This past summer I installed a new radiator, water pump, fan clutch, 185 t-star and housing, new hoses, and added a burp valve to the t-stat housing. Jeep running great, no problems except that the heat doesn't get very warm. We've been driving it here and there since then, it mostly sits in the driveway.

My truck was down for some repairs the other day, so I fired up the Jeep and went to town on some errands. Drove about 30 miles on the highway. Stopped for a while, and headed back. I heard a funny noise as I passed a truck and kinda wondered a minute what it could be. I looked down and my temp gauge was climbing and voltmeter was falling. I figured a broken belt so I pilled off and popped the hood.

Belt fine, radiator cool as a cucumber. All hoses hot. Coolant tank has about 2 inches of coolant. No steam, no leaks, no puddles, nada.

Thinking the gauge may be wonky, I set off down the road. After a few miles, she pops something and I see steam. I stop and pop the hood again and see coolant everywhere.

I haven't looked into it, but I'm thinking water pump and the noise I heard was my water pump fins disintegrating. If that's the case, it'll be a new pump and open system radiator to get rid of the bottle.

 

The problem can simply be the cap itself. Get a Napa 703-1396 and install it tightly.

Check this out from the FSM

This system does not have a radiator pressure cap. Instead the pressure cap is mounted on the coolant pressure bottle. System coolant flows directly through a fully pressurized Hot-Type expansion bottle. Coolant flows through the pressure bottle at all times during engine operation whether the engine is cold or at normal operating temperatures.

Larger coolant volume caused by thermal expansion during engine operation is absorbed by the expansion chamber in the bottle. Air trapped in the system is purged through the pressure cap vent valve during maximum coolant expansion..

 

I'll try that Cruiser. My old cap and bottle seemed fine, but the cap wouldn't tighten up, so I put a radiator clamp around it. Can't budge it without loosening the clamp first.

I may go ahead and get a new bottle and cap. Thanks!!

 

Worth a try. Even with the clamp tight, there's no guarantee the cap is sealing.

 

Although I dread shopping there, I have a 25% off from Autozone. Their bottle is 33 bucks, so with that it's like the cap's free from NAPA.

I'll get it done and let you know how goes it. Thanks again.

 

ALL the bottles are crap as far as I'm concerned. Mine from Napa has a lifetime warranty though. Check with Autozone.

 

New bottle from autozone (27 bucks) and a new cap from NAPA will be here tomorrow. I found my heater valve busted, as in the plastic end was broken off inside the hose. I had a vacuum valve from another project, so I sawed the metal pipe off at the end near the old valve and connected the new with a 2" piece of hose.

Hopefullly I'll find out tomorrow if it all works again.

 

Ditch that POS heater valve.

 

Well, I did trash the OEM valve. What I replaced it with is just your everyday vacuum operated valve.

Are you saying to eliminate it completely?

 

Yep. Eliminate it and plug the vacuum hose. No worries.

 

Well...with the holidays out of the way I finally had time to pull the Jeep in the garage to figure out what's up. while pulling in I noticed that it was kinda hard to steer and my voltmeter was not as high as normal. I popped the hood and checked the belt and noticed it was kinda loose. I started to tighten it a bit but said what the hay, I'll go ahead and take it off and check the water pump, which I suspected was the problem. I loosened the power steering unit and backed off the adjuster and started pulling the belt off, It felt sorta heavy, and when I looked down I saw why.

The harmonic balancer had separated. And although everything looked to be turning as normal, it apparently wasn't enough RPM's or torque to get the job done. So I took the water pump back to AZ and bought a new balancer from Advance. About and hour and a half and she's good as new. Even the heater works better.

I've had more cars than I can count, blown motors, broke belts, thrown rods, run hot, wrecked, etc. This was a first.