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Green drip drip drip drivers side

O

offroadordnance

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Florida
After work someone noticed a green puddle under the Jeep. Popped the hood and it's running down the lower rad hose. It's not leaking from rubbing on the steering box it's much higher right near the water pump inlet. I don't know where the weep hole is or where the 4.0L water pumps leak from. It's pouring rain out and I'm wondering if I should try to swap the hose out tommorrow where it sits or tow it to my shop and change the pump. The pump body is dry as far as I can tell. Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
the weep hole is behind the pulley. its right below the pulley shaft. I would change out the pump before it seizes
 
You need to absolutely ISOLATE where the leak is coming from. Coolant leaks can be tricky as leaks migrate which make troubleshooting difficult.

Best to get under the vehicle. Better yet to get the vehicle on a hoist. Perform an inspection with a good light and a hot fully pressurized coolant system.

No shortcuts. Don't assume anything. That leak could be coming from a few places including water pump, hose, or even the radiator itself.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
Dont just assume its the pump.... i just threw $38 at what i thought was a weeping waterpump... turns out i had a gash on the backside of my upper hose. The assumption made me not even really look... just ASSumed it was weeping...
 
from underneath, take your fingertip and feel the inside of the lip of the waterpump pulley after a short drive (or when you notice it leaking). if it's wet the weep hole is... well, weeping. 9 times out of 10 when the weep hole sprouts a leak it is because the bearing on the pump shaft is going out. you can check this by popping the belt off and seeing if there is any play in the pulley, there should be none at all.
 
GrimmJeeper said:
from underneath, take your fingertip and feel the inside of the lip of the waterpump pulley after a short drive (or when you notice it leaking). if it's wet the weep hole is... well, weeping. 9 times out of 10 when the weep hole sprouts a leak it is because the bearing on the pump shaft is going out. you can check this by popping the belt off and seeing if there is any play in the pulley, there should be none at all.
Click to expand...

Do this with the engine OFF BTW.
 
offroadordnance said:
It's green, smells sweet, and tastes yummy, for sure not power steering fluid.
Click to expand...

I had a friend with a WJ and the power steering fluid softened up the lower rad hose til it sprung a leak. I pumped up the cooling system and felt around till I found the pinhole leak behind the power steering pump. :cheers:
 
The jeep quit leaking by the time I got it to my shop. Water pump was dry and lwr rad hose had drippins. When i twisted the hose it starter whizzin, so I replaced both rad hoses and put in a new stant 195 t-stat. It was fine for half an hour and drip drip again. Loosen the belt and pulled off the pump pulley and it started whizzin again out the weep hole now. The only pump I could find was a GNB or something from Advance,, country of origin was Thailand so I was expecting a happy ending. I was wrong, I popped a hole in the rad. After replacing the rad with a unit from A/Z, or ran bout 215F until it suddenly spiked to 260ish. I flipped on the heat to cool it down but it blew cool. Don know if the new Stant 195 was bad or an air was trapped but said screw it and replaced the 195 with a new 180F Stant. Alas, this puppy runs cooler by bout 10-15 degrees on the gauge. The water outlet went from 220f to 185f measured with an infrared pyrometer lazer thingy.
 
Also, I had heard bad things bout the Advance radiators not fitting so I went with Autozone which was cheaper. Everything fit well but the installed lower tranny cooler line was hitting the sheet metal tray on the driver side. A little bending made the neccesary clearance.
 
4.0ls are well known for getting an air bubble up in the head that takes some effort to get rid of. The block sits higher at the front than the rear, and the thermostat is well below the coolant passages in the heads. You can put the rear axle on jackstands and pop the gauge sensor out of the rear of the head to fill there, or run it for a bunch of cycles on the thermostat to slowly blow the bubble through the thermostat. I drove from Chicago almost all of the way through Iowa on the way out to Moab after a head replacement before the temp gauge settled down.

Me, I'd ditch that 180 and put a 195 back in, but use an OEM tstat, not aftermarket.
 
ChiXJeff said:
4.0ls are well known for getting an air bubble up in the head that takes some effort to get rid of. The block sits higher at the front than the rear, and the thermostat is well below the coolant passages in the heads. You can put the rear axle on jackstands and pop the gauge sensor out of the rear of the head to fill there, or run it for a bunch of cycles on the thermostat to slowly blow the bubble through the thermostat. I drove from Chicago almost all of the way through Iowa on the way out to Moab after a head replacement before the temp gauge settled down.

Me, I'd ditch that 180 and put a 195 back in, but use an OEM tstat, not aftermarket.
Click to expand...

I am so done with Stant stats. Ditched 3 of them for factory and my Jeeps now warm up quickly in winter and run the correct temp in summer.
 
birchlakeXJ said:
You need to absolutely ISOLATE where the leak is coming from. Coolant leaks can be tricky as leaks migrate which make troubleshooting difficult.

Best to get under the vehicle. Better yet to get the vehicle on a hoist. Perform an inspection with a good light and a hot fully pressurized coolant system.

No shortcuts. Don't assume anything. That leak could be coming from a few places including water pump, hose, or even the radiator itself.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

^ This!

Go rent yourself a radiator test kit from AZ or Oreilly, you be able to pinpoint the leaks.
 
In my case the leak stopped by the time I returned to my shop. The lower rad hose revealed itself when I tugged and twisted it. After hose replacement, the water pump dripped. When I pulled the water pump pulley to get a better look, it gushed out the weap hole. Pushing and pulling the water pump shaft made the leak stop or flow profusely. Also, a good light meaning one that wont blow the bulb if dripped upon or cause electricution if wet.
 
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