Blown Heads!

swanyo · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:40 pm

On June 29th, I was trailering my Horizon back from the eastern side of Arizona in 115 degree heat and after 12 hours and 670 miles behind me the Liberty boils over 10 miles short of my house. It limped home after some cool down and luckily a good supply of water in the trailer. I thought at first it might be something I could fix but finally I towed it to the Star Chysler Jeep in Glendale Ca. They called after 2 days and said the heads were warped and that it needed to be torn down. Luckily for me I still had a couple of months left on the warranty and was only at 30,000 miles. They kept the Jeep for 2 weeks as we were on vacation all of last week and could not finish before we left. When I got the Jeep back on Monday they showed me a parts list that was 2 pages long including the oil pump, both heads and various sensors. But the best part was my bill was $0. At first I was worried because the service manager was commenting on all the changes I had made to the Liberty, but in the end they did not give me any hassles.

Next question is now that this has happened do you think I pushed the Jeep to hard or are there any mods that would be recommended to prevent further problems. I did order trailering fan kit and will install that but I am wondering if I was asking too much of this vehicle towing about 2000 lbs in that kind of heat, for so many hours straight through. Maybe it is too much to ask of any vehicle. By the way because it was so hot I drove the whole way with the AC off, which made me very popular with my 10 year old daughter and dog who were traveling with me.

scott

jason thompson · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:38 pm

I dont think that the weight alone was the issue
a few questions that I have may help you to figure out what would help

what size tries do you have? ,bigger tires = more stress on the engine
did they replace the water pump? sounds to me like some thing went bad at just the right time ,not 500 miles from home
what about hoses?
last time you flushed the radiator/cooling system?
carrying stuff on the roof? this causes more problems then people know ,last week we drove 300 miles to the beach
the KJ could get 18 mpg at 65 and 13 mpg at 75
normally we get 18 =/- a little from 65-75 and it tanks after 75
only thing that changed was the roof rack and beach stuff up there

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:45 pm

I see you have some heavy armor,a lift,and I assume larger then stock tires.All that extra weight has to be taken into account when towing and the fact you do not have the proper cooling for towing without the HD cooling,plus the high heat you smoked the engine,you might want to have the tranny checked also.At least have all new tranny fluid put in since you smoked the engine the tranny is not far behind being you have the 42RLE.The added weight of the armor and the tires without proper gearing and cooling pulling at least 3500lbs in high heat is what killed your engine,sorry but you were the cause of everything and your dang lucky warrenty covered it.

ramlebliberty · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:37 pm

same thing happened to me, except I'm not lifted, stock sized tires, and no armor. The engine blew on mine @ 37k, was driving on the beach and after stoping and relaxing on the beach for a bit we got in & the lib wouldn't start. Eventually it did and we limped home. I never saw the thermostat go above 1/2, and I hawk my gauges when driving on the beach. Dealer put pretty much a brand new engine & replaced a hell of a lot of parts from the tranny too. All for $100, they blamed it on the beach, but me and some other people are skeptical about it. Even my wife doubts I broke the thing, and she always blames me when things break.

Mechanic at the shop said "Jeep libertys arn't made to offroad"

HAHA!

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:16 pm

Beach wont destroy the engine.

Not sure why the engines are loosing heads.

Unless you have 32" tires and were towing in mountains, I wouldnt imagine a 2,000lb trailer would harm the engine at all. The tranny should just cruise in 3rd(given you had O/D off) with that kind of weight.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:34 pm

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Beach wont destroy the engine.

Not sure why the engines are loosing heads.

Unless you have 32" tires and were towing in mountains, I wouldnt imagine a 2,000lb trailer would harm the engine at all. The tranny should just cruise in 3rd(given you had O/D off) with that kind of weight.

A Horizon,if the mid '80's car, weighs about 2500lbs or so and figure at least 1000lbs-1200lbs for the trailer.That would make at least 3500lbs load,add in high heat,no extra cooling from a tow package,lifted with most likely bigger then stock tires,and at least 600lbs+ of added armor weight = going to fry something.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:01 am

swanyo wrote:

I did order trailering fan kit and will install that but I am wondering if I was asking too much of this vehicle towing about 2000 lbs in that kind of heat, for so many hours straight through.

scott

ohh.. didnt know he was towing something other than the 2,000 lbs.

