Hey all. I've received a lot of help over the past year from other threads so let me just start by saying thank you to you all.
I was away for 2 months and left my 2014 JKU 3.6 without any driving other than having my friend come over and turn it on for 15 minutes every couple weeks. Yesterday I was preparing to drive and noticed my reservoir coolant tank was running low on coolant. I filled up the reservoir to just above the minimum line. (note: i did not use OEM coolant, nor have i been using for the past year. I live in Panama which makes it hard to come by but I have been using the exact same coolant type).

Then I opened the radiator cap and noticed some brown specs on top (see photo 1).

I figured it could be rust from sitting so i took it for a test drive. Drove for maybe about an hour and it drove well. The only thing was I live up a very steep road and about half way up I noticed the temp gauge went up a little bit in between 1/2 and 3/4. After 1 minute or so it came back to 1/2 way on the gauge and stayed there for 15 minutes of steep ascent.

When I came home I parked and let the jeep sit overnight. When I checked the coolant in the morning the reservoir was nearly empty and it was obvious the coolant came out the overflow.

When I popped the radiator cap the coolant was now light brown (see photo 2)

I'm scared its a head gasket. Can anyone help me?

 

That does not look good at all. I would have the exact same fear. I really can't imagine what else it could be other than the head gasket. It seems strange to me that a HG would fail like that without some major overheating, especially on a jeep that is 8-9 years old. What does the oil look like? Would have to think you have signs of coolant in there.

 

could possibly be a cracked plastic oil cooler housing as well. time to do some investigating....

 

Resharp asked what the oil in the engine looks like. That is important as what is there is circulating in the engine when it is running.