Hope you mean south as opposed to east. Best of luck!

 

at some point in it's life, someone probably ran straight water.

your rad may be filled with rust at the bottom tho.
as long as it's not overheating, you should be ok.

i bought a jeep like that, only was worse. flushed the heater core and replaced the rad. filled with new coolant, colour came back a bit, but not near as bad as before.

i think you will be fine as for the colour of the coolant, maybe do another drain and fill or flush before you go and fill with new 50/50 coolant.

 

The rad drain can be a joke, pulling the lower hose lets you flush allot better. Someone mentioned pulling their t-stat housing and running a hose in there with the lower hose off. I haven't done that myself. I suppose if the water pump were off a guy could flush from there as well.

 

The water pump will not prevent a good flush of the head and block.....don't need to remove the t-stat cover either. Remove the heater hose and rad hose from the stat cover and remove the bottom rad hose from the water pump. Stick a garden hose in the heater hose and flush. Then stick the garden hose on/in the heater hose nipple on the stat cover and flush. Then stick the garden hose in the the top rad hose and flush. Do the 3 flushes in that order.

A superior head/block flush can be done when both the stat cover and water pump r removed. Stick a garden hose in the stat hole in the head and flush out at the base of the block.

 

Another question , I do not have my ac system hooked up. I don't have a condenser can this "open" system cause air to get into the cooling system and cause rust? If so, is there a way to close it up as is?

 

The a/c system is completely separate from the engine cooling system. No way air can enter the cooling system from the a/c system.

 

Ok good to know thanks.

 

My coolant was pretty bad, just drain and flush it a TON. Fixes it right up.

 

......and when the motor is COLD, remove the rad cap frequently to check the color/level. When the color starts changing from bright green, flush and re-fill with fresh.

 

I could be wrong, but I don't think that's rust.

When water boils out of coolant, the extra concentration left behind will precipitate out of the solution and become a reddish mud. That mud is sticky and abrasive and can wreck a water pump in a fairly short amount of time. It will fill up the water jackets and can be impossible to completely clear without some disassembly.

As I said, it's caused when the coolant boils, but you don't have to completely overheat your system for that to happen. If you have a cracked head or leaking head gasket that is allowing hot exhaust gas into the cooling system, the gas hitting the coolant can boil it right there at that location and start this process. You might see a jump in temperature if that happens, without actually overheating. You can have this sort of head leak without having coolant in your oil.

If I were you, I would test the system for the presence of exhaust gases in the coolant. Many shops will have a combustion leak tester, or you can buy your own for $50 to $60. If it tests positive, you know you either have a head crack or a leaking head gasket. Then you can move on to figuring out the exact issue.

Also, if you're smelling coolant, the cooling system itself may be leaking somewhere. Have you climbed under the front of the Jeep to see if your water pump is leaking from the weep hole? If it is, that brown crap will be running down your lower radiator hose from the engine. You need to look at it from underneath to see it.

 

I mentioned this on other threads.. There is the "Rad-Cap" with the zinc anode attached, which may help in keeping the system cleaner (?) I have a couple in my cars, and they seem to work OK.


I buy mine from NPD...National Parts Depot....$14.95, and available in 13 & 16 pound pressure ratings....

 

^
This doesn't just happen overnight.

 

Not overnight, but it can happen surprisingly quickly if there is an exhaust leak into the coolant system. Hence my suspicion, based on his story, that he may have a busted head gasket.

 

Do they have those that fit the XJ rad?

 

Pressure test cooling system. Test for ex gasses. Before flushing.
Flush system multiple times until clear. Consider 2 part cooling system cleaner. Be sure to back flush heater core.