Heard a loud sizzling/boiling coming from under my hood when I pulled into my driveway this afternoon. Had a bad feeling, popped the hood & looked around. I saw radiator fluid coming out of whatever this is:



And then I saw a pool coming out directly from underneath the radiator itself.



Is this simply a busted radiator, or does it look like something else? I'm not sure what that first thing is it was coming out of. It's on the passenger side on the back end of the engine bay.

I haven't had any overheating problems at all. It's never run hot, unless my thermostat is faulty or my temperature gauge is always wrong. It sits on cold though when I turn it on and it always takes the normal amount of time to get to it's standard midway point.

Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

First pic should be your a/c drain. Have it going at the time all this happened?

As far as the second pic goes your going to have to investigate it yourself. Dry things up and start looking.

 

ASAP!

 

I did have the A/C running. I've heard bubbling/boiling in the past, but I've never seen a leak anywhere. How could it have gotten into the A/C drain?

I've got a truck too, so I'll let the Jeep cool down and maybe get a chance to check it out tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for the input.

 

Yeah the first pic is your ac, that's where the water drains. Shouldn't be any coolant coming out of there, just water.

Second, maybe water pump? Most likely radiator but as stated I'd clean things up and do some 'investigating'

 

Your heater core is leaking.

Looks like you need at least a heater core, and possibly a radiator. While you're at it, a new water pump, fan clutch, thermostat, and hoses and you have a whole new cooling system.

Price it all out before you decide not to do that - you might be surprised at how little that adds to the total. Most of the cost is in the radiator and heater core.

 

also note that some a/c systems have a green fluid and when there is a leak, you'll hear hissing and see a puddle. Smell it and see if its coolant.

 

^^this. Could be heater core or evaporator core.

 

Wow that sounds like the worst possible thing you could have told me

 

That's what it sounded like. A lot of hissing/bubbling.

And there were two puddles beneath my Jeep. directly underneath the radiator, and one back underneath the A/C drain. Underneath the A/C drain was probably 3-4 times as large as the one underneath the radiator.

 

"Borrow" a radiator pressure tester from AutoZone. A lot easier to find leaks with the engine turned off IMO.

 

You could clean all the crud of your engine compartment components. Turn your jeep on and watch where the leak is. If you do it yourself It won't be that bad. your radiator will probably cost $100 if go with a stock one. Doing all of this is a lot better then blowing up your engine.

 

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Very good thought.

 

Can you pinpoint where you heard or observed bubbling or "sizzling" coming from once you were under the hood? Was your coolant reservoir bubbling? Any recent cooling system or A/C work done? If it was an A/C system problem, you'd likely hear more of a hissing sound, and see some discharge somewhere (not green coolant).

Coolant coming out of the A/C drain is definitely a bad thing, and definitely your heater core. They are a real pain to replace--you have to pull the entire dash out. But what I'm wondering about is if there is a deeper cooling system issue that would cause your bubbling. Consistent bubbling in the reservoir while running is a good indicator of a failed head gasket allowing combustion gases into the system. Since you have a 2000 XJ, your year model is prone to cylinder head failure (cracking) between cylinder 3 and 4. There's a good possibility that this is your problem.

As far as the coolant under the radiator, start scoping out the radiator closely and look for leaks and make sure it didn't run off from somewhere else, like the overflow on the coolant reservoir. It may be possible that your rad cap didn't do its job in letting excess pressure out of the system caused by combustion gases leaking into your coolant, and that extra pressure caused your heater core and rad to fail. And that would be very unlucky!

 

Couldn't find a leak in the radiator at all. Replaced the heater core and we're good to go. Thanks for all your help guys!