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Seepage from where ?

J

jeepsrock

NAXJA Forum User
Location
LA California
After struggling with my cooling issues this last weekend i replaced my radiator and so far so good.

Yesterday I opening my hood to check that everything is ok i noticed a few drops on top of my airbox on the left side ( toward engine). I cant really tell what kind of fluid it is. I wiped it and thought that it could be from the the radiator install. Today i checked again and the drops where there again. I checked for possible leaks on the PS lines and they where all good. Can the PS cap squirt ?

I also saw some liquid under the tranny hook up line on the rad (top one). I think both problems are unrelated and that the tranny line one is just a matter of it being taken out and teflon applied and re-tightened.

Any ideas ?

Pete
 
The top fitting on the radiator is a flared fitting. They should be metal to metal contact. You should never put anything on those surfaces. If they don't seal correctly when tightened securely, then you need to either change the fitting and/or hose.

Now if your talking about the thread seal between the male flare fitting and the cooler in the radiator, then you could use teflon there.

K
 
Today i noticed an additional leak. After driving on the highway and parked i noticed a small bit of coolant on the floor. I could also smell a bit of coolant when i shut it off. After lookin at the bottom of the jeep i found a small bit of coolant in the area where the harmonic balancer is near the oil pan rubber gasket. I have looked for a while and cant find any signs of liquid leakage from anywhere but am guessing its from the thermostat area or its hoses.

I also the think the liquid on the airbox is from the PS pump as it may be overfilled..can that cause it to spit out some from the cap ?

The tranny connector (top one) is diffenately sweating a small bit, i think i will have to remove it and re do it. How many rounds of teflon should i use on the rad to fitting ?

hasta

Pete
 
jeepsrock said:
Today i noticed an additional leak. After driving on the highway and parked i noticed a small bit of coolant on the floor. I could also smell a bit of coolant when i shut it off. After lookin at the bottom of the jeep i found a small bit of coolant in the area where the harmonic balancer is near the oil pan rubber gasket. I have looked for a while and cant find any signs of liquid leakage from anywhere but am guessing its from the thermostat area or its hoses.

I also the think the liquid on the airbox is from the PS pump as it may be overfilled..can that cause it to spit out some from the cap ?

The tranny connector (top one) is diffenately sweating a small bit, i think i will have to remove it and re do it. How many rounds of teflon should i use on the rad to fitting ?

hasta

Pete
Click to expand...
Check to make sure you're not leaking from the waterpump weep hole.
Four or five turns of teflon should do it.

K
 
jeepsrock said:
After lookin at the bottom of the jeep i found a small bit of coolant in the area where the harmonic balancer is near the oil pan rubber gasket. I have looked for a while and cant find any signs of liquid leakage from anywhere but am guessing its from the thermostat area or its hoses.
Click to expand...
Look very closely at the underside of the water pump neck. There's a small weep hole there that will begin to leak when the water pump is failing. If you have trouble envisioing it, hit a parts store and ask for a water pump for the XJ or even a YJ 4.2L pump if it's for reference only. You'll be able to see the hole that way, and if you confirm the leak you need a new pump.
 
You should check all the clamps if they are the screw kind on all the hoses. Whenever you replace the hoses you can bet that after they warm up you need to tighten them a bit to eliminate any leaks.

MAP
 
I will check the water pump and clamps tom.

What about the PS pump cap can it squirt fluid ? Does it have some small holes on it or something for venting ?

pete
 
Here are a few a pics i found on the web and i added the arrows to better describe where the fluid is ending up at bothe leaks/seepages .. Note: I am pretty sure these are two distinct issue and probably unrelated.

This is where the coolant is
leakcool.jpg



This is where the oil splatters are
airoil.jpg


pete
 
Last edited:
Are the oil splatters coming off the belt, or have you wiped down the area and can verify that it's from the PS pump?

It's hard to tell from there about the coolant - have you been able to trace it up any higher on the block?
 
The belt itself has no obvious signs of oil at all. I drained some oil from the power steering canister today, we will see if that the prob.

Today i took the jeep for a drive and with the engine running i was able to trace the coolant to between the thermostat and top of the water pump. I dont think its from the pump as i havnt touched that so i tightened the thermostat housing bolts a tad and also tightened the hoses on it.

Pete
 
jeepsrock said:
The belt itself has no obvious signs of oil at all. I drained some oil from the power steering canister today, we will see if that the prob.

Today i took the jeep for a drive and with the engine running i was able to trace the coolant to between the thermostat and top of the water pump. I dont think its from the pump as i havnt touched that so i tightened the thermostat housing bolts a tad and also tightened the hoses on it.

Pete
Click to expand...
Good for you. At least you narrowed it down. I had that same leak twice. I guess the t stat housing/gasket/rtv wasn't sealing properly. So I redid it all over again making sure to clean the mating surfaces of all old rtv/gasket material and wiping off with brake cleaner. The next day I found that it still leaked but very, very slowly. I just lived with it until I got my hi flow t stat housing. It was machined from a new factory housing so the mating surface was in perfect condition. No more leaks. And yes I used a torque wrench to tighten the bolts every time.
Or maybe, in your case, it's just your heater hose connection, and tightening it does the trick.

K
 
It looks like the Power steering was the cause for the droplets on the airbox and the teflon took care of the upper tranny line...I hope.

The coolant on the otherhand is still showing its signs.

I guess i need to gat another gasket and add a little RTV to it.

pete
 
I had a long drive yesterday and arrived back home here later last night. Today morning i popped the hood a noticed that there was some coolant on the thermostat and on the belt itself under the thermostat. There was also a bit under the main rad hose. I am guessing maybe i should just ditch the kragen hose and get one from the dealer and replace the thermo gasket and add RTV to it ?


coolleak2.jpg


any ideas ?

PEte
 
If its coming from the thermostat arer thats the logical place to check. A year ago though, I got the flush chemical and flushed the cooling system and gave her fresh antifreeze and hoses like you did. A week later green drops were coming out from the same spot as your pic. I think flushing the system loosened the gunk holding the pump together.
 
re-do the thermostat gasket; while you're in there it would be prudent to throw a new 195* thermostat in there if you're unsure of the age or condition. Don't go ape cranking down on the thermostat housing bolts though - you can crack it by goig overboard.
 
Well Yucca-man the thermostat is brand new when i put in the new rad last week. I guess i need a new gasket- Does the dealer seel them alone ? Or should i just pick up one at a auto place and use RTV with it ?

Plus their is a big possibility its the hose, i purchased this hose from kragen last week when i re-did the rad install and it looked a bit different. The stock hose went over the AC compressor and the replacements kinda just dangles behind it.

pete
 
Did you replace the gasket when you did the thermostat? You can get them from most auto parts stores but I'd RTV the gasket when installing.

That sounds wrong about the upper hose - it's trying to snow outside right now or I'd look for it but that doesn't seem like the right routing. What part number did they sell you? Possibly the wrong one/wrong diameter?
 
I could be wrong but it looks like the earlier model (Renix?) one that goes behind the compressor on a later HO motor where it goes over the pump. Just by looking at the thermostat housing in the pic its hard to tell. Also the temp sensor looks new, is it missing teflon tape? Its probably just the gasket not sealing right, as far as I know NAPA, autozone, pep all sell them alone.
 
Ii called the dealer today and ordered a thermostat gasket and upper hose. I am sick of having non dealer parts not work or fail. I guess we will see..

pete
 
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