Q: I pulled up to a gas station and filled up with gas. As I tried to start the vehicle just gave clicks. Jump starting did not work.

asked by on July 10, 2017

What could be wrong with my Jeep liberty not starting after temporary stop. A few days ago the thermostat had gone to read indicating overheat. I'm hoping all I need is coolant. Help!

My car has 190000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

Hi There, If the vehicle previously overheated, it may be possible that it could have damaged a cylinder head gasket, which could cause it not to start as you describe. A blown head gasket may cause a number of different symptoms. A head gasket that fails between cylinders will generally cause a misfire and potentially compression leaks from one cylinder into another. Low compression will eventually result in a rough idling engine. When the head gasket fails between a cylinder and the coolant port, coolant may leak into the cylinder causing it to be burnt with the fuel charge in the combustion chamber. This often results in misfires on startup, especially after the engine is run, turned off and restarted and in some cases may result in the engine not maintaining enough cylinder compression to even run or start. This type of failure may not always show with a compression test. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to properly diagnose the symptoms you describe.

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