Jbri22

Last night my 98 overheated while I was driving. So I shut her down and popped the hood to find coolant everywhere! After searching around I found a pretty sizable leak in my upper rad hose. So of course i need a new hose. Im currently on a roadtrip in CA and live in CO... of course today being memorial shops aint open and to add to it im in the middle of nowhere by yosemite. hopefully the shop i towed her to will have right hose or we can jimmy her until i get to civilization. What im looking to find out is if i need to be concerned with anything else going on. When i looked into the coolant reservoir i found some sludge in the bottom of it. Need Flush? I was having oil pressure issues but after i changed the oil everything was fine. Jeep been running a tad hot between 210 and the 1st marker after but have been driving on rough mtn roads so i thought was normal. any ideas/suggestions?

J

md21722

Advance auto has a roll of double sided waterproof tape for about $13 that may work as band aid. When you run hot it tends to purge the system of crud. You may have both long term build up and some fresh stuff. Anytime you overheat and even with age the head can crack or the head gasket can blow. The 98 heads aren't known for cracking very often. I would repair the hose, refill, and watch your coolant level and oil and enjoy the rest of your vacation.

Jbri22

Thanks for the advice. Do you think I should plug the leak with something you just wrap the hell out of it with waterproof tape??

J

md21722

If you're stranded waiting for a shop to open I would try the tape! New hoses should be installed at the earliest opportunity. All four of them! If the tape holds, then great. I would buy some hoses at NAPA and keep them in the back of your Jeep until you change them. Hoses don't last forever. They tend to degrade from the inside out. In my experience, the simplest repair away from home is the best repair. You don't want to go on changing more than you need to, at a shop you'll never be to again, on a holiday weekend

Turbo X_J

If there is an Advance Auto that's open, I'm sure they'll have an upper and lower radiator hose + coolant, no band aid necessary.

Jbri22

There is a Napa in the town in staying that'll be open tomorrow

Cheddarnut

There you go, couple of hoses, coolant, bucket and a few tools and you are rolling again.

Jbri22

Thx for all the help boys.

adamj

What is this tape you talk of? Is it a special tape for sealing coolant hoses?
Sounds like a good item to have in the jeep in case of emergencies just like this, but not having to carrying around the full set of hoses.

And make sure you get the pre fit hoses, not a generic bulk hose. The rad upper, lower, and one of the heater return hose are all still available pre-molded. (From past experience, heater supply hose will have to be a cut to fit, but you can easily find ones with the initial bend out of the thermostat housing, so no big deal, you just don't want to use bulk hose and try to bend it)

md21722

I normally buy dealer hoses as they fit the best and the lower radiator hose still has the spring. I was thinking of the tape as something you could throw under the drivers seat with a small tool set. But yes, if you have access to the vehicle, and a parts store, I would change the hose and refill. Be sure to leave the upper radiator hose disconnected at the thermostat housing when refill to prevent trapped air. As long as you don't fill the parking lot with fluids, most of the stores don't care if you fix your vehicle in the parking lot. In some places its a weekend tradition. You don't leave until your vehicle runs right!

Jbri22

Just to be clear... I should be replacing all the hoses or just the upper and keep the others with me? And flush system or replace hoses and add new coolant?

md21722

When you're broke down a stuck, I wouldn't touch the other hoses unless they are obviously a problem. Change them when you get back home. You want to have a vacation, not a long distance car repair trip. And you don't want to be posting on this thread about how to get those stuck hoses off the heater core. Buy the good hoses at NAPA, and keep them with you just in case, but figure you won't touch 'em until you get home. For this I would buy the 50/50 premix even though when at home I buy the 100% and mix myself. Just easier when you're out of town. Buy a thermostat and thermostat gasket while you're at it. Of course, I would have changed the hoses before my trip...

almido

Are you positive it's the upper hose, tucked-in behind the radiator support? If it's clearly the hose by all means buy a hose.
But, if the leak is in a place where you can only "think" you know where it is like near the outlet at the top, be sure to have the system tested after the repair.

Those tanks have a propensity for cracking right up there next to the top outlet without provocation or trauma. They just crack and you think it's the upper hose.

Ask me how I know......

Best of luck to you,

Dan

__________________________________________________ ______________
2001 XJ 241k miles .....unmolested.....so far

extrashaky

The dealer hoses are grossly overpriced, and the spring is 100% unnecessary. The spring was used during assembly to keep the lower hose open when the factory pulled a vacuum on the system to fill it. If the lower hose collapses during normal use, you have a bigger problem than anything the spring can overcome. The aftermarket hoses without the spring are fine. In fact, if I had a problem big enough to cause the lower hose to collapse, I think I would rather see it than have it artificially masked by the spring.

adamj

I've heard people going back and forth about that spring in the lower hose. My rig does not have it and I have no problems at all with collapsing hose. But other people have been adamant about including that hose.
Where are you getting this information about the spring's use in assembly? Did you work at the Toledo plant?