Tone21

I have a 99 Cherokee xj about 85,000 miles. I noticed I was leaking coolant at times out the front of the engine. I could see it leaking by the bottom of the thermostat/top of the water pump area.

I thought it was the thermostat gasket because that seems to be pretty common. I replaced it and still noticed a leak. After looking a bit closer it appears the thermostat gasket is dry all around and it actually seems to be coming out of the top left side of the water pump gasket area. I dont believe the weep hole is up there? it has to be the gasket correct? is this common?

Tone21

also even with just 85K miles should I change out the water pump while im in there instead of just replacing the gasket?

Programbo

I just replaced my one water pump and the weep hole was on the top of that one. If you are going thru the trouble of changing the gasket you might as well do the pump. They are cheap enough. Make sure to use some silicone or something on the gasket. I recently changed a thermostat and felt I didn't need any and it kept leaking. After 2 gaskets I used some silicone and it worked fine.

Tone21

yea I just a pump from Oreilly's. Its the Murray brand which i dont know if thats good or bad. For the silicone/sealer did you put that on the pump side of the gasket or the engine side of the gasket? or both?

caged

i put a little on both sides. this way it kinda glues the gasket on slightly while you get the bolts in and tightened down. the little bit that may seep out won't hurt anything.

and yeah, it sounds like your waterpump went out. they will leak from the weeping hole but it will look like it's leaking elsewhere.

Bocefus

I would return that Chinese waterpump and order a Mopar unit on Ebay. That pump won't have near the life of a Mopar pump with USA bearing.

jpmarine6786

Holy crap 85K MILES, ITS JUST A BABY.

hbracing13

Tell me about I have just over 90k on my other one. I've had luck with getting the newer style gaskets that have the rubber seal paper gasket with no rtv. Just slap on and go. They are about 2 bucks more but I like the idea of no rtv. I don't even put it on my diff covers anymore just the paper gasket.

Fred/N0AZZ

Less mileage is often a sign of something sitting a lot of the time and can be very hard on a lot of things like these, like drying out no coolant/oil on them. They just dry out.

Cadha13

I don't like to use RTV on any gasket surfaces that have a paper/rubber/cork material, or just enough to be tacky to hold the paper gasket in while installing. I spent quite a long time with a plastic hammer removing the front diff cover sealed with red RTV after I removed all of the bolts.

I just used the neat paper gasket on the cover and no more leaks. Also when I replaced the water pump on the 2.5L 87, I found a new cast iron one from Napa that replaced the cheap aluminum one that was on there before.