Noah911

I noticed a drip happening and saw a pool of fluid underneath my WJ today. Thankfully, I have a buddy here with me in case I end up needing some help to get this remedied. He's a Jeeper too. I look under the hood and see the coolant overflow reservoir is totally empty. I am constantly under the hood of my Jeep looking things over, and this reservoir was full yesterday. I could hear a hissing sound, and noticed the leak immediately. I was not really too surprised.
I think you may be able to tell from these photos where the problem area is located? I did this about three years ago, fixing a small pin-hole leak on the passenger side plastic radiator neck. The fix has held up all this time, but it appears that the remedy from back then is starting to give way at this time...

dave1123

I think you got more service than you can expect judging from that pile of poop.

Noah911

Noah911

I drove more and it's hardly changed much from where it was at. It is leaking the same as it was back when I initially did the fix. It could have came at a better time. I am leaving my location to go to Louisiana. I was planning on leaving tomorrow. I am going to monitor it right now, and may leave before fixing it? Bring a gallon or two of H2O with me?

Noah911

What happens is that some of the time the littler leaking will increase itself into a bigger leak. Only, its just at times once in awhile after shutting down the engine. I noticed when filling it back up by way of a soda-pop type bottle, it looses 20 - 40oz at a time when it does this.. The edges of the putty sealant feel like they may peal up in chunks? I wonder what it looks like under there? I don't want to know. I may ignore it, and it might go away?

I was looking in the last picture up there, and you can see the side of the battery where I poured CocaCola over the terminals to get it started one day. The air movement slinging it back and around after getting going down the road afterwards. The dirt clung to it.

Noah911

Hey! Are you telling me that I did a $hotty repair job?

Thats a good radiator! Its the heavy duty Mopar with 30% more capacity.

dave1123

Not at all! I'm just saying you expected too much from the epoxy! I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. That tank can be replaced, but it might not be cost effective. Also I wouldn't drive it on the highway a long distance because under sustained heat and pressure, it might blow apart unexpectedly. Remember hot water is one thing, but steam expands exponentially and at extreme pressure! Just ask anyone who has witnessed a boiler explosion. Water is natures best coolant because it absorb a tremendous amount of BTUs before it changes state, but once it boils, watch out!

Noah911

I am torn on what to do about this right now. The cooling system is such an important aspect! It has many factors influencing it. I got a breach in the system. This seemingly tiny leak could cause a catastrophe! The power of steam expansion is enormous! Steam produces power able to pull trains, and has many other impressive applications!

I need a new radiator.

Noah911

I am going to remove the old epoxy today. See what that spot looks like underneath? If it does not appear to have changed from the tiny pinhole that was there three years ago, I am planning to clean up and plasti-weld the area again as I did previously. I will just have to see what it looks like? Make a judgment call after the old epoxy is removed. I understand the system is compromised, and this is not an ideal solution to my problem.

My major concerns deal with the introduction of air into the system. The integrity of the system psi. How the boiling point may be affected by psi abnormality - and/or having diluted coolant causing decreased boiling point temperatures - hot spots on the engine should there be air or steam circulating instead of liquid coolant. And of course, sudden loss of coolant should the repair blow-out.

Other minor concerns are with the loss of a proper antifreeze coolant mixture.. Losing its anti-corrosion and lubrication aspects. I am not overly concerned with this becaause it hopefully won't be for too long. At least right now I do not have to worry about freezing.

I know if it looks like I can get away with epoxy as repair method, I am going to buy a new radiator cap. 18lbs right? Is a AutoZone or NAPA radiator cap considered acceptable? Stant? I know the radiator cap is a very important component, and mine looks old and worn out to me.

dave1123

Just an aside. My high school Physics teacher was a pi-beta-kappa graduate from MIT and his statement has stuck with me 'til this day! "When we meet people from an advanced civilization, how do we explain to them why a heat engine requires a cooling system?" It's because we don't know how to utilize all the heat produced effectively. Too bad we couldn't build a system to produce steam from the waste heat from an internal combustion engine and use that steam to help propel the vehicle. The reason nobody has attempted it is because people have an inherent fear of steam boilers because of the failures in the past. I think I've read that at the time steam railroad engines were abandoned, they were using 600* steam at 600 psi pressure and to build them any stronger would require too much weight to contain it. IDK what the systems on ships use for steam turbines but it's got to be higher.

Edit; Marine propulsion systems can be as high as 1200 psi.

Noah911

I guess CarQuest is re-branded Stant. It was only $5.00 so I grabbed the new cap. The epoxy putty has 6,000 psi, 500* resistant. Says its impervious to chemicals and can be even be set up under water. I do not like having this system being open right now. Picking up some sanding paper, and then I will be giving this a shot. I want to get the coolant mixture back to a 50:50 ratio again.

dave1123

The trick with it is keeping it from flexing. I'm pretty sure it will seal and be strong enough, but flexing it will crack it. That's probably why the original fix failed. I've seen guys destroy a radiator by trying to get a hose off and using no common sense that it's PLASTIC!

Noah911

I am confident it will work. The old epoxy putty has become brittle. With my 5-in-1 straight edge, simply getting a grip on it and prying a little the old putty is breaking neatly coming up in chunks. It is leaving behind the origial smooth plastic radiator neck exposed underneath as it comes up. I stopped because I still needed to drive back from the store to my cabin. It's parked down below my deck cooling off at the moment. Once it is cooled, I am going to finish removing the old epoxy to hopefully see the pinhole that was under there has not grown since I was last able to see it? I swear from memory the pinhole leak appeared to actually have been a manufacturing defect to me? When hot with the thermostat open, I could squeeze on the upper radiator hose to make teensy tiny perfect looking droplets form from the pinhole. That was how I found it back when I first got the Jeep. I did a coolant flush. When I was squeezing the upper hose to help facilitate purging air out the system was when I first noticed it. I remember having my major coolant leak when the water pump and thermostat gaskets both failed at the same time earlier this year, and the system is actually very robust! Maybe it is the extra capacity, but I had lost a ton of coolant back then.. and never did I see a rise in temperature. I am certain that it was driven extremely low on coolant for quite some time and distance too. Back then I was strictly driving/parking over fields and trails. It would have been very difficult to notice any fluid, or puddle beneath it since it was not being used on pavement at the time. I was totally shocked and in disbelief when I opened the hood to inspect, seeing an empty reservoir, and thinking damn #### might be bone-dry. as I was pouring a second gallon of H2O in filling the radiator...

When I get a break to go back home again, I am seriously going to consider replacing this radiator. I would be able to put a new one in here and now if it came down to it, but I do not want to be putting in a sub-par raditor compared to the heavy duty OEM unit that came in it. I really like knowing it has the extra reserve cooling capacity. Especially since I plan on pulling my other Jeep with it periodically in the near futue. I know an equivilant radiator is going to be special order, and expensive. Provided the fix I am going to do right now works, I will have to think about that some more when the time comes.

jon-d

Seriously, just replace it and your done. I have been down that Buble gum and bailing wire road and it almost always ends with more work and expense than if I replaced the part to begin with.

fb97xj1

Bingo.