• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

New Renix Coolant Bottle and Cap problems

scottmcneal said:
I just did this, the hose clamp worked great.. Got me home.. Now i need to buy new again, thinking of going with open rad
Click to expand...
See! Dr. Mike does know what he is talking about sometimes, even if I am a dem!:wave1:
 
Saudade said:
I'm still on the replacement bottle I got from Quadratech almost 2 years ago. The caps suck. I got a OEM cap from the dealer and it's fine with no clamp now.
Click to expand...

Agreed!

I think the overwhelming conclusion so far is there is still a problem with aftermarket caps. That a worm gear clamp on the aftermarket cap fixes the problem.

Xxjtrailrider,
Nice picks, nice fix.
 
I didn't think you wanted the threads to seal. The cap is a pressure cap just like a regular radiator cap and needs to bleed off excess pressure and suck air in as it cools. I seem to recall there is a groove in the threads to act as the vent. Calling it a "closed" system really is a misnomer. It's still vented and the difference is that the surge tank is under pressure.

I thought the problem being discussed was the cap coming loose and not holding pressure at all? The crappy, self-loosening cap and a plugged radiator were the reasons I swapped to the open style radiator and ditched the plastic timebomb.
 
I agree that the plastic bottle's and aftermarket caps are crap period. I however feel that the closed system is superior to the open and prefer the closed. That is of course my opinion.
The original problem was either the cap or bottle that wouldn't hold up. I think the consensus so far is that the caps are the culprit. Here are the solutions listen in my preference order:

1.) Buy a hose clamp and use it around the cap to help it keep from expanding when it heats up causing it to come loose from the bottle. (I wouldn't recommend using Teflon, paste, silicone or anything of that nature just a hose clamp).

2.) Buy a cap and or preferably cap / bottle from the dealer.

3.) Get a aluminum replacement from mac's radiator. (Downside is cost, and no way to check coolant level in it without removing the cap).
 
I respect your opinion (which 5-90 shares) as the "closed" setup does have some advantages.

I went through three bottles in 2 years. The first (and I think original) had a crack and weeped. The second from the dealer split wide open on the first really cold winter morning going down the highway less than 3 months after buying it. I guess it didn't like the -20*F temp. Made one hell of a cloud of steam though. The third from Quadratech kept coming loose and letting the engine boil over. At that point, plus the marginal stock radiator were the decision point for going open style.
 
xjtrailrider!

Just for the record, that hood and engine bay are way to clean and shinny to be a real jeep picture!;)

BTW, I agree with the last several posts especially the issue lawsoncl brought up about the teflon tape or paste etc. The way the caps I have are made teflon would not be able to seal the threads anyway as they are not continuous, they have quartered vertical slots for breathing as deep and wide as the threads are. I see no need or use for the teflon tape. All it needs is a good worm gear clamp.

Lowering the shelf is also a very good idea. I have also found that using a 180 F thermostat, and a good radiator to keep peak temperatures at or below 200 F adds to the bottle life.
 
Ecomike said:
xjtrailrider!

Just for the record, that hood and engine bay are way to clean and shinny to be a real jeep picture!;)

Lowering the shelf is also a very good idea. I have also found that using a 180 F thermostat, and a good radiator to keep peak temperatures at or below 200 F adds to the bottle life.
Click to expand...
Thanks! This XJ is not or never has been wheeled, its my baby! I have 2 XJ trail rigs I beat on and 2 other XJ's that are my snow jeeps.

Here are some pics of the bottle relocation;

My bottle was hitting the hood enough where it had dented the hood with the cap!
bottlerelocate9.jpg


I removed the shelf and reworked it by bending the fender side so it would mount against the inside of the inner fender. I also welded on a peice of flat stock so that it would rest and mount to the flange on the bulkhead.
bottlerelocate5.jpg

bottlerelocate4.jpg

bottlerelocate3.jpg

bottlerelocate2.jpg


I gave it a good coat of some RustOleum Hammered and mounted it in with some self tapping sheet metal screws.
bottlerelocate6.jpg

bottlerelocate8.jpg


The finished product; the bottle sits about 2" lower. I also added a sheet of rubber under the bottle and on top of the shelf to prevent the shelf from rubbing the bottom of the bottle.
bottlerelocate11.jpg

bottlerelocate10.jpg
 
Thats not fair, you have one more jeep than I do! :cool:
 
Guys, just want to share this with you. No more Jeep Caps, don't buy em they are junk!! Here is what you do, go to the Junk Yard or to Pick and Pull and locate a Volvo 740 or 940 turbo, there are plenty of em at the JY. Like XJs, 740 and 940 turbos were produced forever. You should be able to recognize the turbo from the non turbo by the additional plumbing. Locate the coolant bottle and make sure it has the green coolant cap. Pull it off and install it on your XJ. I have had the same cap on my XJ for over three years and never had one leak with it.

Here is another trick that you can do, locate a Volvo 240 non turbo and grab the coolant bottle off that, you can grab the cap with it but 240 non turbos had a blackcoolant cap and don't have the higher pressure rating that the green cap, mentioned earlier, has.

