wrangler towed in gear

Ah, ya right......

You have to be kidding right?

There is something really wrong with your post.

There is no way in my mind someone could pull a Jeep for 100 miles in gear. Or even one mile for that matter.

Have you ever tried to pull start a vehicle?

The load on the tow would be phenomenal! In any gear.....

That said, forcing an engine to turn over sure wouldn't have any bearing on leaking antifreeze unless he blew a piston rod through the block or something like that. Something has to be physically busted to leak.

That sure could happen I guess. The piston or rod would seize due to lack of oil and blow apart and right out through the block.

I would tell him to go have a look carefully below the manifold for a/the hole.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

snipped-for-privacy@pobox.com wrote:

When he left, I released the parking brake, pressed the clutch, moved the shifter to the middle position and jiggled it left and right, and by how easily it moved I knew it was not in gear at that time. When he pulled away, the jeep appeared to jerk a little but that stopped and it seemed to be towing normally at that point.

The vehicle he was towing it with was angled a little so when it took off, the jeep was pulled slightly to the left as it took off.

I've driven this jeep and many other vehicles with manual transmissions before so I know was in neutral when it left here. He didn't make any stops on the way. I know it can't just put itself in gear, so either it was Halloween or just a bad dream or maybe it wasn't really in neutral when it left (which I'm pretty confident it was in neutral). I've thought about it a lot since then and can't figure out what happened.

I'll second that. I would say that it's quite "possible" for the stick to slide into a gear - as my '85 CJ7's stick will slide into any gear quite easily without depressing the clutch pedal (as long as it's parked), but the second it did that while he was towing it, it would have created one hell of a tug on him while he was driving. Maybe your transmission is toast, but that likely wouldn't explain the coolant.

Your transfer case is supposed to be in Neutral, transmission in a gear or park if automatic. My Jeep has a manual transmission. I always put the transfer case into neutral as directed by the manual. Then, with the engine running, I put the Jeep into gear and release the clutch to be sure it is in neutral. Anyway, good luck, hope it does not cost too much to frepair.

Hmmm.. I thought when you flat towed the transfer case had to be in neutral and the tranny IN gear.

Andy

where exactly is it leaking from ? Is there obvious damage to the engine or rad pipes ?

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Was the transfer case in neutral (assuming this is a 4x4 model)? That's really the proper way to flat tow...

Thank you, that's good to know.

No, it wasn't. But I'm learning that's the best way. I'd also heard we should have disconnected the driveshaft.

He told me that it felt a little harder to pull but that it had been a long time since he'd towed it and didn't think it was too out of the ordinary. He only stopped because after driving 80 miles he noticed he'd used an awful lot more fuel that usual and stopped to make the discovery under the hood.

He was able to put antifreeze in it and start it. He drove it from the curb to the driveway to park it so I suppose if there is a bright spot in all of this, that's it. We're wondering if it's a freeze plug it's leaking from.

It'll be a few days, probably next weekend before I can get there to see it, and he may have a mechanic take a look at it before then.

If the trans was in a lower gear, such as 2nd or 3rd, the engine could over-rev at highway speeds. I've seen some big tow vehicles such as motorhomes and such head down the road with the towed vehicle in park or the parking brake on, blowing the rear tires! I agree it would be a big load but once you got it moving, who knows. Someone please calculate the engine rpm of a Wrangler in 2nd gear @ 70mph!!

VL

Not sure what you mean by "freeze plug" but with my '88 YJ ...I was driving down the street one day and blew the lock heater plug out of the side of my block and blew coolant all over the street until she started to overheat and stall. Maybe that's it? Maybe that's what you mean by "freeze plug"? On my YJ it was located on the driver side on the lower half of the engine. Definitely don't drive it tho!

I may be thinking about on other vehicles, my mom's old '64 Comet had a freeze plug that was meant to pop out hopefully before the block cracked in case the engine froze. I've got a service manual and will see what it says.