Im going to try and make this easy to read and straight forward!
-99 cherokee 4.0L
-Bought a month ago and has since had heat issues/leaks
-Replaced the bad radiator. still no heat
-Week later the radiator ruptured. looked further into it and the thermostat was stuck closed.
-Replaced the thermo and a new radiator. i still have no heat. ive tried a few ways to bleed out the air but im not getting good results.
-I can top it off at the radiator and fill the reservoir and drive it and check it later and it needs more coolant. there are no known leaks and it doesn't smoke to my knowledge. nor does the temp gauge get over op temp. NO HEAT.
-i have started it cold with cap off and let get to op temp with cap off. At first it burps out air then it just over flows after a bit.

Question is whats the best way to bleed the air out or to see if i have a bad head or gasket?
-I did notice when the engine was warming up with the cap off, fluid to the top.... there were tiny air bubbles comming out real tiny ones. i wasnt sure if they were just air bleeding out or if its a sign of a bad head or gasket.
-I cannot tell if the coolant smells like exhaust or not.
-The system is pretty dirty like a brown rust color. I know it needs flushed. ANY THING WILL HELP!! This is the wife's daily driver i need to figure this out!

 

Get the cooling system flushed as well as the heater core flushed

 

I just went out to work on it for a few minutes and it had no gas so i ran up to put a few bucks into the tank. about a 2 mile drive not even enough to get to op temp. got home and took the upper radiator hose off the t stat housing. inside the neck of the t-stat housing is bone dry. i can see some fluid sitting down at the bottom of the neck close to the actual t-stat but no moisture on the walls leading to the upper hose. . . .

 

 

No heat:?

Have you checked/replaced the heater control valve? Its that big jumble of hoses before the firewall.

Also, check the heater cable. There is a little arm that swings left and right under the heater box. Look at it while moving the temp control from cold to hot. My cable is hung up somewhere but when I swing the arm to the passengers side I got lava coming from the vents.

 

Isn't that the side that HOT coolant flows to the radiator from? If the thermostat is closed its going to keep coolant in the block and not send it to the radiator. Run it for a while and feel that upper hose, if it gets hot you should be okay.

 

your thermostat won't open until it gets to operating temperature. so if you put in a 190 thermostat, it won't open till it gets to 190. that's why it was still dry in there.

sounds like your heater core. look into that. as already said, look into your blend door lever.

also, you should always flush out the old coolant whenever you install a new rad. or it won't be warrantied.

do you get any water on the passenger floor?
or any smokey film on your windshield?
these are signs of a bad heater core.

you may just need to flush it all out.

 

^ gotcha that makes sense lol. ill look at the control valve. is there a way to test or is it just a replace kind of thing? and real easy ways to verify i have the air all blead out? what would the signs of a bad head or gasket be?

 

Same thing happened to mine and just get it flushed along with the heater core. If a whole bunch of crap comes out with it then guaranteed it was that and when you try your heat it will work.

 

im going to check the blend door and give it a flush. there are no signs of a bad heater core just yet fortunately. im working on it now so hopefully i will see results soon from the flush etc

 

my mom's boyfriend has the same problem I will be checking up on here to see if you found out the problem

 

'99 models don't have a heater control valve. The moment u break the clamp loose at the top rad hose, coolant should be pouring out all over the place. U can't only have coolant on one side of the t-stat and not on the other.......if u do, the system is half empty. If there's no coolant at the t-stat, there's no coolant flowing to the heater core. From that pic, it almost looks like there's no t-stat in it. Fill it with coolant.

 

theres a t-stat. i just flushed it and alot of nasty stuff came out of the heater core and radiator. im letting it run as i type to get up to op temp w the cap off. its not burping much air right now the water is just over flowing slowly. im hoping it will get to op temp and the t stat will open and then air will come out? hell i donno. i have the driver side front jacked up now too.

 

yea no heater valve thing at fire wall. i ran it ith cap off for a while all the suddon the fluid got sucked down im guessing the t stat opened. i filled until it wouldnt take any more water. then i put the cap on. after that i noticed the temp gauge went down a little. its around 180 ish. still no heat. i got under the dash and went from cold to hot and saw a small thing rotationg as i did it. im guessing thats good? its still running right now all fluids are were they need to be but no heat still. im going to shut it off and check when it cools. any suggestions?

 

temp gauge at 175 and the upper radiator hose is warm but not firm. feels very soft. . .