Programbo

Hello all. I hope everyone is having a good weekend. Well to try and make a long story short..I was going from DC up to the Flight 93 Memorial outside of Shanksville PA today and as I was pulling the long uphill over the mountain before Breezewood I noticed I was going slower and slower no matter if I applied more gas. I then saw the temp gauge climbing steadily and thought I heard a few "pop" kind of sounds coming from under the hood. Before the gauge got to the red zone I pulled off the side of the road and when i opened the hood I saw the plastic coolant overflow tank was boiling violently and expelling coolant out the tube on the back of it onto the ground. You could hear the sound of rapid boiling and hissing. I let the Jeep sit there with the hood up and it took a good 5 minutes before it stopped the hard boiling in the overflow jug and settled down. I waited a good bit longer until the temp gauge was well below the halfway mark and then closed everything up and when I tried to start it it seemed like it didnt want to and ran rough for a minute. I was going to turn around and head home but as I took it slowly up the shoulder it settled out and started running ok.

So long story shorter..Once I drifted down the other side of the mountain it had dropped back down to normal operating temp and was running fine and I decided to continue on my trip. Aside from that event I drove another 250 miles at highway speed and pulled 2-3 more hills and it seems to be running like normal. What do you guys and gals think may have happened on that hill and what if any lingering effects should I look for? Thanks

djb383

Hard to tell exactly what happened but have u replaced the coolant that was lost?

Cherockee

Yes, check and top off the coolant and also check your oil level and if its an auto tranny check its fluid level too.

ZINGGG

How heavy was your foot going up that first hill before it started overheating? When I got my XJ, I took it up a mountain and was pushin it HARD, putting my foot to the floor and passing people. Man I thought I was cool. Before I knew it (and before I read up on how XJ cooling systems are not the best), I saw white smoke in my rearview before I thought to watch my temp gauge, which was subsequently in the red. Man was that embarrassing when I had to pull over and watch my coolant boil and spill everywhere while everyone I passed drove back by me hahaha. Sounds like you just need to replace your coolant that you lost since it didn't start to overheat again

cruiser54

When is the last time you replaced your radiator cap? It could be weak.