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Son of a, no Heat, help?

Nova Wake

NAXJA Forum User
Well boy was i pissed when i found that my usally awsome heat was not working? After i got home my radiator was steaming up a little and i could smell coolant and it was all over the bottom of my rig, so this would be the water pump right? How much would parts and labor be for a mechanic to repalace it being a $35 part?

But my main question is being that alot of my coolant is on my steering and axle, And i need to get to work tomarrow, can i drive it? its cold out but i can do without heat, i only neeed to drive 12.5 miles there and then back. Friday i have off and can get it taken care of then. What do i do to prevent any futher problems? add water? not drive it at all? I kinda need to drive it but for onlt one day.
 
Water pumps usually piddle and not gush. Of course there are exceptions like when my ZJ water pump spit the bearing out the front. You need to do a good inspection. Could be the radiator, especially if it's got the crappy plastic tanks. Plastic surge tank if it's an older renix. Or a bad hose.
 
Heating is not something to really mess around with. if you overheat on your way to work you could be stranded or cause serious damage if you keep on going--

Are you not getting coolant flow? Is it cold enough out-- for the coolant to freeze inside the radiator? If you have too much water in the mix it doesn't have to get very cold out.

(Happened to me, after a shop didn't mix coolant strong enough for -45* weather.) I would start the truck and let it warm up in the morning-- and as soon as the coolant in the block melted, and the thermostat would open-- and try to let the hot coolant out, to bring new stuff in-- it couldn't. The rad was full of ice. The coolant inside the block would come to instant boil, and my engine would misfire, and detonate because it was way too hot. I was baffled.. because everytime I went to check it-- it was all liquid again.

I highly doubt this is the case though-- just couldn't resist a little story time.

It could be a number of things-- but the fact that your heatercore isn't getting any heat.. and you're over heating leads me to believe you either have a kinked hose, clogged radiator or a bum waterpump.

As for the coolant in your engine bay-- If you're over heating, its going to pressure the cooling system up and spill out through the radiator cap-- they are designed to give out before the radiator cracks. Either that or it will just expand and boil our through the resevoir when you turn it off.

I have so many problems with the heating/cooling systems in my Jeep. It hurts.

But if you're the kind of guy who has a couple wrenches and a socket set in the garage, and isn't afraid to make a couple run for some tools and parts-- a water pump, or a thermostat is cake to change. A very useful site is -- www.alldatadiy.com -- It cost like.. 15$ but it will tell you everthing you need to know about fixing you Jeep.
 
well i get a little heat here and there but even after 20 minutes it isn't consistent, there is a hose off the top of my radiator that isn't connected to anything but thats the overflow hose right? It was cold it the morning a bunch of times but about a day ago i could hear a metalic noice once in a while from the engine bay, now theres no metalic noice just no heat, my gauges really diddnt heat up to much in the jeep just a little after about 20 or so min, but i need to drive it today to work then back, i really have no choice, i have tomarrow off and i can get it to a mechanic then, i pretty sure its the water pump, i hope it is just that. It takes me 25 min to get to work then it can sit for 9 hours then i come home, a mechanic is only about 15min away, If i had a heated garage or something i'd be able to do it my self, but its cold and a little snow is on the ground less than ideal for working conditions.
 
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i looked at my coolant resovoir and its still on full so i must have lost less coolant than i thought, you can smell it and the leak when on your back looking at the engine is coming from the left front(Driver side) somewhere as i can see little drops of coolant hanging from my bumper bracets.(custom bumper so bracket go back further) the radiators a little low but you can see the coolant .
 
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As the engine heats up the coolant expands and is supposed to lift the pressure cap and flow over to the overflow bottle, then when it cools down it's supposed to pull it back in to the radiator as the coolant contracts. Driving it is your choice, are you a gambler ? weigh the price of maybe a new engine if it overheats bad enough. You need to find out where the leak is coming from first.
 
If the coolant bottle was too full, it dumps in the engine bay and the fan blows it everywhere.

If it is the pump, start it, let it get warm and pressurized, stop it, and see if the weep hole is dripping/streaming/gushing all over the crank pulley. Some just drip - so you could loosen the cap relieving the pressure and drive it as long as you don't lose much more coolant. Mine blew dramatically dumping 1 1/2 gallons in a parking lot, and required a 60 mile trailer ride home because it wouldn't hold anything for more than three miles.

Pin down your leak and you get an answer - and maybe even no bill. Don't choose to drive it unless you are really sure it won't overheat from coolant loss. And adding just water in freezing temps can be worse, be cautious there, too.
 
Well i guess my problem is fixed, that little hose that i was talking about, it was undone so i reconnected it to the top of the coolant bottle, and dumped some distilled water in the radiator and set on my way to work, I diddnt bother checking my heat till i was half way to work, when i did, it worked like it always does, able to melt plastic. Temps remained in the norm, no steaming when i parked it, no coolant smell, nothing. I checked at 3 oclock lunch and there was no puddle or smell of coolant. I bought more distilled water just in case and set off to go home, heat worked after 4 or so minutes, acutally got to hot and shut it off, again no overheating or steaming. I puzzled how something so little can screw everything up like that. It must need that hose on the bottle to retain preassure in the system, what must have happened is it diddnt have the preasse and just went into the fan spraying it all over making it look like there was a leak.

I'll look again tomarrow but it seems fine. Go figure :)
 
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Thanks for all your help, i'll just be on my merry way to get some prestone tomarrow and fill the damn thing up. Sorry if i'm inexperienced, gotta start learning somewhere, where better than here.
 
We've all started there, too. Glad it wasn't a pump.

Don't worry about the straight talk here, we're mostly guys and we just want the answer to some aggravating problem. You can tell who likes to chew a problem over and discuss, they have 4 digit post counts. :laugh3:
 
Yeh, well i took it to get inspected today and have them check the water pump to be on the safe side, geeze good thing i did the water pump was fried, but live and learn huh, also they said my reverse lights did not work and it wasnt the bulbs, it needs a new switch? So thats gonna cost me a little too, i get my jeep back in about 3 hours, other than that she passed inspection with flying colors, not bad for an almost 13 year old new england car really.

Now i just gotta work on the two rust spots and take care of them, probally next spring, one bubble above the windsheild and the rockers are starting to rust a tad, not gone yet just a hole in one of them. Next year i'm thinking of having someone fabricate me some box steel rockers and just replace them. The rust above the windsheild is just surface rust but its gonna look like shit if i touch it, another area i'm gonna have to read up on. I still love my jeep, and coolant or rust is not gonna get between us.:)
 
Well i have her back, they diddnt fix the reverse lights saying the part they had was wrong and that the dealer would chage $400 for it, but its now inspected. On my way home the heat diddnt work and it started to get a little hot, so i pulled over and put antifreze in the radiator. Apparently they neglected to mention or put any in the radiator, just the overflow tank had a little extra in it. Well after i got that in there it was fine and heat worked no leaks temp went down to half. Owell thank god that ordeal is over with. my stress level is through the roof and now i can just chill, geeze hectic two days.
 
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