NE overland project, code name: Ruby
 

I recently purchased a 98 Cherokee XJ in pretty good condition. A few minor issues but the interior looks good, there is no rust on the body and frame, and there were no major leaks. It also came with a freshly installed smitty bilt front bumper and rear bumper/ tire carrier, a magnaflow cat, some unknown brand of cargo rack, and step sliders.

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The idea is to use this as a work commute vehicle and an overland build. We shall see how it goes. After a coiiple days driving her I came out of the gas station with my morning coffee one there a large wet spot of radiator fluid by the drivers front tire. After further investigation I decided to do a total flush of the cooling system. After a bit more reading I decided to change out transmission filter, do full flush of that, and depending on the state of the tranny fluid I might change the whole radiator since I may have a leak from the transmission to the radiator. Though I may just do it anyway and just be done with it.

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My heat also stopped working after the radiator sneezed out fluid (still not really sure why it did that seeing as how the return line was clear) so I'm really hoping the flush clears put the heater core.

I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Sure looks pretty nasty in that resevoir/radiator. Hoping you don't have some other issues going on but sure looks milky in there.

Interior though looks really clean!

Got everything all set up to replace the radiator just to eliminate a possible cause, flush the cooling system as per chisfix' s super flush video, replace the trans filter and flush that as well.
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Got the radiator swapped with out too much of a problem, only 1 stuck bolt on the electric fan so it came out with the radiator bracket. Flushed the system 3 times and got it to a fairly decent color and filled it up with radiator fluid. There is still gunk in there though and I'm thinking that gunk is blocking the entry into the return hose from the radiator so the radiator cap allows the fluid to sneeze out when the pressure gets too high. There may be a block leak casing more of this to form or it could have just not come out with the flush, perhaps it was too cold so to become viscous enough to come out. At that point it was too late to do the trans so I tackled that the next day.

Drained it from the plug, fluid was pretty dirty but not black and didn't smell burnt. When I went to take the cover off it would not budge... at all. Upon closer inspection I think someone used form a gasket on it and I would have to heat it up or something to get it loose. I put everything back, topped off the fluid and called it a day.

Probably just going to have take it to a shop. They can deal with the trans filter and flush, blow out the radiator and especially the heater core, and do an engine block test on the radiator for me.

Kind of a pain working out of other people's driveways in the late fall!

Right now just concentrate on your cooling system. Does the trans seem to be working fine? It has no filter per se. It's just a screen. So I'd not have the pan removed and definitely not have it power flushed. Once you get to where you can run it regularly do frequent trans fluid changes (<4qts) using the drain plug until the fluid (Dex/Merc,Dex III) looks like new.

Solid advice, I will do that. it does shift a bit hard but there is no slippage and no grinding or other sounds. I mainly wanted to do tale that all apart and what not to be safe and to see if there were any shavings. How frequently would you recommend draining from the plug and refilling?

When I refilled the trans I put a but too much in (4 qts). I know it's not good to over fill the trans, but if I'm going to drive and drain a few times I should be ok right?

Adjust your TV cable for the shift issue:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/aw4...-issue-240078/

You can't change it too soon. If it's still far from the normal color now drive it to operating temp and change it. That's how these transmissions are serviced as far as fluid changes go. You can look for shavings on the drain plug and pour the old fluid through a filter of some sort. I've used a paint filter in a funnel.