Hi folks.. New to your forum and I have a question or three... My 97 TJ 4.0/auto is the subject. It's my summer daily driver, and another toy for up here at our new summer digs in the beautiful Black Hills of SD. Sits in the garage here all winter.
Twice since I got up here this year (May 1st) it has run low on coolant. Both times, same thing: All seems normal, temp gauge had been right in the middle of the '2' in '210' on the gauge, suddenly it would peg the gauge to 260, thermostat kick in and bring it down to normal. First time it took nearly a gallon of coolant, plus the res was dry... All seemed fine, then Friday, same thing happened again except the res was full.. No evidence of a leak visible anywhere, no sign of the coolant in the oil. But I do smell the coolant with some frequency (not always) as if it had boiled over, again no evidence. I noticed the radiator cap is European made and stamped '140' on it, I will assume that means it is 140kpa which equals 20.3psi (what effect might that have?).. Only had this car about a year, it had 160k on it when I bought it, and I have no real history. Tempted to bring it in to the dealer and throw some money at it, pump, stat, belt, cap, hoses, belt tensioner..... But not until I find the problem. In two weeks I'm signed up to do a off road rally I don't want to miss, nor do I want to break down! I have a new JK in Florida that I am enamored with, it'll likely never even go into 4WD down there. Now, I am having to get cold showers thinking about a new JL Rubicon for up here where it would get used, but I want my paid for TJ to go another year or two!
Twice since I got up here this year (May 1st) it has run low on coolant. Both times, same thing: All seems normal, temp gauge had been right in the middle of the '2' in '210' on the gauge, suddenly it would peg the gauge to 260, thermostat kick in and bring it down to normal. First time it took nearly a gallon of coolant, plus the res was dry... All seemed fine, then Friday, same thing happened again except the res was full.. No evidence of a leak visible anywhere, no sign of the coolant in the oil. But I do smell the coolant with some frequency (not always) as if it had boiled over, again no evidence. I noticed the radiator cap is European made and stamped '140' on it, I will assume that means it is 140kpa which equals 20.3psi (what effect might that have?).. Only had this car about a year, it had 160k on it when I bought it, and I have no real history. Tempted to bring it in to the dealer and throw some money at it, pump, stat, belt, cap, hoses, belt tensioner..... But not until I find the problem. In two weeks I'm signed up to do a off road rally I don't want to miss, nor do I want to break down! I have a new JK in Florida that I am enamored with, it'll likely never even go into 4WD down there. Now, I am having to get cold showers thinking about a new JL Rubicon for up here where it would get used, but I want my paid for TJ to go another year or two!
