Some Radiator Questions

1997, 4.0L, auto, AC, 125,000mi

My Jeep has slowly been leaking coolant from somewhere in front of the engine for a couple of months. two days ago, it went from leaking a few drops a day to leaking a river of bright green down the driveway.

I think I've narrowed it down to the radiator, the pass side seam between the tank and the core. I can see a line of green where it looks like coolant has been slowly leaking for a long time.

my questions are:

1. I must have lost at least a gallon of coolant in the last day, but the overflow bottle is still above the fill line, and the radiator won't take any more coolant through the fill neck, and I still had good heat through the vents the last time it was driven. - what's up with that?

2. I want to get a better view of the problem to make sure it's the radiator leaking and not the water pump or head gasket throwing water into the fan.

How exactly do I unbolt the mechanical fan (can I just remove the plastic shroud?) and the crossmember on top of the radiator. Can you give me a rough idea of which of the numerous torx screws and bolts that feel like they're welded on I need to remove?

3. Does a Haynes/Chiltons manual give decent information I can follow on the subject of replacing the Radiator?
I searched, and found some good write-ups on replacing the thing, but I could use a little more detail.

Thanks

B

Since you show no signs of the overflow bottle emptying, it's a pretty good bet you actually have a leak.

Let's start with that premise. So, do you ever see antifreeze on the ground under the engine area? How about any wet areas under the hood? If your engine is grungy, get some engine cleaner and follow the directions on it to clean the engine up first. Once the engine is clean/dry, run it a while and start looking for wet spots.

If no wet spots are seen, then let's assume the water is being sucked into the engine and burned with the fuel/air mix. That would imply a head gasket problem, and a compression or leakdown test would find this.

One the actual source of the leak is found, we can talk about how to R&R the radiator, **IF** that proves to be the problem.

You're probably aware of this, but water pumps are designed to leak when they're in need of replacement. There's a small hole drilled into the shaft enclosure on the case; when the bushings begin to fail, the shaft develops play and causes coolant to leak through the hole. You may want to check that before you blame the radiator (or, heaven forbid, the head gasket).

If the radiator does prove to be the problem, it's not that hard to replace. The top radiator support should come out with a few bolts (Torx, if I'm not mistaken -- not sure of the size). Don't forget to remove the nuts that hold the radiator to this support (located in the center, near the hood latch). You'll have to remove the plastic fan shroud first; it's held in place by two bolts at the top (7mm, IIRC) and little tabs at the bottom. The electric fan is also attached in the same manner.

The clutch fan can be removed by loosening the four 1/2" nuts on the pulley itself. It's easiest to leave the belt on when you do this; if not, you'll have a hard time holding the pulley tight enough to undo the nuts. Once they're loose, take off the belt and remove the fan nuts. Depending on how corroded it is, the flange on the fan might take some effort to pull off.

Hayne's/Chilton's manuals are probably descriptive enough to get the job done. It's really not that difficult -- upper hose, lower hose, tranny lines, and that's about it. The heater hoses run directly into water pump and thermostat housing on the block, so no worries about that.

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoRadiatorFitting.htm
with pictures.