I have a 1998 Jeep Cherokee that I recently purchased. It was stock with 297k miles runs great but has some issues I need to sort out. The gauge on the dash never goes over 210 but when I shut it off after driving 20 to 30 min it gurgles in the over flow. Today I added some coolant and when I shut it off it puked out of the res and was gurgling. I waited a few hours and drive home about 20 min and the upper rad hose was hot but felt like it had no coolant in it and was soft. The lower felt hard not sure if there is a spring in it. So i decided to slowly pop the rad cap and there was little to no pressure in it. I'm super confused maybe a bad rad cap and or water pump and t stat?. Any help is greatly appreciated .

Sounds like a bad cap to me. Stopped to get gas once and all of a sudden was puking fluid like you. My initial thought was "That's new". LOL. New cap took care of that.

I would start with the cap, but it sounds like a head gasket. The coolant might be in contact with the combustion pressure/heat causing the coolant to "puke". Which means your head gasket needs to be replaced. its a fairly simple job if you know your way around an engine and parts are cheap, but it would kill your wallet to have it done "right" at a shop.

I don't think it's a head gasket just yet because it only does it once you shut it down,and there is no pressure in the cooling system. I shut it off after a 20 min drive and popped the radiator cap and there was no hiss or anything letting pressure out. Also there's no oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil also. I'll be grabbing a cap this afternoon and seeing if that works or not

Me neither. Put a good quality cap on it.

Got a new 16psi cap on it no more boiling in the over flow. I guess the old cap just had enough and couldn't hold the pressure! Thanks for the help guys!

You bet. Thanks for getting back to us.