My radiator is shot on my 98 Xj Sport.

When it gets hot, there is coolant coming out from all over.

Fine. I will get a new one.

But in the process of checking it out, I noticed that the hoses going to the heater core are no longer there! (photo below)

I live in Mexico and my mechanic must have gotten rid of them when he changed the water pump.

He might have told me, but I forgot or did not understand.

I do not need heat right now, but I think I should replace the hoses.

How urgent is that? Could not having those hoses mess up my new radiator?


Red arrow are where the hoses should be.

 

Where is all over???

 

Thanks Lifted_BlueXJ. When looking at the car from in front of the engine, the left side of the radiator leaks. That is to say, it is leaking from the radiator itself, not from a hose.

 

Make sure you flush out the core really well from both directions since they are not capped. Who knows what may be in there. If you don't add the hoses right away, I'd cap them off.

Don't think their absence contributed to the radiator failure. How long ago was the water pump changed?

 

That is good to know. Thanks. The water pump was changed about 2 months ago. So, I guess you are right, likely could not have done any damage to the radiator. It was already in bad shape. About a year ago, I used radiator stop lead on it and it kept it running until now. But who knows how old the radiator is. Could still be the original.

Peace!

 

I would put money on the heater core being bad/leaking and the PO just capped the hoses off instead of replacing it.

 

It's hard to tell from the picture but what is the plug on the water pump ?(and there's another one that can't be seen in the picture.)

It almost looks like they stretched a piece of inner tube over the fitting and put a clamp over it. If that's what's on there you need to replace it with something more substantial NOW.

 

The 4.0 motor is pretty hardy...you really have to try if you want to kill it. One of the easiest ways is to neglect the cooling system.

My advice to you is replace EVERYTHING in the cooling system, including the heater core, as it was probably bypassed due to a blockage.

Do several flushes prior to replacing everything. Get as much crud out as possible. Then replace everything, the two biggest killers of the cooling system is neglect and time. Bad cooling means high stress on the engine and trans.

Part of buying a 20+ year old vehicle means performing maintenance that's been ignored. This is one of those situations.

 

My first thought is what TrailerTrash already said about the heater core being bad.

 

Likewise.

 

Stop leak didn’t help the radiator or the heater core because it all circulates together!! I’d say try to flush the heater core as best as ya can and put new lines on. I would really look at the radiator and see maybe the drain peacock is broke the seams are bad!! Maybe néw radiator also!!

 

With average nighttime low temps in the 65-75 degrees year round, does he really care about having heat?
https://weatherspark.com/y/12379/Ave...ico-Year-Round