balleronabudget

alright im driving down the road in my 1997 cherokee se and i hear my belt sqeek and my power steering goes out. i pop the hood and its leaking everywhere. it looks like rusty water which i imagine is from the radiator. so i take it home and it leaks and leaks but i can not find out where it is from. i am not very farmiliar with radiators but i would like to actually try to fix it before i take it to a shop just to make sure its not something small, can someone give me some steps to figure out what/where it is leaking from. i figured the power steering was going in and out from slipping from the water being all over it. thanks so much

BuckB91XJ

When your water pump seal goes out it will start leaking from the weep hole. This is a small hole on the bottom of your water pump housing. Very hard to see when the front of the motor is all together. Plus when it starts leaking the serpantine belt and fan slings the coolant everywhere. Top off your radiator and run it and try to watch the area below the water pump as best you can. I guarantee if you can't find a leak anywhere else, that is most likely where it is coming from.

can'tstopjeepen

It does kinda sound like the water pump to me too. How many mile are on the xj?

fivendime

I Just had a water pump go out on my cherokee. I couldn't figure it out either, but I figured that the only place from the front of the motor that I couldn't see must be the water pump weep hole. It was in fact leaking from the weep hole and it was running down to the front of the pan which is where it was dripping from. Its a very easy fix to replace the pump, should take you about 45 min to do. IF its leaking like Crazy then its probably not the weep hole seeing how mine was just a steady drip not a pour, but of course they all do different things.

balleronabudget

it was not just leaking it was pouring out. i filled up the radiator all the way and also the coolant. i let it run, and then i took iot for a drive nothing leaked at all? i dont get it. it was leaking from the right side of the engine if your looking at it from the front if tha helps

balleronabudget

my jeep has 79k on it.

fivendime

That rules out the pump, because once it starts leaking it won't suddenly stop. Could be a hose, or fitting, or freeze plug, but the sudden stop of coolant is weird!

balleronabudget

yeah i know. well at least i know i can drivve it a lil for now if i have to. im gonna have a shop look at it tomorrow

oh yeah and my check gauges light came on when it started and now its off

BuckB91XJ

The only thing water related on that side and in that area is the lower radiator hose. It goes from the bottom of the water pump to the bottom of the radiator on that side.

fivendime

Even if its leaking from that side doesn't always mean its coming from that side....you never know.