[Hungash]

So... been a while since I've spoken in the forum... but here's an update on my...lovely... Nitro:

Coolant level rapidly disappearing but there are no leaks.. I'm assuming a head gasket has blown or at least partially blown as this has been happening for probably 2 - 2 1/2 months now as I can not afford to repair that.

I can't go through a car wash or else I start to overheat, and then my engine temperature gauge goes 50/50 on working and not working. Also my heat stops working.

My heater will only blow hot(warm) air if I am actually moving above around 20 MPH, and only out of the center console.

I had some pretty bad misfiring going on for a while, but it appears to have gone away for the time being... occasionally pops back up :/

I recently had my valve covers and valve cover gaskets replaced because my valve covers were warped... pulled a spark plug and smelled burned oil, hoping a new leak didn't appear....

Someone backed into me a few months ago, but I let them go because they were in a beat up van and I didn't want to sky rocket their insurance over a bumper. The bumpers cracked and for some reason has started chipping and cracking paint all over it despite only being hit in one spot. I'll replace it at some point.

My Catalytic Converters are on the verge of going out, that code is always popping up.

The Passenger-side front door, and Driver-side passenger door locks do not respond to being locked by either the key fob or lock switch on the driver door.

I hope the rest of you are fairing better luck than I am!

Any help with the engine misfires, loss of coolant, and loss of heat would be of great help!

Sorry for the rant, its been building up for a while 😅

 

[Scar0]

Blown head gasket can cause the overheating and loss of coolant. Heater never works well if it is low on coolant.
With you loosing coolant like that, there is also not the correct pressure in the system. Pressure is needed for engine cooling and heating the cab to work correctly.

 

[genseric]

Check if heater core is leaking. That would be the best scenario. Hopefully the engine misfire is from an oily spark plug.

 

[Tara Arrington]

My truck hesitates to start some times. The guy at Auto Zone check it with the machine he said it’s not the starter or the alternator, but it was surely the battery. I bought a brand new battery and it still hesitate to start play help me

 

[JPthekid]

Change those spark plugs as well. Could be as simple as needing correct gaps and clean fresh plugs on the misfire. Cheap easy job. Should take 30 min. Head gasket isn’t expensive to do if u do it yourself. If u do, do not reuse the head bolts

 

[Scar0]

My truck hesitates to start some times. The guy at Auto Zone check it with the machine he said it’s not the starter or the alternator, but it was surely the battery. I bought a brand new battery and it still hesitate to start play help me

Welcome to the forum @Tara Arrington. When you have a chance, head over to the Newbie Section (<click this) and say "Hi".
Tell us a little about yourself and your ride.
That way we can welcome you all proper like.

There are a bunch of threads on hard to start when warm, and other starting issues. Perhaps one of those has the solution you need.
Also search "key dance".

 

[Hungash]

Check if heater core is leaking. That would be the best scenario. Hopefully the engine misfire is from an oily spark plug.

May I ask how to go about checking this?

I know getting to the heater core is one hell of a job, and if you're going to go that far, might as well replace it.

 

[Hungash]

Change those spark plugs as well. Could be as simple as needing correct gaps and clean fresh plugs on the misfire. Cheap easy job. Should take 30 min. Head gasket isn’t expensive to do if u do it yourself. If u do, do not reuse the head bolts

I'm going to have my own garage starting next month, and tearing this engine apart and getting the head gasket replaced is going to be my first task.

I've already got a whole new set of spark plugs ready, and had all of the coil-packs and plugs replaced about this time last year.

I already have a new Thermostat at the ready, and may do a new water-pump because I've heard that's something probably worth doing after dealing with an issue like this.

I'm also going to do a full-vehicle fluid flush, I'd like to erase any potential problems for a while to come!

I'm thinking of maybe also putting in new fuel-line, fuel injectors, and maybe even a new fuel pump because I've averaged like 13.5-16 MPG since I bought the vehicle. Any suggestions here?

I've also debated putting in a turbo (because me and my friends are car-nutjobs), anything else I should debate doing while the engine is torn down to avoid blowing it up with a turbo?

 

[JPthekid]

Unfortunately that MPG is just part of having the nitro...... mines around 14mpg. As far as the turbo situation that’s out of my realm of knowledge, sorry

 

[Hungash]

Unfortunately that MPG is just part of having the nitro...... mines around 14mpg. As far as the turbo situation that’s out of my realm of knowledge, sorry

I've seen some people in this group talk about averaging 20+ MPH so I figured it'd be worth striving for!

 

[JPthekid]

Only time I saw that was bone stock on long highway runs. Never on daily driving though. And def not after alterations. I could gain up to 1 mpg if I removed my cargo basket tho

 

[Scar0]

Can't turbo the 3.7. The split crank can't handle the extra boost.
Best mileage I got was after I put a 4.7 throttle body in my 3.7. Of course the CAI and free flowing muffler helped a lot.
Bone stock I was lucky to get 14MPG.

