Albadingus

Hi everyone,
I bought a 1999 cherokee XJ today with 208k miles on it. Seemed to be in excellent condition with detailed service history and only owned by one lady and her daughter, so I happily paid $3k for it.

15 minutes after getting the title signed over to me, I took it for a 15 minute drive. I'm in Salt Lake City and it's toasty here right now. After I got back from my first drive I parked the car, turned off the engine, and immediately there was a loud hissing from the passenger side of the engine bay, steam and coolant leaking all over the place. I'm a little confused though, because the coolant tank is still full... Can anyone offer me some guidance on what's gone wrong?



Thanks

fb97xj1

Were you able to tell from where exactly it was leaking? Could be a hose, the core has a hole in it, or the side tank of the radiator is letting go.

Albadingus

I can't say with any certainty. There is definitely some leakage underneath the upper radiator hose, but no visible damage to the hose. with the amount of leakage i would think there would be something obviously wrong with the hose... not sure

edit: actually... it's gotta be the hose...

dzywicki

If this is your first time owning a Cherokee, get used to understanding what is going on with the different systems in your Jeep. These are all 17+ year old vehicles and things will periodically go wrong. The cooling system is not real complicated on these.
When the engine is cool, find all the places where there are hose clamps. Check them all to make sure they are tight and that the hose is in good condition. You will find two large hoses on the radiator. One on the top passenger side and one on the bottom drivers side. I would loosen the one on the passenger side, wiggle the hose to make sure it is seated and then tighten it back up.
You will also want to check the heater hoses. There are two that connect at the thermostat housing and they run to the firewall.
If you are planning to keep this XJ for awhile, you will want to investigate how to change the water pump and thermostat. Both are easy and will need to be done eventually. Changing the coolant in an XJ is pretty easy, except for getting all the air out of the system. I typically, fill it and then squeeze the top hose until I get most of the air out, then keep filling. Then run it with the radiator cap off untilI see it start swelling to the top of the radiator.
99 is a great year XJ to have. Good luck.

Ralph77

Any chance the overflow tank looked overfilled when you popped the hood? My Jeep was running fine awhile back. One day was out and about, stopped for gas, shut her off, and all of a sudden was pissing coolant all over the ground. When I popped the hood my overflow tank was. Was just a bad radiator cap.

awg

if it isnt hose or clamp, mine split the radiator front/side seam, leaks out the same area underneath, take grille off x 8 screws to inspect, just after shutdown being best time

PatHenry

If you go to your local parts retailer, you can borrow (just leave a deposit) a cooling system pressure tester. It's just a pump that you connect where the radiator cap is and you can pressurize the system. Once you do that, you should see coolant shooting out of the leaking spot.

I chased a leak for an entire day once and couldn't figure out where the coolant was leaking from - I put the pressure tester on and it was clear as day where I was leaking from. Had I known how well the tool worked, I could have saved many hours and a lot of frustration.

outersketcher

This... rent that pressure tester. You'll save yourself hours of frustration and confusion.

BlueRidgeMark

Yep. You need to get your eyeballs on that leak. It could be as cheap and easy as a bad hose, and as complicated and expensive as a cracked block (highly unlikely!).

Do your wallet a favor. It's summertime. Refill with straight distilled water until you have this problem solved. It's much cheaper than antifreeze, and you are going to be draining a lot of coolant if you have to replace a hose or radiator. Might as well flush the system and replace it with proper coolant once you are done. It's just a good idea on a new-to-you vehicle anyway.

awg

we dont get to "rent" tools from auto places here

* home-made universal pressure riser/brake bleeder

old inner tube section, with valve, bike pump, pressure gauge optional, bunch of hose clamps, zip ties

I flush dirty engines (in a running vehicle with dirty coolant) with dishwasher tabs and tap water, until they run CLEAR. Empty each day. Pop tab in radiator. My present Jeep took 10cycles to be good. The 1st effort was swamp mud. Further flushing cycles after that, prior to adding proper glycol mix

Martlor13

where do you live?

BlueRidgeMark

He's an Aussie.