Weird cooling question(long)Help please

Well I picked up a 97 country 2 days ago. Its got 101k on it. When i was checkin everything out i noticed that the radiator had some crusty looking stuff in it. I told the sales guy and he said that they would flush it. Well I got to pick up the jeep and check the fluid. Looks great. Well today I checked it again(300miles later) and it looked like crap. It wasnt crusty, but it looked cloudy like mud was in it. Now this jeep hasent been offroaded. What spawned all of this curiosity was that when i was under my jeep hooking up my power wire for the amp, I saw a drop of fluid on the driveway. Right where a rear main seal leak would be. To my suprise it was green. under closer inspection I can see where it has been dripping and hitting the trans pan. I checked the oil and it looked good. Wtf is this all about. How could antifreze be leaking form there? Im thinking about getting the rad. power flushed tomorrow at work. Is this a good idea?

Sorry about the length

The leak could be a head gasket causing a leak at the rear of the head.

I´ve seen them drip at the bottom water pump connection (often) and sometimes travel down the engine pan seam and drip towards the rear. Wind from driving, forces the seeped coolant to the rear also.
Anti-freeze generally has a corrosion inhibitor in it, when the anti-freeze wears out, the inside of the motor gets a coat of rust, when you put in new anti-freeze it removes some of the rust and holds it in suspension (looks like mud). Might have to change the anti-freeze again, just like neglecting oil changes, will dirty up your new oil pretty quick, trash builds up.
Every time you flush a radiator you remove a couple of microns of copper from the inside of the radiator, eventually it gets very thin. Coolant is acidic, so there is some electrolysis going on in there anyway.
Sometimes the only thing keeping much of the coolant in the system, are the deposits that have built up, at previous leaks or seeps. You flush you get leaks.
If it´s had a leak or a seep and somebody keeps adding tap water or tap water coolant mix, eventually the hard water deposits, will build up enough to mess with the flow, usually in the bottom of the radiator.

Take it back to the dealer, otherwise you are going to maybe have to drop the tranny and bellhousing. In the back of the block behind the flywheel are two freeze plugs, one is for the back of the camshaft and is part of the oil gallery, the other is a freeze plug for the cooling system. Do it now if you are sure it's coming from the back of the motor...
There are also additional freeze plugs under the header on the side of the block that should also be checked but don't let them put any 'stop leak' in there to hide errrr 'fix' the problem. If that one on the back of the motor is rotting out that can be an expensive repair labor wise, on par with the labor of getting a clutch or tranny replaced...which puts it in the $500+ range...

the "muddy" appearance may also be from a stop-leak type product they added to the system to keep from fixing a leak they knew existed.. a small leak can often be fixed with a product like that and have no further issues.. i say take it back and have it checked out.. if they give you a problem take it to another garage for a second opinion... i might even take it to another place before you go back.. so you have a repair estimate in hand from someone who isnt trying to save a few $$ because he sold the truck and wants it to go away..

If the dealer tried to "fix" the problem with a stop leak product I would be rather disappointed (I was going to use stronger terminology but being new to the board I do not want to offend). I agree with taking it back to the dealer. I'm sure you did not anticipate buying a vehicle in need of an expensive repair, which would be the case if you need to replace a freeze plug.

With a history of gunk in the antifreeze I would check out an antifreeze filter, look at http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/CoolantFilters.html. I haven't used one but follow classic Mustang pages and several 'stangers swear by the Gano filter. Generally they run them until they stop collecting debris then remove them. There may be long term reliability issues. HTH (Mustang slang for "hope this helps", are such short cuts used here?)

Ahh my first contribution to .

highhilleer said:

If the dealer tried to "fix" the problem with a stop leak product I would be rather disappointed (I was going to use stronger terminology but being new to the board I do not want to offend). I agree with taking it back to the dealer. I'm sure you did not anticipate buying a vehicle in need of an expensive repair, which would be the case if you need to replace a freeze plug.

With a history of gunk in the antifreeze I would check out an antifreeze filter, look at http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/CoolantFilters.html. I haven't used one but follow classic Mustang pages and several 'stangers swear by the Gano filter. Generally they run them until they stop collecting debris then remove them. There may be long term reliability issues. HTH (Mustang slang for "hope this helps", are such short cuts used here?)

Ahh my first contribution to .

Click to expand...

Those coolant filters are rather a neat idea, never even occured to me that someone let alone several someones make them though on reflection it makes sense.

I think it is that freezeplug.Its drips off right where the oil drain plug is. Is this a common thing. Ive owned 5 cherokees and never had this problem.
I bought this jeep with no warrenty from a big dealership. Im going to assume that they are not going to want to fix it. This is bullshit because i sold my 89 so i wouldnt have any major problems. Now this one is in worse shape then my old one. I can pull the trans myself but this sucks. Is there any way you can tell for sure that someone has put stop leak in there.? If so the dealership is deff. at fault. Thanks guys