ok to start off i have a 99xj. So the other day i noticed it was running a litte hotter than normal about 210(its been more around 190-200) so when i got home i got out and looked and i had a leak in the hose running from the radiator cap, i rigged that small hole up with duct tape and it was fine for a day (i planned on fixing it on my day off) but last night my temp gauge redlined i drove it the rest of the way home like that only about 2-3 minutes i dont think i did any damage there, well hopefully. Also over the past 2 days when this started my heat has stopped working the fan is blowing but just ice cold air. any help on where to start and what to look for would be great, im pretty new to working on my own car so details on what to do would be awesome too. my plan asof now is to replace that hose and the thermostat. thanks for any help guys

 

Not a whole lot of help now, but a great way to nuke your engine is to keep driving it when you overheat it. Even that 2 or 3 mins is enough to do some nasty damage. Check your hoses going into your heater core, make sure your thermostat isnt stuck, etc. Not to experienced here, but I think the flow into your core should be hotter than the flow out.

 

yea i know i was taking a risk driving it home but it was snowing bad and didnt feel like sitting in an unheated car waiting for it to cool down lol, thanks for the help tho man

 

anyone else have any ideas?

 

Check and replace all hoses, replace thermostat (195 degrees) and fill with 50/50. Driving it for 2-3 minutes while pegged was not a good idea...you should have pulled over immediately in all honesty, and just sucked up the coldness. Could have been the difference between saving or possibly killing your head. If you get it running again, monitor oil and coolant vigorously and see what happens.

 

Heat not working = thermostat stuck closed or plugged heater core.

Make sure you burp all air out of the cooling system once it's serviced.

 

Are both the inlet and outlet hoses on the heater core hot? Or is one significantly cooler than the other? A clogged heater core is a possibility.

But if this started happening IMMEDIATELY after the overheat, it could be something else.

Overheats are very hard on any engine. Particularly head gaskets and cylinder heads.

Keep a very close eye on your coolant level and also check the oil filler cap and dipstick for a "milky" mixture, which could indicate coolant mixed with your oil.

And I love duct tape, but it will not work on a pressurized cooling system. Tolerate no cooling system issues; with cooling, it's "pay me now" or "pay me a lot more" later.

 

If too much fluid leaked, it might not circulate through heat core. Motor hot cab not. I,d replace thermostat & hoses anyway.