1. What is the HISTORY of routine cooling system maintenance? IE: fluid changes. Abused neglected systems often need multiple flushes.

2. How exactly did you flush the system? Garden hose? Professionally? Flushing additive used?

 

if it was clogged nothing would change the color. if it was going out you would have coolant all over the inside of the jeep and smell a sweet smell. heres a link on how to properly do a coolant flush. http://www.techguys.ca/howto/coolant_flush.html most people i see that do one they just empty the radiator and refill it and are done. which is not the right way

 

When I flushed it I used a water hose. I got it from a Guy who did perfect maintenance on it.

 

what did it look like the first time you flushed it?

the heater core could have been clogged with it the first time and didn't get cleared out until after the flush

 

just to chime in slightly with a quick question on radiator flushes....does anyone know (or have a link to a picture?) the exact location of the radiator drain plug for a stock 98 XJ radiator? or the capacity of the system?

 

its on the bottom i think on the side with the lower hose. it will just be a plug sticking out

 

Redrain the whole coolant system heater core radiator block look up on you tube how to flush a heater core it involves compressed air he does it on a jeep grand cherokee

 

my system filled itself with the same black/brown crap... I think it was a combo of inside of hoses rotting out (replaced all those), and the water pump impellers disintegrating (had to replace the pump). I had to flush my heater core going both directions for a good 20 minutes to get all the dark stuff out and had to replace my radiator because the tubes were all clogged with the black stuff. I'm about 30,000 miles down the road since then and I can assure you it wasn't a head gasket and all is fine. Just one of those things that happens in an old cooling system.

 

Coolant no longer brown?

Brown coolant would indicate not so perfect maintenance.

 

Or something more ominous. Previous owner could have known, got rid of Jeep quick.

 

lower pass side...dont know the capacity

 

Got the father in laws opinion and determined its my head gasket.

 

Fun

 

I really hate being right in these circumstances.

 

Out of curiosity, how was that opinion determined......any testing?