QuestionQUESTION: I've got a '00 Chrysler Concorde with a 2.7. It was a one owner and only has 86k miles. In perfect condition, until wednesday I was driving at about 60 mph and looked down and saw that it was all the way on hot. So I immediately pulled over. There was oil splatter around bottom of the engine. We then saw that the water tank was empty. So we cranked it up, put water in it, and it cooled down. But it was running rough. Like it was choking. We put more water in it, and saw an oily milky substance leaking from the release valve on the dip stick. We were trying to get out of the middle of the road and cranked the car a couple times but it wouldn't stay cranked, but all the while it showed that it had cooled down. We let it sit for about 45 minutes and tried again. It cranked beautifully and we drove it about a mile to the nearest store. Then had it towed to our house. My brother is pretty good with motors but everyone he has asked for advice on what the problem may be has told him that this is a "throw away motor" and that it is impossible to find someone that will even attempt to see if it may be a head gasket or intake gasket. I do not know what to do next...please help!
ANSWER: Hi Cassie,
The most 'diagnostic' observation was the milky substance on the dipstick. That is an indication that the oil system and the cooling system began to interchange their liquids which is of course abnormal. Commonly it is the result of a head gasket leak because there are passageways at that interface where both fluids cross and the gasket keeps them separated. I don't believe that an intake manifold gasket failure would cause this symptom.
While it could be something worse, such as a cracked cylinder head or block. if the engine was not totally overheated and the water didn't steam up lustily when added then that may not be the situation. Probably the remedial approach would be to remove the spark plugs and find out which cylinder if any has low compression using a compression tester. Then remove the cylinder head on that bank of cylinders and inspect the head for damage and similarly the block. The head gasket will be found to be leaking around that cylinder. If the gasket is then replaced and the engine reassembled it may well be serviceable.
I am not clear as to what you meant by oil splattered around the bottom of the engine. Could you get an indication as to which side of the engine it came from as that would ideally correlate to the side of the engine that shows the gasket leak.
I should also mention though that the early years of the 2.7 were somewhat problematic as regards the coolant passageways in the block which did result in failure of a noticeable fraction of them. You might google 'Chrysler 2.7L engine' to get an idea of what year that problem was finally resolved. The engine was first introduced in '97.
Because of that aspect, I would probably not commit to having a shop do work on the engine if your relative can initiate the evaluation and decide the extent of the problem. If he wants to try and do the head gasket himself I have the pages from the shop manual that will be necessary to do it correctly. There are many details that one needs to be aware of.
Asking a shop to initiate the repair may result in wasted repair expense if upon disassembly it is indeed found that the engine is more badly damaged than just the head gasket.
If the engine is indeed shot, then finding a used 2.7L that was built in mid-00's with low mileage might be the better course to pursue, and which became available because of an accident to some other part of the vehicle. There is also a 3.2/3.5L engine that was mounted in the same vehicle as yours and which don't have that history. I can't be sure how much other part replacment is necessary to change to either of those two. The engine controller would be different and should be acquired along with the engine for sure.
Roland
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QUESTION: A mechanic friend of mine said that it could possibly be the water pump. But I called the local Chrysler dealership and spoke to the service manager and they said in no way was it possible for water to get into the oil from a water pump malfunction.
AnswerHi Cassie,
After doing a brief google search as I recommended, I see that the design of the engine/water pump is such that if the pump fails it might allow water and oil to mix. There was also an issue with oil sludgning due to extended oil change practices. The change should occur with this engine at 3,000 miles or less. Replacing the water pump is a fairly extensive repair in and of itself so it would be useful before trying that if the head gasket/metal crack could be evaluated.
So testing for compression at the 6 spark plug holes would seem to me to be the least expensive diagnosis. Or your relative could try simply removing the spark plugs, and then have observers on each side of the engine look for the ejection of coolant from the spark plug holes while a helper cranks over the engine. If there is a gasket failure it would likely be revealed as milky oil being ejected. Or you could merely look at the plugs when removed for suspicious deposits on their electrodes.
Because of the history of failure that appears to not have been design-corrected until 2003, I would recommend that you assess how severe is the problem before embarking on any specific repair job. If the engine is too severly damaged you will be wasting money.
Roland
