New member just bought a project CRD - coolant in the oil

Libertydiesel · **Joined:** Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:42 pm **Posts:** 4

Hello All,

I just purchased a non-running 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD with 225k miles on the odometer. It is in good condition cosmetically. I replaced the battery and tried starting it. It would crank somewhat for the first few times (crank for a few revolutions then stop), but now it does not want to crank at all, even with a fully-charged battery. Oil level was very high on the dipstick. I pulled the oil drain plug and coolant came out before the oil started draining out. I would estimate that there was over half of a gallon of coolant in the oil pan. The coolant bottle is empty. The story from the previous owner is that the turbo was replaced about 2,000 miles prior and while driving it started running very rough and quit. He suggested that it needs a complete engine rebuild. I do not want to dump a lot of money into this, but I want to seek advice from the group here. I have been told that it could just be a bad head gasket in which case I am prepared to replace that doing the labor myself.

Can anyone suggest first steps to diagnose the issue?

Thanks.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:47 pm

The fact that its not cranking well and not starting is a bad sign.
Could be water in the cylinders.
Try pulling the glow plugs, then cranking, and see if water shoots out.
Is there any oil in the coolant?

Could be:

head gasket
cracked head
busted egr cooler
busted oil cooler
bad cylinder liner seal
dropped valve

Basically, you wont know until you start tearing into the engine.

Personally, I've had a cracked head, busted EGR cooler, and busted oil cooler.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2020 1:14 pm

Fully understand, there is nothing cheap about fixing this engine!
Coolant in oil is a sure sign of a leaking or cracked head, block, cylinder liner, oil cooler, or head gasket.
Only disassembly inspection and testing will tell you for sure what the problem is.
If you can source a good used engine, you may come out cheaper....

Libertydiesel · **Joined:** Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:42 pm **Posts:** 4

Thank you for the replies. I will plan to pull the glow plugs and crank to see if water comes out of the cylinders.

No evidence of oil mixing inside the coolant bottle. I tried to open the drain port on the radiator, but it appears to be completely empty.

I forgot to mention that I have a generic OBDII scanner. These are the following codes currently displayed:

P0672
P0673
P1263
P1265
P1267
P0101

Looks like P0101 is for the mass air flow sensor and the rest are for glow plugs.

Libertydiesel · **Joined:** Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:42 pm **Posts:** 4

I removed the glow plugs today. The ceramic tips are broken off of three out of four of them. See photos below.

I was being pretty careful while removing them. I suspect that they were already broken, but I guess it is possible I broke them during the removal process. How delicate are these glow plugs? Are they easy to break?

I guess the head is coming off next...

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

Libertydiesel wrote:

I removed the glow plugs today. The ceramic tips are broken off of three out of four of them. See photos below.

Photos aren't embedding - in order to see them, we'd have to be logged into your Google account. I'll suggest imgur as a possible alternative.

Quote:

I was being pretty careful while removing them. I suspect that they were already broken, but I guess it is possible I broke them during the removal process. How delicate are these glow plugs? Are they easy to break?

Easy to break, yes. Delicate, very (especially after 15 years in service). Broken during removal, possibly, but given the symptoms you've described elsewhere, it may have happened earlier. Not that it really matters, because:

Quote:

I guess the head is coming off next...

At this point, that's going to be your best bet.

Figure on doing everything while you're in there from the head gasket on up to the rockers & valves. Pretty sure you know this, but it's going to be your best shot at all-in-one bulletproofing.

Libertydiesel · **Joined:** Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:42 pm **Posts:** 4

Thanks for the advice. I will know more once the head is off.

Here is another attempt at posting those photos of the glow plus. The intact one is from cylinder #1 (closest to alternator).

WolverineFW · **Posted:** Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:33 pm

Based on the soot on the broken tips, looks like they broke well before you removed them.

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk

geordi · **Posted:** Thu Jun 11, 2020 12:52 am

Those glow plugs look like old breaks. But with coolant in the oil.... When you pull the injectors, if you find the tips on any smashed, that's a strong indication that the engine dropped a valve. I suspect that is what you are going to find, and pulling the head is the best way to see how bad it is. Expect a lot of carnage and having to subsequently pull the entire block to be able to pull the pan and replace whichever piston is munched.

TKB4 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:59 pm

On the somewhat bright side I had 3 of 4 original glow plugs broken similar to those without causing any problem but then I didn't have coolant in the oil. I do have a different one now that has coolant in the oil but runs normally. I am hoping its the oil cooler but won't get to it for a while ( I think its a cracked block though.

TKB4 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2020 12:05 am

Did you check for water coming out of the glow plug holes? Just the broken glow plugs doesn't mean thats related to the coolant in oi (my broken glow plugs were incidental to changing all my CRD s to metal glow plugs)l. Still could be oil cooler etc.

BTW, Looks like you definitely found a project. Hope you got it CHEAP!

New member just bought a project CRD - coolant in the oil

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