Hey y'all, first time posting. I have a 2001 XJ thats giving me some troubles. So the last time I drove it I was cruising when the "check gauges" light came on. I noticed the temperature on the jeep was rising which was not a huge deal since I was nearly home. Upon parking the car I saw steam, so I popped the hood to see whats up. My reservoir was full to the brim and must have dumped coolant out and over the engine (causing the steam). One thing I did was quickly touch my radiator cap to see if it was hot and it was NOT. Anyways, searching the web told me that it would probably be either the radiator cap, thermostat or water pump. I figured id just replace all three since all three parts combined were around $50. So I replace them and went on to fill the coolant system and the jeep begins to stream coolant from the front passanger side, it looks like its coming out underneath the upper radiator hose but I don't think its from the hose itself. It looks more like its coming out from the front of the radiator maybe? Any thoughts? At this point am I going to have to just replace the radiator? Thanks for reading.

 

Did you check to make sure all hoses were secure onto the radiator?

 

Either that or a crack in the end tank.

 

Yes I did, I only took the lower radiator hose off the radiator, the upper radiator hose stayed on the radiator end and removed from the thermostat housing unit.

 

Any thoughts on how a crack in the end tank would happen if it didnt leak from there before I replaced the other coolant parts?

 

IMHO when the original cooling system parts begin to fail it's best to replace the complete system. In 2016 it cost me ~$250. Started out I had an intermittent leak on the right side of the vehicle that I searched almost a month for. There was a crack in the right side of the OEM radiator that must have started out seeping just a bit every once in a while. Just enough that I couldn't locate it. After close to a month later the crack finally opened up enough that I could locate it when the leaking became almost constant. Why not have your system pressurized to detect the leak?

 

A good rule with old water cooled systems. Once one part begins to fail, a lot of others will be getting ready to fail so you may as well replace a number of parts. If you need to do one hose, do them all. If you need to do one freeze plug, do them all.

I've had one customer who had a leaking coolant reservoir. We replaced it and now the system could build up pressure properly. Shortly after his radiator failed, which was obviously our fault, not the age of it. Radiator replaced then a water hose burst. Everything on the van was original from the 80's and every time the next part failed, as they wouldn't replace the lot, it was "you must have broke it".

 

Precisely. For example, if you had a misfires because one of your spark plugs was worn out, would you replace just that plug or all of them at the same time? While you're in there, you should probably do a full tune-up simple because things don't work as well as they used to as they age. Same thing with your cooling system. All of these little failures start to add up and you can save a lot of headache by doing preventative maintenance - take it from the guy who tried tried doing things piece by piece instead of all at once!

 

same thing happened to me replaced a few things, then my radiator completely went kaput at the worst possible time. About 20 miles deep into the desert. Thank god for jb weld, ductape, and a Jerry rigged radiator hose! Do it right the first time don’t get stuck while wheelin for a dumb reason!

 

I think you guys are missing the point! The reservoir was full and blowing out, yet the radiator was cool. Sounds like a blown head gasket or the 0331 head **** the bed.

 

​​​​​​​Bump. Nobody wants to be the guy who screams headgasket but what other answer do we have... Check the part number on your head. Take photos for us and lets start there.

Thank you and goodluck with your cooling issue,

 

Thank you all for your wisdom. Turns out it indeed was a crack in the radiator end tank. Threw about a gallon of coolant in the radiator, let it run to operating temperature and sure enough I found the exact spot where the stream was coming out, let it cool and confirmed, about an inch crack. I don't really want worry about ordering and waiting, I just miss my car now and have very limited time to work on it, I do have a NAPA, Autozone and Oreillys nearby. Any thoughts on which one I should go for?

 

https://www.autozone.com/cooling-hea...193/517553_0_0

Make sure to check online for sales codes. Should be able to get it for under $100.

 

Just stick with oem.

 

I get all my non-OE stuff from Napa only.