New Jeep, Couple of questions...

Hello all...

I bought my 1st jeep earlier this year, and Ive been reading this forum ever since. Ive learned a lot of good stuff, so Thank you.

I have a couple of problems/questions that came up, and hopefully you can help me.

1. I was driving yesterday, going up the mountains, and wasn't on that much of an incline, when I noticed that the "Check Gauges" Light was on, and my oil pressure was low, say 15. I was also Burning oil off, ATM I thought it had been from the exhaust.

I slowed down, went to pull off the highway and the light went off, and the gauge went to "Normal" Since getting the car Ive never seen it go over 45.

I pulled off, took a look under the car and a puddle of oil formed quickly. it looked like it was dripping/leaking out of the drip pan, but Im not sure. I smelled the exhaust, and couldnt smell any burnt oil smell. I checked the oil, added a tiny bit, and have been checking it for about every hour of driving ive been doing, and since that first add, havent added any more..

Any ideas/suggestions?

2. While I was poking around, I noticed that the coolant reservoir was just about empty, so i filled it up.. and have repeatedly filled it up since. Ive almost gone through a whole bottle of coolant. Is that Normal? Ive looked, but havent seen any coolant on the driveway, and I inspected what I could, but Im not seeing any evidence of leaks, should I just keep pouring liquid into the reservoir?



3. At the beginning of the summer, the AC died, ran out of coolant. I purchased a big bottle of arctic freeze, which lasted till beginning of August. then t was empty again. I bought a small refill bottle, and it lasted three- four weeks. Should I bring it in? Try the AC with the gunk in it to clog up leaks? or should I try the one with the dye in it for blacklight? other ideas?

Thank you

Year, engine, transmission, and (if you know) transfer case, please. That would be a big help here, as would the model.

Now I Feel stupid, thought I added that.

its a 98 cherokee Classic. Automatic, 4.0, 160k miles on it.

Don't know about the transfer case? where would I find that?

If it has a 4WD fulltime position on the shifter bezel it is an NP242, else it is an NP231.

Not normal to use coolant that way, you either have a bad engine problem or (hopefully) a small coolant leak somewhere. Oil pressure seems fine except for the leak issue.

I have a fulltime 4wd position on the Shifter...

thanks for the feedback

is the oil leaking around the oil filter area?

I do not know - I need to get underneath and take a look... it was all over the bottom of the drip pan when i looked

For the AC dye and a black light would be best. Stay away from any sort of leak fix in a can. It's always better to find a problem and repair it.

Are you sure that it was oil and not tranny fluid? I have a 98 Sport with 4.0 and AW4 and just after I bought it 3 years ago, I was pulling my pop-up camper and going uphill, I saw a huge plume of smoke go out the back, thought I'd lost her, and I quickly pulled over. Same as you, all over the under carriage was wet and I found no leak. After dipping my finger in it and smelling it I realized it was tranny fluid. Apparently,( at least I was told by a Jeep Dealership) the AW4 trannys have a relief hose on them and if temps inside the tranny reach a high level or in my case someone (previous owner) added too much fluid, it will "vent". I checked tranny fluid level, and oil, all was fine. That was 3 years and 60k miles ago. All is still well with mine. Just a thought. Maybe while driving up the mountain, the tranny overheated, and vented.

Oil leaks (make sure it's oil):
Check the filter area. Could be the filter adapter o-rings; possibly the sender (to gauge)
Check valve cover, especially near the firewall. Both of these can make it look like your RMS or oil pan are leaking.

Coolant:
Have you been running hot (before or since)? A pinhole leak could be spraying vapor onto the block; you may never see drips. It happened on mine. I only found it when I parked (hot) and heard a little hissing sound. Poked around a bit and found that one of the brazed on rad. fittings was starting to separate from the rad. Vapor spray went straight to the hot block and dried. Hole was too small to leak when cold (lower system pressure).

A/C:
DO NOT PUT LEAK FIX IN IT! Go with the dye/blacklight to find and repair the leak. Could be something as simple as an o-ring on a fitting.