Crazy Amos

Ok, I have a 2000 Cherokee 4.0.

I flushed the cooling system today with Napa's radiator flush and the reverse flushed it out by disconnecting the top radiator hose and the top heater hose and hooking my water hose onto the thermostat housing allowing to flush out of the upper heater hose and top radiator hose at the same time while forcing air in the same time.

Then I did the heater core by itslef reversed then forward with the compressed air as well.

Then ran the water through the radiator.

Then I forced the rest of the water out with the compressed air until no water what so ever was spitting out of the hoses.

Then removed and cleaned out the resevior.

Then replaced the thermostat and gasket with an OE one. (compared the napa equivalent side by side and there were a few differences so I stuck with a dealer part-$15 more...).

Hooked it all back up and filled with Napa Green and added some royal purple ice.

I did this because 1.) my resevior was sludged up and 2.) when the AC is on and I am climbing a long hill or stuck at a light the temp rises to about 215 or so on the gauge. We have a week full of 100 degree days and I want to be ready as much as possible.

Anyway, my question/problem is, after flushing I did not fill with distiller water and run and drain it before puting in coolant. Is that a problem? I forced it out with air but wonder if it all came out. I DID fill with 50/50 coolant/distilled water mix......gonna check that mixture tomorrow.

Is having not done that a problem?

My Jeep has 168k miles and I think the thermostat was the original. When I took it off, the old was an OE one but was kinda nasty and the gasket was mush, the only thing sealing it was the "sealer".

Thanks in advance to all who reply.

Unknown XJ

So if I'm understanding you right you are saying you didn't rinse it out before the refill? Might be alright......but maybe not. Personally I would try again and just do a drain and refill. I don't really know if it would be a problem though if you didn't though. I'm perhaps overly paranoid about my XJ....

Crazy Amos

Well, I flushed the system out with a hose after the napa radiator flush chemical but didnt run distilled water through to rinse the tap water out before filling with coolant.

So I'm wondering If the tap water that didn't get blown out with the air will hurt anything.

F1Addict

Nope, you're good. The tiny bit of remaining chlorinated water and other stuff will be so diluted by the distilled water/coolant mix that you shouldn't have any issues. There are plenty of people here who don't use distilled water at all and get several hundred thousand miles out of their XJs.

Crazy Amos

Excellent, thank you!


This was the first time I have flushed out a cooling system.

Why in the h*** did Jeep put the petcock on the side so that you have to take the grill and headlight bezel off to turn it all the way??? I was able to pull it out (unscrew) it from underneath by taking the wheel well piece off but couldnt tighten in because it kept hitting the front piece that the grill and everything is fastened to.

Crazy Amos

BTW, it took me about 5.5 hours from setup to cleanup. New world record??? Haha

soundrew

Hi Amos,
Did you have your radiator flow tested? If it's partially blocked, it will make your temp rise when the engine is under load.

Crazy Amos

No, I haven't had it tested but it would only do it with the A/C on. It seems to be working very nicely now.

I don't know if it's one of the three or the combination of the three (new thermostat, radiator cap, Royal Purple Ice) but the temp gauge stays a little under the middle mark now.

djb383

If the t-stat is original, could the radiator, water pump, fan clutch, etc. also be original?

Crazy Amos

I guess it's a possibility but the hoses and radiator look good and clean like they are relatively new. The hoses are still nice and rubbery and the clamps looked newer. Not sure about the water pump though.

The coolant was still green but when I drained it in the bucket, it was a dark green.

I replaced the cap as a precaution but the one on it looked ok.

The water pump I don't know, I didnt really look at it.

It has around 168k miles on it now.

Crazy Amos

The fan clutch may be original. When I am not moving and I turn the AC on, it will squeel or the belt squeals, not sure which. But if I am moving, it engages without a noise.

Crazy Amos

One other question I have, I thinks it's normal, but when I took the thermostat housing off I could see in the block and it was like a florescent green/yellow in there. Is that normal or should that have come out with the flush? It was like the metal was dyed.

Crazy Amos

Anybody?

RenegadeT

normal

Crazy Amos

Thanks