Hi I have a 1995 4dr sidekick.On a recent trip back from St George Utah.I noticed my temp gauge acting funny i knew that i had a chance of overheating  because of the long hill, but the guage was just kinda bobbing around the middle .The next thing i know it hits red i turned on the heater real quick and slowed down it climbed back to normal with no problem. After the hill a few miles down the road it was still fine so I tried my ac I had nothing . It instantly hit red on the temp gauge and the check engine light came on  . I looked in the mirror and it was starting to smoke i limped it over to the side of the road the motor  sputtered out i press the accelerator down but had no responds. I died right there I popped the hood the engine was smoking . My buddy helped me load it on a trailer and bring it home  we checked the oil it was burned but the level was fine and no sign of antifreeze in it . The coolant level was none existent. But the wired thing is when we put it in neutral to load it on the trailer the automatic  transmission  felt like moving a stick through a bucket of rocks. My question is what did i do to trash the motor and transmission in one fatal swoop . This thing ran fine before this we had the timing belt done about 10,000 miles ago probably less then that even we just had a tune up oil change etc.

so i guess my questions are

Does anyone know a good Mechanic to rebuild this motor 16 valve 1995 sidekick 4x4

How do i determine the Transmission is shot without the motor running

This Sidekick is like a family member my family felt like our dog had died or something.We actually had people call and give condolences .Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You for your time

IrishBilly and the fam

Sounds like the nonexistant coolant is where things started to go bad..

Re the transmission, were you parked on an incline?  How about when you took it off the trailer, did it feel funny shifting then?

remember the trans is cooled by the radiator.  no coolant no cool

yeah we were off the side of the highway on an incline

Look for a used motor, I just rebuilt a 16v at a cost of 1500.00

we are going to find some to rebuilt does anyone have any suggestions on what i should do to the next motor cam, 10 over ,add water more offend hahaha

I tried the cam and was not happy with it. There is not a lot of performance parts available for the 16v really. Just make sure you get a good engine kit. There are a lot of cheap chinese kits out there. Oh, and that $1500.00 price tag did not include labor.

i would recomend a replacement motor and not a rebuild my local junkyard had the long blocks for about a thousand i just spent 1500 total on my motor and did it myself except the new sleeve and bore

I also have a 95 4 door and feel the same way you do about that little truck (part of the family).  You can get a JDM motor on eBay for $750. My kick overheats every once in a while and it is always a bad seal on the radiator cap. I always carry an extra.