First issue was the GF was driving the jeep and was pulling into a parking garage. The attendant noticed it was leaking anti-freeze. She parked it and went to work. I asked if it was running hot, she had no idea. I then arrived at the end of her shift. The attendant drove the car down and I drove it out of the garage into the street and left it running to inspect.

There wasn't any coolant leaking at the time, however I did notice some coolant on the front bumper on the left side of the grill/radiator if looking straight at it that had been left there from earlier in the day. Like it was spit out onto the bummer. I could not see an active leak, no anti-freeze was leaking on the ground, no visible anti freeze sprayed in the interior engine compartment.

I shut it off and topped the system off with anti-freeze. Took less than half a gallon. I drove it home (30 min drive) and the temp gauge did not move and it leaked nothing when I inspected it after the drive home.

During the summer the thermostat and upper/lower radiator hoses were replaced. Shortly after I replaced the thermostat, I believe it was stuck closed as the alarm went off indicating it was overheating, then quickly subsided to normal running temps. Never happened again. We had a recent cold spell of single digit highs prior to this happening. I have not had a chance to look at it since due to bad weather and no garage.

The other thing I noticed was the smaller cooling fan on the right was not running. http://www.jeep4x4center.com/jeep-co...herokee-xj.htm (number 16 in this link) Could that be an issue or is that normal? Any ideas on the leak? A pin hole in the radiator that plugged itself??

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

The electric fan only runs if the engine gets hotter than normal, so that is fine. When you topped off the system, did you fit that half gallon into the radiator, or the overflow bottle? I would suggest you just watch for the leak every time it is driven and try to see where it is coming from. Could be a loose hose clamp, a pinhole leak in the actual radiator, etc.

 

It took most of the coolant in the radiator. And it was less than a half gallon. I hope it's something as simple as a loose hose clamp.

 

Borrow the cooling system pressure tester from VatoZone, pump her up & see what gives.

 

Didn't realize they loaned out that tool. I will definitely do that. Thanks.

 

And let us know the readings!

 

Pressure tested the system and there was a pin hole leak on the plastic tank portion of the radiator on the upper left hand side. It actually had about a 2"-3" hairline crack in it. We had single digit highs here about a day before the leak. Not sure if that contributed.

Bought a new radiator and replaced it today. Pressure tested the system afterwards and all is good. Thanks for the replies.

 

Glad you got it fixed.

 

And thanks for letting us know....we actually have had a few thread-with-closure's lately...for a change.

 

No problem. I belong to quite a few different types of forums and hate when they don't come back to let you know about what was posted.