MrSchulz

Bought a Cherokee less than a week ago, checked the antifreeze after smelling overheating, and it is dropping antifreeze almost right after it goes in. Someone said a bad hose, loose fittings, and others said cracked block. The temp gauge is under 210... any advice?

Bustedback

My advice would be to open the hood and see what's going on.

MrSchulz

I know, but its a mess everywhere with the antifreeze there..

Bustedback

Put water in the radiator and see where it is pouring out of.

bigbadon

That might be a good sign!

Xj88

Either you have a big *** hole in the radiator, a big *** hole in the hose.. or your drunk and your just missing the hole your supposed to be pouring it in.

MrSchulz

Here is the video I took of the exhaust. The dip stick dosent look milky. When I start it, the antifreeze goes up and bubbles like theres alot in there, but when its not running, none will be in the coolant pan I add more, it goes down add more, same thing. I tried stop leak when it was cool, that didn't do anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beuE2...ature=youtu.be

Xj88

Did it ever overheat?
That white smoke is usually indicative of a cracked head, or blown gasket.

MrSchulz

That is what im assuming, I hope not but it is probably what it is.........

dave1123

Take the spark plugs out, fill up the radiator, and crank it over. If the leak is bad enough, you should see water vapor shooting out of the hole. Pull the fuel pump relay before so you don't get fuel to confuse you. This should tell you which one is the culprit. It may be 2 next to each other.

MrSchulz

To clarify, if I take the spark plugs out, fill up the radiator (I put them back in right?) and let it go, I should see where its going and that would determine if its the block or just something with the radiator?

91familyxj

I would also take a look at water pump in my old xj (with 4.0) it crapped the bed and as fast as I could pour water in it came right back out. Plus if it over heated there is alot that could go wrong. What motor is in it?

dave1123

You're probably right about the water pump. My idea was to see if he's getting water in the cylinders.

No, you leave the plugs out. Watch for water coming out of the spark plug holes when you crank it over.

MrSchulz

Not a cracked block. not the water pump either. Here were the problems:

Due to my lack of knowledge of car buying, this one did not have a Coolant Resivore that was one of the "leaks"

Second, one hose was almost completely off the Heater Core

Third, there was a small leak down below.

Fixed for $25 at a local radiator shop including a new Resivore

PatriotGT

sometimes you just have to look.
Glad it was a simple fix for you.