i bought 1997 xj 3 months ago and i found something like mud in the radiator cap its probably a leak so i didn't use the car a lot since then and yesterday i went to pep boys to flush the coolant but the told me they couldn't do it they have to change the hoses and the radiator and i asked them how i would know if its in the head gasket they say we have to drain the oil to check the headgasket, so whats the best way to check where is the leak coming from?

 

It could just be the coolant never got changed which can turn ugly over time.To know if you have a head gasket problem you can do a compression test a leak down test or even send some of your used oil to http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

1) Punctuation. Please use it.

2) Find a real mechanic for anything more than an oil change.

Chances are there is not mud in your coolant. It is either very dirty from never being changed or somebody put a stop-leak product into the system to hide a problem before selling it.

If you post a picture of what the inside of your radiator cap looks like we can probably tell you which one of those two possibilities it is. Either way, a thorough flushing of the system is in order.

 

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/mud...234638/index2/

There were some suggestions over in your other thread on this on how to clean it out. Myself I would start by removing the lower hose from the engine and dropping it into a large bucket then flushing water down from the top of radiator at the cap.

If you want a professional to work on it, look for a radiator shop, they will be more equipped to do a proper flush and testing of the system to see if there are any leaks in the head gasket.

 

This post is right on the money, my vote is that its Stop leak.

 

here is what it look like

 

Uh Oh ... seen that before, but on a 2001 XJ. It prolly overheated like the 01 did. Yup, the guys are right - you need a full flush ... which you can do yourself. Then I'd recommend you change out the entire cooling system (not the core if you can flush it clean), including the hoses, thermostat & water pump. Flush & back flush several times. I just went through this, and I'm a bit obsessive, so I flushed like 20 times.

Does your heat work?

 

A Bit ?????

 

Lol, yeah! It took a long time to get perfectly clear water whenever I would fill the system with water & run the engine. So I kept doing it over & over. "Thorough" .... it's what's for dinner.

 

Looks like someone used some of that stop leak stuff,Which kinda scares me since its a bandaid fix for a big problem.