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Coolant Question

mcnamaag

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Red Lion, PA
I have been thinking about flushing the coolant system on my new project jeep but I am a little nervous. I have been told that that could cause more problems than it is worth. It is a 89 with a 4.0 and about 200,000 miles on it now. The coolant looks ok (not like new) but winter is coming and I do drive it on occasion. i am just afraid of leaks springing up. Also what do you folks think about engine flush ( the stuff you can put in the oil and clean out that system also )? Thanks!!
 
I just did my '89 a few weeks ago and I doubt it had ever been done before. You should have seen the crap that came out. At one point it broke loose enough gunk to start my engine overheating quickly, but then the flush must have broke it down because it stopped overheating after a few days. I used the Prestone 7 hour stuff. I was told not to use the 15 minute product that a few companies make due to the fact that it is so concentrated it can cause damamge. So after about 7 hours of driving with the flush in, I rinsed it out, put new coolant in and was good. No leaks even on a stock radiator with 160,000 miles on it. I am however going to be changing out the radiator soon, but for now I can spend my money on other stuff cause it runs great.
 
I've never heard of problems flushing the coolant; just flushing the tranny causing problems. If you've got old cooant it probably needs flushed, any resulting leaks would have popped up soon anyways, better to fix them when you are prepared for them then out on the road somewhere...

I've run some seafoam stuff through my fuel system & oil regularly, not sure if it really helped, but it hasn't hurt anything.
 
Just to let you know to, if you do spring a leak or have serious problems, new stock radiators go for 100 bucks with free shipping from a few places that I have found. I'm going to go ahead and pay the extra few bucks though and do a 2 row when I do decide to replace mine.
 
Thanks All !!! I am just afraid of headgasket issues.
 
In the over 2 dozen cars and trucks I've owned and worked on, I've never flushed my coolant and had a head gasket go. This is my first XJ so maybe you've heard something that I haven't but that would of been a first for me.
 
Well the problem with flushing you coolant is that where there could be a whole or leak in your colant system, the gunk thats there could be clogging it up leting you think you have no leaks, last time i did the flush found out i had a leak in the up hose, and the jeep started over heating cause the colant was blowing out of there, but its just a good way to test your system for leaks so that you can find them before your out on the trail.
-Allen
 
That was my concern but I do agree that its better to find it now then later.
 
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