We were on our final leg of our return trip from VT to VA (10 hour drive) when in the last 20 minutes an alarm went off with no lights and no apparent cause (we ignored it - whoops). It stopped soon after. About 10 (or fewer) minutes from home, we noticed that the AC was not as cold as it should be/usually is. Once we turned into the neighborhood and had <5 minutes left, we started to hear an odd clicking and rattling noise from what seemed like underneath the car. As we were about to turn into the driveway, we noticed smoke/steam coming from the engine (I was the passenger so I am unsure whether the temp gauge had shown any changes throughout this string of events). We got one tire onto our driveway and the car just shut off.
Upon popping the hood, we saw of course more smoke/steam, little to no coolant, and nothing else apparently wrong. We let the engine cool off, tossed some cold water across the smoking/steaming parts to speed up the process, and then we were able to start the car and pull it the rest of the way into the driveway. It did not like starting.
Having just driven 10 hours, we just wanted to conk out, so we left the Jeep to deal with later. When we attempted to start the Jeep that evening, we had no luck. It will not even turn over. Upon further examination (by two semi-experienced do-it-yourself car repair guys), nothing could be found. Our guess (and fear) is that the engine block has seized or cracked.
Anyone have any thoughts on what could have happened and/or what sort of repairs we should be expecting?
Although the repairs themselves likely will need to be done by a mechanic, testing various aspects of the engine to decide what is wrong and possibly the cause (I know, the coolant is gone...) are something we can do on our own so if anyone has suggestions on that front, I would appreciate those as well!
We just replaced the brake pads and rotors less than a month ago, and we got an oil change along with air filter and fluid top off two weeks before that, so I would HATE to have to give up on our Jeep, as such, ANY suggestions will be well taken!
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