xjshake

I have a 89 xj 4.0... I changed the thermostat, and water pump... I blew the side out of my coolant reservoir so I bought a reservoir patch kit and it held for a lil bit but blew again... There isn't any more in town I have to order one so I haven't got another one yet.... Every time I go to drive her I have to burp the coolant system to keep get from over heating... Does this sound like a blown head gasket? I'm at a loss... It still did the same thing with the patch holding on the reservoir

tjwalker

Overheating can be caused by a lot of things.

Does it overheat at idle, while driving down the highway, or both?

*Radiator is still in play. If it is old, replace it

*Get that new coolant bottle installed

*87-90 are notorious for keeping air in the system unless properly "burped"

*Clutch fan is often overlooked and is the #1 cause of "temp creep" at IDLE.

xjshake

Thanx tj... Ith happens at both... Ill look into all the above

HCCAFan

Are both your fans coming on?

You can use any generic overflow bottle that will fit under the hood by the way.

xjshake

If I burp the coolant system it will be fine to drive it but I have to keep doing it

xjshake

Oit has the larger house on the bottom.. Would that effect anything?

HCCAFan

Your coolant reservoir should not have any pressure on it anyway. You sure you "blew a hole in it?"

xjshake

Yup... It is actually a large crack

HCCAFan

OK well ... there should be a vent on your reservoir tank, as well as a flimsy plastic lid that is not air tight. How you could get enough pressure in there to blow a hole in it, I have no idea.

Secondly, are you sure there is not air in your cooling system?

Let it cool, pull the radiator cap off, put a radiator funnel in the radiator and start it with the heat blowing inside. Let it run til it's hot and the thermostat opens. Add coolant as it goes down. If it starts boiling out, that's OK, you are getting air out provided you have the right coolant/water ratio. Don't let the truck overheat and keep an eye on it, adding coolant whenever you can. It may actually rise out of the radiator at times and then go back down. That is what the funnel is for. Once it's not bubbling anymore, put the cap back on.

xjshake

I will try everything that has been mentioned... You guys think my head gasket is blown... It did get pretty hot

HCCAFan

Not if it isn't smoking white out the exhaust and you don't have coolant/oil contamination.

caffeine_pirate

doubtful, cracked head gasket will cause a ton of steam to from under hood and a ton of smoke out of the tail pipe. Quite lovely to see this happen to a loud 80's chevy pickup

Check the oil on the dip stick to observe the following: beads of water attached to the oil or the stick or foam like oil. see any of the following, you got a cracked head or blown head gasket

xjshake

That was the first thing I did... There was no trace of oil in my anti freeze and vice versa

RedRoamer

He doesn't have a radiator cap his is the closed system
Get a new pressure bottle asap and don't over fill it past the little mark inside.

xjshake

Ok... I'm leaving her down until I get this fixed... I got to many problems to blow the motor