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I should have known better then to read the book... coolent???

G

gabe4

NAXJA Forum User
Location
upstate NY
I had just finished flushing the coolent system and was letting the last cycle drain out. Went to look in my book to see how much anti-freeze I would need. I started reading how to fill it up when I read something that didn't make sense. It says in a inline 6 to just fill the resievor bottle to the "post" (what post) don't fill it through the rad. Can someone explain this to me because filling it that way dosen't seem to allow me to put very much anti-freeze in. If I hadn't read that I would have just filled the rad up and been done.
 
Sorry should have given more info. It's a 98 auto with AC. it looks to me as though the resivor bottle is more of a over flow it dosen't have any sort of pressure cap on it.
 
Just dump a gallon of antifreeze and a gallon of water into the rad, put the cap on, run it with the heater on high until it reaches normal operating temp, let it cool off, and if it need it add more water...
 
Dump a gallon of pure antifreeze in, a gallon of DISTILLED water, now take the other gallon of anti-freeze and dump half it in the empty anti-freeze container, now take the other gallon of distilled water and dump half in each half filled anti-freeze container, you now have two 50/50 mix containers and a more or less 50/50 mix in the rad. Now start it up and top off the rad with the mix, wait for the tstat to open and top it off again, keep the rad neck full so you can see it. It will look like fizzy soda, thats that air getting out the system. Once you have it topped off fill the CLEANED overflow bottle to the hot mark, put the cap back on the radiator and thats it...it will pull in a couple of pints but thats about it..
 
Ok if he flushed the cooling system, he has plenty of water already.

Block will contain water from the flush process. Heater core will also have some water in it. Plus the last bits here and there behind the thermostat, and bottom of radiator.

Its nearly impossible to completely empty the cooling system unless you turn the jeep up on its front end and let it drain.

Best bet is to put in about a 60/40 mix of antifreeze/water. When the radiator is full, then run it till the t-stat opens. Like said above, have the heater running.

If you have one of those cheapo coolant gauges from the auto parts store, cheak your mix to see if your good. Just suck up some of the mixed coolant from the radiator after you have ran the motor...This will tell you if your mix is within spec. If not, then you can play with it a bit by adding pure antifreeze to it to richen up the mix or more water to dilute it.

After you have the mix about right, the 60/40 bottle you made up is good enough for finishing up filling they system. Fill the overflow bottle also.

Usually you want about a 50/50 mix of coolant. But when flushing, you are running a garden hose with pure water through the system. End result if you don't check your mix could be a cracked block in the winter if your in a cold area like me.

Hope that helps...
 
What "book" were you reading? That sounds like the procedure for the older XJ's with the closed system.
 
Bouncy said:
Ok if he flushed the cooling system, he has plenty of water already.

Block will contain water from the flush process. Heater core will also have some water in it. Plus the last bits here and there behind the thermostat, and bottom of radiator.

Its nearly impossible to completely empty the cooling system unless you turn the jeep up on its front end and let it drain.

Best bet is to put in about a 60/40 mix of antifreeze/water. When the radiator is full, then run it till the t-stat opens. Like said above, have the heater running.

If you have one of those cheapo coolant gauges from the auto parts store, cheak your mix to see if your good. Just suck up some of the mixed coolant from the radiator after you have ran the motor...This will tell you if your mix is within spec. If not, then you can play with it a bit by adding pure antifreeze to it to richen up the mix or more water to dilute it.

After you have the mix about right, the 60/40 bottle you made up is good enough for finishing up filling they system. Fill the overflow bottle also.

Usually you want about a 50/50 mix of coolant. But when flushing, you are running a garden hose with pure water through the system. End result if you don't check your mix could be a cracked block in the winter if your in a cold area like me.

Hope that helps...
Click to expand...


Don't you disconnect your heater hoses when you flush the system ? I disconnect both and run the garden hose back and forth between the two heater hoses, flush and backflush, try it sometime and look at the crap that comes out of there.
 
Saudade said:
What "book" were you reading? That sounds like the procedure for the older XJ's with the closed system.
Click to expand...
My Hayes book and the owners manual
 
langer1 said:
To bad you don't have an outhouse thats the best place for the Haynes manual :D
Click to expand...

No it's not - I use the Haynes to even up odd legs on workbenches...

The "post" that you're being referred to is more RENIX than HO (the RENIX "overflow" bottle is actually part of the pressure system, and therefore a "volume tank" rather than an "overflow." Ideally, you don't lose coolant in RENIX. The "post" you're reading about is directly under the fill cap, and provides a way to mark the proper coolant level that can always be seen when filling. HO systems should be filled right to the top, and then the overflow "fill" mark should be about 1/3- to 1/2- way up the side of the tank...)

5-90
 
RichP said:
Don't you disconnect your heater hoses when you flush the system ? I disconnect both and run the garden hose back and forth between the two heater hoses, flush and backflush, try it sometime and look at the crap that comes out of there.
Click to expand...

Yes.

I purchased a kit from the parts store. Got an extra piece of heater hose and switched the hose from pipe to pipe. I also flushed through the radiator as well using the heater hoses. Then dropped the lower hose to drain the system (at this point full of water) When it was drained, I began the filling with 60/40 mix since the system still had some water left in the block.

And to cap my story......After all that, my heater core was still somewhat plugged up and shot....so I ripped the entire XJ apart and replaced the heater core. If I had it to do over again...either take it to a mechanic and let him cry for a while....Or take the jeep to the scrap yard. That job is a nightmare.

And to beat it all, I still have strange problems with my cooling system. Runs cold in the winter at about 150-160 degrees. Over heats on the trails to 260 on an 80 degree day if I don't leave the aux fan on continously.
Stats:
t-stat new stock 190 or 195 can't remember now tried 3 of them.
3 core radiator
10 blade aux fan
Open cooling system
Separate tranny coolers not connected to the rad.
New stock water pump
New hoses
Tried 3 different used clutch fans all with same results
new heater core (FYI new units are about twice as big as the stock ones)

So theres the story.
 
Well I completed the flushing and filled the rad and the damn thing still runs warm.
 
gabe4 said:
Well I completed the flushing and filled the rad and the damn thing still runs warm.
Click to expand...

What kind of flush did you use ? the 7 hour kind or the quickie 15 min stuff ?
 
RichP said:
What kind of flush did you use ? the 7 hour kind or the quickie 15 min stuff ?
Click to expand...
Quickie stuff, after the fourth time the water came out clear.
 
gabe4 said:
Quickie stuff, after the fourth time the water came out clear.
Click to expand...

The 7 hour flush works much better, its more chemical than sand blasting and dissolves the minerals that have built up. The first time I used it I was impressed and nervous, after 7 hours on the prestone 8 hour flush the tank on my 82 S10's rad looked like it had just been soldered when prior it looked like a cavern with growths all over the ends of the tubes..I was afraid it was going to take the solder off before I got home and did the flush, I put it in before heading out on a service call in syracuse about 3 1/2 hours one way. Every time I've used the quickie flushes I've ended up eating a water pump a short time later through either packing or bearing failure, granted they were high milage pumps and the only reason I flushed the system was to see if I could solve a running hot problem.
Now I do either yearly or every other year coolant changes and use only distilled water, that seems to help alot.. my TJ, they have a top tank so you can look down into the radiator, is still looking new after about 10 months of installing a new radiator, still shiny inside.
 
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