 

[Hungash]

Can't turbo the 3.7. The split crank can't handle the extra boost.
Best mileage I got was after I put a 4.7 throttle body in my 3.7. Of course the CAI and free flowing muffler helped a lot.
Bone stock I was lucky to get 14MPG.

Fair enough, thank you for keeping me from blowing myself apart 😅

You said putting a 4.7L Throttle Body helped increase Mileage? I have a Throttle-Body Error light on my dash everyday so I was thinking of replacing it anyways.... mind giving me a link to the one you got?

I'm ordering Head Gaskets, Valve Cover Gaskets, Radiator (Something happened this past Friday and now it's steadily dripping coolant all along its width and I see my half-working temp gauge trying to show it overheating more often...), Water Pump, as well as new Fuel Injectors just in case... I already have new Spark Plugs at the ready because I know I'll need them.

Today I had a massive backfire and it's consistently misfiring every like 5-10 seconds and feels like the car has hiccups. Shudders when I'm in idle. Also, despite the obvious loss of coolant from my Radiator... the coolant reservoir hasn't gone down at all so I think there is also a clog somewhere..

I think it's time I take the hit to my wallet and get everything fixed up.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Scar0]

Others here have tried the 4.7 TB with success, others not so much. The ones that had the "not so much" had newer Nitro's IE 2010+ And the TB caused more issues then anything. Not sure why this is...
Here is my thread about what I did, including the TB I used.

Bigger throttle body on the cheap!

As the title says, who wants a bigger throttle body on the cheap? Well we all want HP gains, as well as possible MPG increases, don't we? I looked at fastman as a possible option a long time back. But the cost of $265 was holding me back. Then I kinda forgot about it... Then the other day I was...

www.nitroforumz.com

 

[Hungash]

Others here have tried the 4.7 TB with success, others not so much. The ones that had the "not so much" had newer Nitro's IE 2010+ And the TB caused more issues then anything. Not sure why this is...
Here is my thread about what I did, including the TB I used.

Bigger throttle body on the cheap!

As the title says, who wants a bigger throttle body on the cheap? Well we all want HP gains, as well as possible MPG increases, don't we? I looked at fastman as a possible option a long time back. But the cost of $265 was holding me back. Then I kinda forgot about it... Then the other day I was...

www.nitroforumz.com

Looks like I'll have to pass on that mod, my 2011 Nitro doesn't need more problems 😂

Bad boy tried to go into limp mode on the highway this morning but I managed to fight it out of it somehow

At this rate my entire engine may take itself out on the way home!

 

[Hungash]

This Timing Chain Kit is popping up every time I just look up buying a Water Pump... would you guys suggest getting it since the engine will be torn down or just leaving it be?

https://www.carparts.com/details/Dodge/Nitro/DriveMotive/Timing_Chain_Kit/2011/Heat/KIT1-110713-03-B.html?TID=gglpla&origin=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=pla&utm_campaign=9649744548&gclid=CjwKCAiAp4KCBhB6EiwAxRxbpMsof-RZAFddJ7CZA_CKVzHo2GLs3kDCaW9goxg2OYp5BGcgJv6K4xoCGb8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Scar0]

It's hard to say for sure. Once you get into it you can see how much slop yours has and go from there.

 

[JPthekid]

It recommends it bc you have to remove the water pump to get to it. A lot of times it’s the reverse situation. People change the timing belt and being they took the water pump off just swap it to save later problems. Might as well change the serp belt while u are at it being it’s coming off anyhow. New head bolts of course. Never done it on the nitro but I’d replace the intake gasket as well if your pulling the intake. In theory unless it’s just shot the timing belt is oil lubricated and unless it’s visibly gone to sh!t can be ok...... meant to say timing chain****

 

[Hungash]

It recommends it bc you have to remove the water pump to get to it. A lot of times it’s the reverse situation. People change the timing belt and being they took the water pump off just swap it to save later problems. Might as well change the serp belt while u are at it being it’s coming off anyhow. New head bolts of course. Never done it on the nitro but I’d replace the intake gasket as well if your pulling the intake. In theory unless it’s just shot the timing belt is oil lubricated and unless it’s visibly gone to sh!t can be ok

I'll add serpentine belt to the list. I'm gonna go ahead and do the timing chain since the engine has so many miles on it (I'm pretty sure the engine is a replacement that the dealership lied about because it's valve cover said "2010 Jeep 190000" (I'm assuming miles)

I'm buying an entire gasket kit since I'm practically tearing everything apart.

 

[Hungash]

Finally getting around to tearing my Nitro's engine down, only thing of interest to note so far is that it's pretty dirty and that one of the spark plugs lower porcelain was shattered.