JohnnyCash · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:41 am

The heads are warped on mine too. Dealer tore the engine down and supposedly fixed it, but still have problems, so it's going to have to be torn down again.

I towed nothing, and it's completely stock. No extreme heat. No extreme offroading. Nothing.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:33 am

Maybe these 3.7L motors aren't as bullet proof as advertised.

First they've got weak valve springs and now some people are warping heads? Meh...

swanyo · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:45 am

Quote:

A Horizon,if the mid '80's car, weighs about 2500lbs or so and figure at least 1000lbs-1200lbs for the trailer.That would make at least 3500lbs load,add in high heat,no extra cooling from a tow package,lifted with most likely bigger then stock tires,and at least 600lbs+ of added armor weight = going to fry something.

I'm sorry I wasn't so clear, but I meant a AT Horizon Trailer. I have 245/75 tires with OD turned off when trailering, but I have not upgraded the gearing. I guess that should be next on my list after installing the upgraded fan setup. I will take your advise and replace all the fluids immediately. After all that is done though do you think that is going to fix my issue or am I just being stupid to drive that far in the heat without break? I was watching the gauges all the way of course until those last few miles when it was 7pm and I thought I was home free! Thanks.

scott

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:12 pm

i got my engine replaced also at about 45k. i was towing a YAMAHA Rhino 450 on a trailer thats just barely bigger than the ATV alone. went to stop at a light, started slowing down, then it turned green, went to hit the gas to speed up again and it was dead, then BEEEEEEP! the ding-type-beep, oil light and check engine light popped on. temp never went up, just out of nowhere, was runnign perfectly fine prior to this. i could eventually get it to start after about an hour of trying to limp it across the street into the parking lot, stuttering and running really rough, spitting oil and coolant out of the exhaust

they said it was because inbetween the AC condensor and radiator was packed with mud, but that was in there for about 4 months prior to this happening. i always pressure wash and clean real good after playing in the mud, but you cant see between the ac condensor and radiator. i even had the grill, bumper and flares off cleaning all the mud out.
i still got it replaced under the 7yr/70k mile warranty

InCommando · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:50 pm

I have run the dog crap out of mine with no issues other then what the consensus believes was a freak w/p failure.. Maybe the full synthetic oil?

( Buy running the dog crap out of it, I mean frequently over 5K RPMs, dumping the clutch, speed shifting, 100+ MPH)

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:00 pm

How else can a head warp if the engine doesnt over heat?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:16 pm

Jeepjeepster wrote:

How else can a head warp if the engine doesnt over heat?

If the temp sensor is not actually in coolant it will not read right,most of the time when you overheat the temp gauge may or maynot read hot.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:21 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Beach wont destroy the engine.

Not sure why the engines are loosing heads.

Unless you have 32" tires and were towing in mountains, I wouldnt imagine a 2,000lb trailer would harm the engine at all. The tranny should just cruise in 3rd(given you had O/D off) with that kind of weight.

A Horizon,if the mid '80's car, weighs about 2500lbs or so and figure at least 1000lbs-1200lbs for the trailer.That would make at least 3500lbs load,add in high heat,no extra cooling from a tow package,lifted with most likely bigger then stock tires,and at least 600lbs+ of added armor weight = going to fry something.

Now thats funny right there..... are there even any Horizons still on the road?? :lol:

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:33 pm

JJsKJ wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Beach wont destroy the engine.

Not sure why the engines are loosing heads.

Unless you have 32" tires and were towing in mountains, I wouldnt imagine a 2,000lb trailer would harm the engine at all. The tranny should just cruise in 3rd(given you had O/D off) with that kind of weight.

A Horizon,if the mid '80's car, weighs about 2500lbs or so and figure at least 1000lbs-1200lbs for the trailer.That would make at least 3500lbs load,add in high heat,no extra cooling from a tow package,lifted with most likely bigger then stock tires,and at least 600lbs+ of added armor weight = going to fry something.

Now thats funny right there..... are there even any Horizons still on the road?? :lol:

I have very found memories from a Horizon :wink:

.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:22 am

tjkj2002 wrote:

Jeepjeepster wrote:

How else can a head warp if the engine doesnt over heat?

If the temp sensor is not actually in coolant it will not read right,most of the time when you overheat the temp gauge may or maynot read hot.

Ive always wondered what happen in that type of situation.. Guess I know now!

And I dont even want to know what memories you made in that car. :twisted:

Blown Heads!

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