Question on my beater

[venom 1]

A quick question for any of you guys that may know..I have a beater 2000 yr jeep Cherokee thats my beater work ride. It has 176000 on the clock but runs good and does not burn a drop of oil. The problem lately is that is keeps over heating for some reason and I have to add coolant every couple of days?? I had a new rad put in it and all new hoses about a week ago..I can't figure out where the damn coolant is going, I checked the oil several times and every thing seems fine there, level is staying the same so it couldn't be mixing and the water pump is OK as well?? I can't put my thumb on it?? No spots in the driveway of a leakage either? Could it be a bad thermostat possibly? I just want to find out soon because I don't want to dump much more $ into the vehicle with no results. But the thing that sux is I will have to buy something else If I cant fix the issue, and the wife wants a Civic si so that means another payment for me Any suggestions would be awesome, would like to make it through the summer with it I hope.

 

[raceram9]

if everything is dry im stumped unless there was not enough coolant put in after the radiator swap

 

[SPACEMONKEY1]

If nothing is sleaking then it's gotta be the thermostat or if your engine has some kind of sensor reading the temp that might be defective. I'd go with the thermostat and get that replaced. When I had my ford ranger I didn't have a temp problem but I had a sensor from hell problem. Replaced the DPFE, EGR, O2, and still the engine light was on. Hopefully it's just the stat, at least that's what it sounds like.

 

[SPACEMONKEY1]

the fan is coming on too right?

 

[venom 1]

Yeah, the fan is coming on...The overflow coolant bottle is always empty as well for some reason, I fill it up and the next day it's dry again?? I have filling both the rad and over flow?? Im F'in stumped as well

 

[TREKER]

Do you smell antifreeze at all?

 

[venom 1]

Do you smell antifreeze at all?

I did before I had the rad and hoses replaced, have not noticed the smell since then, the temp will spike while driving at speed and go from like 210 to 240..?? I don't get it..and then as fast as it went up, it will drop back down to 210, the norm

 

[TREKER]

I did before I had the rad and hoses replaced, have not noticed the smell since then, the temp will spike while driving at speed and go from like 210 to 240..?? I don't get it..and then as fast as it went up, it will drop back down to 210, the norm

Well if you are low on fluid, that will happen. I had the same problem this winter. I changed the stat but noticed that my fluid was very low as well. My heater would get warm then switch to ice cold. When I topped off my fluids and swapped the stat it went away. But I had the same issue, I lose fluid on my 04 hemi ram and smell anti-freeze once in a while. Must be leaking somewhere but not enough to see where since it must burn off. Been that way for years now. I have 145k on the clock too.

 

[venom 1]

I guess I will replace the thermostat and go from there. My wife is praying it dies

 

[SilvrSRT10]

You may also have a bad intake manifold gasket or head gasket. If that's the case your antifreeze is going out the tailpipe as steam. Just had the intake gaskets done on my '02 Buick. Symptoms were the same. Kept having to add antifreeze but couldn't see any evidence of where it was going. It would begin to overheat due to the drop in fluid level.

 

[venom 1]

If the head gasket is going im done with it, I have dropped about 800$ into the vehicle since last summer, new ac and a few other things that wore out..If the HG is going, wouldn't the coolant be mixing in with the oil??

 

[dragon]

these jeeps run forever just take car of them. i would check your coolant bottle and make sure there are no cracks and change your radiator cap. the only other thing i would do is t-stat and water pump change. just remember this money you spend on this vehicle will keep it running good. like i said THESE JEEPS RUN FOREVER. gl

 

[JTS VENOM PERFORMANCE]

run by autozone or something like that or maybe a smalll garage, or heckyou can pruchase one, but get somebody to pressurize the system with a rad pressure tester, that will pressurize the system and if there is a leak it will not hold pressure at all, or it will slowly drop.

but most of the time if its that bad you should be able to see where its comming from, if not, then you may have internal like big dave says.

good luck bo:rock:

 

[venom 1]

these jeeps run forever just take car of them. i would check your coolant bottle and make sure there are no cracks and change your radiator cap. the only other thing i would do is t-stat and water pump change. just remember this money you spend on this vehicle will keep it running good. like i said THESE JEEPS RUN FOREVER. gl

The overflow bottle is good, new rad and cap to go with it...I will do the thermo next. If that does not work then:dontknow: :dontknow: ..Could I just put water in instead of atifreeze in the summer?? Im sick of buying coolant .

 

[JTS VENOM PERFORMANCE]

The overflow bottle is good, new rad and cap to go with it...I will do the thermo next. If that does not work then:dontknow: :dontknow: ..Could I just put water in instead of atifreeze in the summer?? Im sick of buying coolant .

water will not work, it has a much lower boiling point and will quickly evaporate as well as rust up the system there buddy.

if nothing else works , or ya cant find anything, drop in some alumniseal

sshh i didnt say that

 

[SRT-IZ]

You have a coolant bottle on it? (not an over flow) Where is your rad cap located? (radiator or bottle).

 

[Black1]

The overflow bottle is good, new rad and cap to go with it...I will do the thermo next. If that does not work then:dontknow: :dontknow: ..Could I just put water in instead of atifreeze in the summer?? Im sick of buying coolant .

Like Dragon said.... check the water pump... it has a "weep hole" in it and will leak when the impeller seal goes bad. I just replaced one on my buddies '04 Grand Cherokee 4.0L.

 

[moparracing]

these jeeps run forever just take car of them. the only other thing i would do is t-stat and water pump change. just remember this money you spend on this vehicle will keep it running good. like i said THESE JEEPS RUN FOREVER.

agree with patrick !

 

[SRT-IZ]

He did mention his WP is OK so im assuming he checked it. The reason i asked about the bottle is because if you do have one, they tend to crack and loose pressure/steam/coolant. I own a 90 XJ that is about to hit 200k and know all aout the overheating thing. It is very common on these motors. I love these 4.0's tho!:rock:

 

[wyoramsrt-10]

He did mention his WP is OK so im assuming he checked it. The reason i asked about the bottle is because if you do have one, they tend to crack and loose pressure/steam/coolant. I own a 90 XJ that is about to hit 200k and know all aout the overheating thing. It is very common on these motors. I love these 4.0's tho!:rock:

Excellent point. My dad has (I think) 2001 Jeep Cherokee. If I remember right he was overheating too. From what he told me that I can remember is the cooling system has to be pressurized or problems can occur.

Another thing I used to do @ work was add LIQUID DISH WASHER soap to the coolant to help keep temps down.