On the way home from work and sitting in traffic I caught a smell of anti freeze. The temp gauge was hanging around 210-215. When I got home I opened the hood and there is anti freeze everywhere. The reservoir is empty. I checked the thermostat about 10 min after I opened the hood and it was closed. I am going to change the thermostat tonight. Any other suggestions?

 

Find where the antifreeze came from.

 

Where did the coolant come from? Coolant can pour out the rad cap when boiling over, failure or not correctly installed

 

check flow of the rad. sounds to me like ether a t-stat or a clogged core.

 

Yup, gotta agree with that strategy!

Start with a comprehensive inspection of each and every cooling system component.

You'll find it but gotta put in your time.

 

the radiators with plastic tanks on the end can and will leak. Get a pressure tester to help find where its leaking.

 

If its not the radiator check the water pump, it's got a check valve that will weep before it goes out, the fluid could be hitting the fan and throwing it all over the engine bay.

 

this happened to me last week friday. Turned out i blew an upper radiator hose.

A simple $15 fix for me.

 

Quick update.

I went to autozone and got a new t-stat and gasket. My XJ has been running warm for a while, probably around 220 degrees on hot days. Anyway, I replaced it and replaced some anti freeze. I let it idle for a while, then drove it for a while and the temp barley reached 210 degrees. I got it home and checked under the hood and found more anti freeze on the underside of the hood and engine. I looked and found a small cut in the radiator hose just above the clamp. So, for a temp fix, I just cut the hose above the cut and clamped it back down. I will be replacing the hose this weekend. Oh, and the t-stat I replaced was the original 13 year old one.

 

yeah just keep checking on temps and engine bay to make sure its all good

 

Replace all of the hoses, including the heater hoses. A chain is only as strong as its weekest link.

 

This absolutely. With 13 year old parts, I'd consider a wholesale replacement of every single cooling system component. Money well spent.

 

I agree 100%! I have been slowly accumulating the parts to do so. I'm down to the fan, just have not decided where to go with it.

 

...but if u replace the whole chain at once, u only drain/re-fill coolant once...over and over and over again coolant drain/re-fill is the fun part, no?