Hey fellas,

So I bought a 2000 XJ with 75699 miles on it. I've got a coolant related question. I checked the radiator and everything is fine in there, I looked inside the reservoir tank and found coolant with a white film ontop. I'll post pictures below. If anyone has any experience with this please drop some advice. The other question is, while driving I hit the brake and the pedal went down close to the floorboard and the BRAKE light came on. I drove home, brakes functional but the pedal very loose and braking seemed lacking. Where should I check first? And what might need to be replaced?

Thanks
Goose.

 

Check your brake fluid first if its not that it can be a few things.The coolant i would flush the system and replace the coolant see if the milky stuff comes back or not.I would be scared the white stuff is some kinda stop leak fix it stuff,The 00-01 are known for head cracking if they are ran hot.How does your oil look like?

 

The oil is black, doing an oil change on Sunday. The brake fluid was empty, I found that my pass side rear wheel was wet on the inside and the drum housing was completely soaked. I checked for a broken line can't seem to find it or tell if it's broken. Will post pictures.

 

That fluid leak is probably a bad wheel cylinder inside the drum. If that's the issue, replace both sides. And since you're there might be a good time to replace all of springs and other parts along with shoes if needed. The parts are cheap.

 

You always replace the rear brake shoes if they get brake fluid on them.

 

The 00-01 heads don't have to be run hot to crack.

 

It sounds like he just bought the jeep so who knows how its been treated tho.

 

It was the wheel cylinder on the passenger, side. I managed to replace it and flush the brakes, also replaced the springs while I was in here. I did not replace the brakes though, I plan on converting them to disc brakes soon. As for the coolant, that is next on the list. The previous owner did not drive the thin at all, Its got 75,000 miles on it. Still trying to figure out what that coolant situation is though.

 

If stop leak is in your radiator, you might be in a little trouble. I've been there done that. Best option is whenever you drain your radiator is to use some radiator flush but also disconnect your bottom radiator hose and then disconnect the top hose and flush it out by taking a hose pipe to your top hose. I'm still dealing with problem and plan on buying a new radiator around Christmas. Let me know how it goes

 

I'm seeing two pics, one with green liquid and one with brown liquid. What actual color is your coolant? Could that stuff floating on top be oil?

As the new owner of a 2000, you will want to read up on the 0331 head crack and understand what early signs to look for. Any unusual symptoms in the cooling system should be taken seriously with the '00 and '01. That's not to say that yours will crack, but it happens often enough that you must take the threat seriously. If your head does crack (or is cracked now), you will want to swap it as soon as possible to avoid bearing damage.

If you haven't already done that oil change you mentioned above, it would be a good idea to send a sample of the old oil off for analysis at Blackstone Labs to see if there's any coolant in the oil and also to find out if there's anything else unusual going on. If you already did the oil change, you might want to get an analysis done next time.

Have you noticed any weird temperature fluctuations or "boiling" of coolant in the overflow bottle?

Regarding the wheel cylinder, if one went, the other rear will likely crap out on you soon. Did you replace both? If not, you might want to either replace the other preemptively or be ready to replace it when it goes.