Jeep XJ 4.0 puking coolant

Ahoragi

Ahoragi

TJ Addict
Joined
Mar 25, 2016
Messages
1,272
Yeah it's sick and I am trying to remedy it. Picture shows what came out of the radiator. I think someone took a dump in it after eating taco bell.

But anyways I flushed it a godzillion times along with the heater core by itself and got semi-clean water flowing through it. I need to drain and fill with coolant before we get below freezing here. I drained the radiator and I can only get about a cup in the radiator before it starts purging out. I pull the cap off, start it up, and it begins to flow out. It will go down if I rev the engine but then start flowing out again when I let off the throttle.

I don't have a ton of experience with cooling systems so I'm asking for some help here. What could be going on?

No overheating issues
Oil seems clean
Runs great
Heater works fantastic


coolant.jpg
 
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Holy crap... That's nasty, nasty coolant, filled with rust and everything. I see someone was using their tap water to fill up the coolant (that's one of the ways the rusted coolant happens).

The smart thing to do here would be to replace your entire cooling system. It's all probably filled with gunk, and if you've got over 100k miles, I don't need to tell you that it's overdue anyways (especially being this old of a vehicle).

I honestly thing your issue is that your cooling system is so clogged with gunk, that you'd have to find a way to pressure blast it out (which would probably destroy your radiator and other cooling system components), or just replace them.

Sorry man... But with coolant looking like that on a vehicle that age, you need to replace your cooling system, plain and simple. It's way overdue.
 
Chris said:
The smart thing to do here would be to replace your entire cooling system. It's all probably filled with gunk
Click to expand...

This ^^^.

But if you're looking for a quick, cheap fix, try replacing the water pump. The impeller is probably badly worn, corroded and unable to circulate without raised RPMs.
 
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Thanks for the repies. I have a feeling my pump is gonna look like that. I do have a pump ready to go in along with a thermostat. I ran cooling system cleaning chemicals through the system twice now but it still coming out dark BUT it's improving. I don't have any funds to go replacing all the cooling system components so I will make do with what I have.

I am currently trying to get some castle nuts and hub bolts off. The corrosion was so bad that the shape of the head/nut just flaked off smooth and there was nothing for the socket to grip.

20171016_032532.jpg


I should probably just come up with some cash to get some knuckles from Davey's and bypass all this crap.
 
Ahoragi said:
Thanks for the repies. I have a feeling my pump is gonna look like that. I do have a pump ready to go in along with a thermostat. I ran cooling system cleaning chemicals through the system twice now but it still coming out dark BUT it's improving. I don't have any funds to go replacing all the cooling system components so I will make do with what I have.

I am currently trying to get some castle nuts and hub bolts off. The corrosion was so bad that the shape of the head/nut just flaked off smooth and there was nothing for the socket to grip.

View attachment 25674

I should probably just come up with some cash to get some knuckles from Davey's and bypass all this crap.
Click to expand...

Holy cow... Time for some new knuckles for sure!
 
Hard to say from just a snap shot, but that coolant looks like it has oil in it. Which could indicate a number of unsavory issues, 1st to come to mind would be the head gasket. If as the title of your post indicates you are loosing coolant, then that would make sense from compression in the cooling system. Hopefully that is not the issue, but it is a possibility.
Best of luck,

B
 
I am only losing coolant from the radiator filler neck. It is not disappearing as I drive it cuz I have not driven it since the two hour trip home. The oil appears to be clear and unlike the head-gasket-milk-shake-oil that my former 01 XJ had.
 
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