Coolant leak in my 97 XJ

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Sep 4, 2016 | 11:22 AM

Landau27

Thread Starter

Newbie

Joined: Mar 2015

Posts: 12

Likes: 1

Model: Cherokee

Coolant leak in my 97 XJ

So I have a coolant leak on the engine side of the lower radiator hose. I replace the hose because of some small cracks and I thought that was the issue. The leak seems to be coming just above the hose(from the water pump) do the gasket in them fail before the pumps themselves go out?
Took this off a YouTube post.

Last edited by Landau27; Sep 4, 2016 at 11:30 AM.

Sep 5, 2016 | 08:11 AM

NewbJeep

Senior Member

Joined: Nov 2013

Posts: 503

Likes: 0

From: Jax, FL

Year: 1998

Model: Cherokee

Engine: 4.0L

Wipe everything clean and check again. Water/coolant can come from many places. Only you can trace it. Check the weep hole on the water pump

Sep 5, 2016 | 09:36 AM

extrashaky

Banned

Joined: Feb 2014

Posts: 2,379

Likes: 18

From: Florida

Year: 2000

Model: Cherokee(XJ)

Engine: Golen 4.6L

Quote:

Originally Posted by Landau27

The leak seems to be coming just above the hose(from the water pump) do the gasket in them fail before the pumps themselves go out?

It's not the gasket. The water pump has a weep hole that starts leaking when the pump is worn out. When it first starts leaking, coolant runs right down the back of the hose just like in your fuzzy picture. Later it will spray out and go everywhere.

Replace the water pump. This is also a good time to replace the thermostat, since you'll be working right there. And thoroughly flush everything out while you're at it.