kyle.dean278

So a couple weeks ago I was coming home from the trails in my 97 xj when I look down and see my temp slowly climbing above normal temperature, naturally I immediantly stop having radiator issues on previous vehicles and having gone through this same situation, to see that I’m dumping coolant in the grass coming from what looks to be right underneath my radiator but I am not quite sure because coolant was running all up under my bumper (aftermarket) and at the time there was no way to tell where the leak was coming from. I drive home nearly overheating my xj to let it sit to cool down. I filled up the radiator about a day later to see that it wasn’t leaking at all.

About a week later I decided to take the jeep for a drive in order to cause the leak in a controlled setting and attempt to find where exactly it was coming from. I had zero luck getting it to leak again even after driving it at temp for 5-10 minutes

Another week passed and I got some more time to work on the xj, I bought a radiator pressure test kit to see if i could narrow down the problem to just the radiator. Again, had zero luck with the test kit and could not indentify any problem with the radiator at the rated pressure (16psi)

so here we are, a couple days after having done the test kit and my thoughts are that it could be a gasket however I am not sure how that amount of fluid would get from the motor to the bumper/radiator. My other thought is that it could be an old hose/clamp that is coming lose when it is heated but again it did not leak when I drove it at temp. So basically I am at a stump on trying to narrow it down and would love some input from the people on this forum! If you got this far then thanks a lot for reading my problem and I look forward to being apart of this forum!

Canadiantech

hate to say it but i have had mine do that in the middle of the winter -40c i brought it into my shop to thaw, i noticed a puddle of coolant under the jeep, when i got a chance tp work on it no leaks when i pressure tested it.. still stumped

NM-XJ

Is your rubber splash guard still in place below the motor? If so, does it show signs of having coolant on it? The guard ends up being a bit of a broad "catch pan" holding some amount of leaked fluid before it spills overboard. So you may not immediately see fluid leaking. Could be the weep hole in your water pump dribbling onto the splash guard - and if that's the case it's time for a new pump.

doublechaz

Stumps can be hard to remove.

Probably not a help, but a friend and I were on a road trip many years ago in his wheel lifting Camaro. During one of my turns to drive we suddenly noticed the coolant temp was way up near the top of the scale. I didn't know when that started, but I scan gauges pretty often so it couldn't have been too long. Pulled off and it took almost a gallon. Baffled me how it could be that low with no leaks. But we had just finished one of his turns driving in Wyoming where (statute has run) he had the cruise set on 145 mph. Him being a mechanic from a family of mechanics figured he got it hot enough letting off from that run that it puked out the overflow or cap, but since I was driving 5 over (he's the crazy one, not me) we weren't developing enough heat any more to make it very angry. Kinda like in the old days of stock car racing they would run the whole race just fine, and then pull over at the winner's circle and steam would start pouring out. Plenty of heat in the block, but the pump isn't moving much water any more when parked.

Could you have worked it really hard and then suddenly let all the way off for something like that to happen?

lawsoncl

Is the hose from the radiator cap/neck to the overflow bottle intact and not plugged? I'm just wondering if it was dumping on the ground instead of going to the overflow bottle.

IJM

That was my first thought as well.

cruiser54

Take 5 minutes and go around tightening all the hose clamps............

kyle.dean278

When I replaced the coolant not too long ago I noticed that the hose clamps are GARBAGE... the kind you need pliers to get off... I have a feeling this could be the coulprit so I will have to take the time and go get new hose clamps that can easily tighten.

As for everyone else who has posted on this thread I am working on the XJ tomorrow and will keep everyone posted!