveable but having value for "good" components)? When we find out how much the repair will be, we'll need to make a decision on whether it's worth it or not.
Thanks for reading and for any recommendations you may have. Gig 'em!

The only place I know in Houston that engine swaps would be Thunderbolt. Not sure about Jeep though.

LS swap !

Why can't it be a blown hose?

It definitely could have a blown hose, as I have not had a chance to determine exactly HOW the mixture ejected all over the front of the car. A coolant hose is the only thing I can think of for the escape route since I'm not aware of any oil passage connections where that might occur. The fact remains that the oil and coolant were completely mixed based on the sludge in the bottom of the coolant reservoir.

Leeman said:

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LS swap !

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Interesting idea, not sure it will work with front wheel drive?

Or a water pump

fixer said:

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Or a water pump

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when I went over to check it out I was thinking hose, thermostat, pump, etc (all of which I'm comfortable doing) and any of those could have been the part that actually caused the overheating I suppose. But now that I know there is a head gasket failure and that there's coolant in the oil passages and oil in the coolant passages, I'm pretty sure that at least the heads and oil pan will need to come off to inspect and clean/flush.

Actually, a couple of weeks after we bought it, the main (upper) hose popped completely off and it lost all it's coolant. It was one of the hoses with the clip and fitting where the fitting broke. I replaced the hose and fitting and it had been good since then.

I also had changed the oil prior to a trip to Dallas a couple of months ago and while the oil did look used (black), it didn't have any coolant in it then.

Also because it's a pentastar it could be the oil cooler /filter assembly.

I seriously doubt it's a head gasket.

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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Also because it's a pentastar it could be the oil cooler /filter assembly.

I seriously doubt it's a head gasket.

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That is very interesting. I'm not very familiar with this engine but obviously noted that the oil filter is on the top of the engine similar to my 6.4 Powerstroke, but I didn't contemplate that there would be an oil "cooler" assembly where there was a chance for oil/water to come in contact.

The tailpipe seems clean, which would be evidence that the exhaust was ok and maybe the head wasn't compromised.

If it were the oil cooler/filter assembly, would that mean that the breakdown of the engine may not be necessary even though coolant and oil got mixed? Would that mean that the head may not need to come off?

Thanks!

Can I ask why you are so confident that it isn't a head gasket?

Most head gasket leaks are internal in the combustion chamber between cylinders and won't be seen out of the engine compartment.

A steamy engine compartment is usually a busted radiator hose, heater hose, leaking radiator, etc.

With regards to the oil filter cooler, the solder breaks and creatures a Venturi effect with the Coolant circulating and sucks all the engine oil out of the crankcase and creates chocolate mousse with the coolant mixed together.

Usually it will boil out of the recovery bottle and make a giant mess and overheat.

This makes sense and seems to indicate that the oil/coolant mix may possibly have been limited to the cooling system. I think I need to open the oil pan drain to verify whether any coolant got in the engine. Thanks for your help and I'll still be looking for a trustworthy shop to do the oil cooler replacement. Although it doesn't seem terribly complicated, I don't have the time to dedicate to it right now.

What 1ags described happened with my '14 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 3.6 a couple of years ago (1ags also diagnosed it at the time, ha). Not a cheap fix but not nearly as painful as a blown head gasket. I think it ran me $700 or so but that was pre covid. If you're in Houston I'd recommend the shop that 1ags recommends. Don't remember the name of the shop but the owner is Gilbert and he's been fair with me on a couple of jobs that were beyond "fix it in the driveway" work.

SweaterVest said:

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What 1ags described happened with my '14 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 3.6 a couple of years ago (1ags also diagnosed it at the time, ha). Not a cheap fix but not nearly as painful as a blown head gasket. I think it ran me $700 or so but that was pre covid. If you're in Houston I'd recommend the shop that 1ags recommends. Don't remember the name of the shop but the owner is Gilbert and he's been fair with me on a couple of jobs that were beyond "fix it in the driveway" work.

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Harold's on long point

So would this oil cooler / filter housing be a candidate for preventative replacement at say 100k miles to avoid the catastrophy? How big a PITA is the replacement? I have the 3.6 Pentastar in my Pacifica PHEV too.

Update - checked the oil filter and drained some oil out of the oil pan and no sign of coolant contamination. What agswitchinglanes suggested seems likely. I still need to find the exit point for the ejected oil/coolant mixture. I got a quote for $900 parts & labor from a mobile mechanic who has helped me out before which I'll likely go with due to convenience. It looks to be a 3-4 hour job. As far as preventative replacement, it's hard to say. Since it's my daughter's first car, I think it's likely that there were symptoms that were occurring before it got this far. Like I imagine that the car started running a little hot for awhile and she didn't notice it until it was overheating. If she had checked the oil, she would have noticed it getting low for some reason and I could have checked it out.

Parts vary from $100-$300, 3-4 hours, no special tools.

Got a quote from Thunderbolt for $5000 for the engine and $3000 for the install, with 100k warranty.