Overheating followed by radiator explosion

gabe0941

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Went to Wal Mart to pick up a few things, temp gauge was good the whole way. As I was pulling into my street, the temp gauge warning came on and I turned off the jeep. I rolled into my driveway and as I pull in, my radiator exploded. What are some things to look for while replacing the radiator and inspecting the other components?

What could've caused this? I recently changed my harmonic balancer and have driven it about 20 miles since then. All was good until now. Could be just an old radiator clogged with corrosion?
 
What color is the water ?
Is there rusty mud or scale build up inside the radiator ?
Is there a rusty scale build up in the motor water passages ?

The problem could have been caused by a sticking thermostat, bad radiator cap, malfunctioning thermostatic clutch, dirty radiator, radiator with obstructed air passage ways between fins are to name just a few.
 
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What color is the water ? New Coolant
Is there rusty mud or scale build up inside the radiator ? Yes
Is there a rusty scale build up in the motor water passages ? What's the easiest way to check this?

The problem could have been caused by a sticking thermostat, bad radiator cap, malfunctioning thermostatic clutch, dirty radiator, radiator with obstructed air passage ways between fins are to name just a few.

The coolant was brand new snice I drained during the harmonic balancer replacement. There is, however, a lot of rusty scale all over the engine bay.

Should I check oil for warped head or contamination of some sort? It only ran hot for a few seconds as the temp gauge crept up. I shut it off as soon as it hit the red zone.

Thank you.
 
Certainly couldn't hurt to check for oily substance in the water....
Most of the way to check for a lifted head gasket would involve having the cooling system still intact, but you could pressurize each cylinder and listen for air coming from the radiator or cooling passages.
 
If your radiator was original, they don't last forever. The plastic top tank generally splits at some point and you need a new radiator.

While you're at it, pop in a new thermostat and a new radiator cap.

If it was recently flushed and fresh coolant installed, no need to repeat all that.
 
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Radiator overflow was empty. Hose was full of rust:
IMG_0794.jpg


Upper Hose:

IMG_0797.jpg


IMG_0798.jpg


IMG_0795.jpg
 
Having trouble sourcing a Mopar Rad. for 98 Auto, though.

Thinking of a flush before a new radiator in installed...
Could I remove the T stat from the housing and run distilled water through the housing/engine block, with the lower rad hose in a bucket?
 
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Looks like someone may have run straight water or too low of a coolant to water ratio.

I would recommend a chemical flush, and drain from both the radiator petcock and block plug until you don’t see any more crud. Then pressure test to find the leak.

The radiator exploded near the rad cap. I want to avoid removing the block plug. It's a 98 with 160k miles.
 
My *GUESS* is that the water pump is bad. Radiators don't "explode" from hot water, they explode from steam. They can crack and leak water until they generate steam, but they generally won't "explode" in those circumstances. Your puke bottle was empty which is telling, so either you didn't put enough coolant back in when you did the harmonic balancer job, or more likely it all leaked out from a bad pump. I'd replace the pump, hoses, T-stat, radiator, and do a complete flush out what with all the rusty nastiness.
 
The radiator exploded near the rad cap. I want to avoid removing the block plug. It's a 98 with 160k miles.

Your call, but you’ll likely leave a lot of crud in the block if you don’t drain it. It’s not that difficult to get to with an extension and 10mm square socket.
 
You can backflush the block from the heater core hose attached to the thermostat housing, which will get pretty much all the crud out of the block. I personally wouldn't touch the block drain plug.
 
With everything that bad, and that much of a problem, I would 100% open the block drain. I did it like 6 or 8 times this summer in tbe process

You need to flush and run Thermocure, for a couple days. Let it get after the rust.

Leave out the T Stat. Thermocure and distilled, run a day or two. Drain and the. Fill and circulate and drian with distilled.

Leave out the t Stat so you can run it 5 MJ utes then drain. Otherwise you have to let it get to temp and open the stat and circulate.

When it’s clear, out in the stat, fill 50 5@ and go
 
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