Shot or Not? - Strange Overheating Oil Squirting Problem
 

2000 Chrysler Convertible Sebring JXi

Hi! I'm in search of some place to start. I don't have a lot of time but really like the car and if it can be saved GREAT! If not I probably will have to junk it :(

I was driving along. Temp Gauge said normal. Suddenly it spiked and within seconds I had some white steam looking smoke coming out of the cracks in the hood. I started pulling over. The oil light came on and the car stopped running. Like someone turned the key off. I coasted to the shoulder and parked. Popped the hood and as I'm standing there oil squirted out of the corner of the rubber gasket where the spark plug wire goes in on the bottom left side.

Just by looking at it and my description I'm told.... gasket... cracked head... and on and on.

What do you guys think the odds are that it's a gasket? If there's oil in the one spark plug hole but not the others does that tell you anything? Frost plug for the radiator is intact. There seems to be no water in the oil when checking the dipstick. Happy to check anything I can myself if it helps someone help me figure this out and save the car from the junk yard!

Thanks in advance!

I tried several times to post a picture. Maybe I can't yet. Here's a link to a couple pics:

Worst case scenario would include a cracked head. Maybe more if it ran too long with no oil pressure. There's no real way to tell without tearing into it and having a look-see. The problem is that unless you're handy enough, you would have to pay somebody to take it apart, and then what you have is a broken and torn-apart engine.

Can it be fixed? Anything can be fixed. The issue is whether the car is worth fixing. Chances are pretty good that the cost to acquire either a junkyard head or entire engine and the labor to install it would exceed the amount of money you could get by selling the car when fixed. By that measure, it's not economical to make the investment to repair the car. Having said all that, the decision for you is whether you like the car enough to want to fix it and get it on the road again. It's your call and nobody can make that decision for you. There are repair manuals available, and if you are good with tools you could potentially do much of the work yourself, farming out things that are beyond your capabilities. Again, that's best decided between you and your toolbox. Repair could be a rebuilt engine at the high end down to a junkyard cylinder head at the low end, again, it's your call depending on what you want to spend and the extent of the breakdown. There are many options. Remember somebody out there will buy any car at some price. There may be a guy out there with a wrecked convertible with a good engine who would be happy to take this off your hands, whereupon you could start looking for a replacement. Good luck.