The Jeep bottle and the Volvo bottle are pretty close in dimension, also the Volvo bottle seems to be made of a thicker material than the Jeep bottle. The only difference being is that the small inlet hose located on the top of the tank is slightly smaller in diameter than the Jeep tank. I purchased a reduced diameter fuel barb and simply installed it onto the Jeep inlet hose with the reduction end going to the bottle. Install the proper diameter of hose there and you are good to go.

To make the Volvo bottle work on the Jeep bracket you only need to push the bottle inboard (towards the engine) and it will work fine. The rubber hold down strap will now pass over the cap rather than the bottle. I will see if I can post some pics later on

Any questions?? ask away
 
I am using tape on the threads to help hold more securely than the clamp can offer. It does seem to help with the seepage from the threads though.....

And, yes it still vents just fine with the tape on the threads.....
 
aarong said:
Guys, just want to share this with you. No more Jeep Caps, don't buy em they are junk!! Here is what you do, go to the Junk Yard or to Pick and Pull and locate a Volvo 740 or 940 turbo, there are plenty of em at the JY. Like XJs, 740 and 940 turbos were produced forever. You should be able to recognize the turbo from the non turbo by the additional plumbing. Locate the coolant bottle and make sure it has the green coolant cap. Pull it off and install it on your XJ. I have had the same cap on my XJ for over three years and never had one leak with it.

Here is another trick that you can do, locate a Volvo 240 non turbo and grab the coolant bottle off that, you can grab the cap with it but 240 non turbos had a blackcoolant cap and don't have the higher pressure rating that the green cap, mentioned earlier, has.

The Jeep bottle and the Volvo bottle are pretty close in dimension, also the Volvo bottle seems to be made of a thicker material than the Jeep bottle. The only difference being is that the small inlet hose located on the top of the tank is slightly smaller in diameter than the Jeep tank. I purchased a reduced diameter fuel barb and simply installed it onto the Jeep inlet hose with the reduction end going to the bottle. Install the proper diameter of hose there and you are good to go.

To make the Volvo bottle work on the Jeep bracket you only need to push the bottle inboard (towards the engine) and it will work fine. The rubber hold down strap will now pass over the cap rather than the bottle. I will see if I can post some pics later on

Any questions?? ask away
Click to expand...


First I've heard of this mod. Post pics and more pls.
 
bump

I have had this problem on my 90xj as well. Early this year, when i couldnt pass emmisions I replaced the leaky cap/bottle. I believe i got them both online. again the bottle was a much weaker plastic than oem and the cap overtightened.
I used the combination for the last several months just using the cap @ its sweet spot...

Today, my wife pulls up in the jeep to drop off my daughter so she can go to work. she left the engine running and in front of the house i'd say 5 minutes max. when she went back outside there was smoke and coolant running down the side of the street.
The engine didnt overheat as per the gauge, I grabbed some pliers, popped the hood(i bet HALF of you know why i needed the pliers;))and looked around for a blown hose.

traced the leak to the cap, it was spewing out coolant, and i could tighten it a 1/4 turn.
again the kicker, i have never removed the cap since the combination were installed beginning of this year, just always made sure was tight and in the sweet spot.

a few weeks ago I got lazy and didnt shine a flashlight to the bottle to see where the level was and simply opened the bottle, topped off the coolant and put the cap back on, yes i could tell there was a difference and the sweet spot was how should i say smaller than before.

Removing the cap was and is the problem with these bottles/caps now. tomorrow im going to use t.tape, another rubber washer from the oem cap, and a hose clamp.
I'm going to mark the max and min line with a sharpie so there will never be a reason to remove the cap again unless i need to top off.
 
aarong said:
Guys, just want to share this with you. No more Jeep Caps, don't buy em they are junk!! Here is what you do, go to the Junk Yard or to Pick and Pull and locate a Volvo 740 or 940 turbo, there are plenty of em at the JY. Like XJs, 740 and 940 turbos were produced forever. You should be able to recognize the turbo from the non turbo by the additional plumbing. Locate the coolant bottle and make sure it has the green coolant cap. Pull it off and install it on your XJ. I have had the same cap on my XJ for over three years and never had one leak with it.

Here is another trick that you can do, locate a Volvo 240 non turbo and grab the coolant bottle off that, you can grab the cap with it but 240 non turbos had a blackcoolant cap and don't have the higher pressure rating that the green cap, mentioned earlier, has.

The Jeep bottle and the Volvo bottle are pretty close in dimension, also the Volvo bottle seems to be made of a thicker material than the Jeep bottle. The only difference being is that the small inlet hose located on the top of the tank is slightly smaller in diameter than the Jeep tank. I purchased a reduced diameter fuel barb and simply installed it onto the Jeep inlet hose with the reduction end going to the bottle. Install the proper diameter of hose there and you are good to go.

To make the Volvo bottle work on the Jeep bracket you only need to push the bottle inboard (towards the engine) and it will work fine. The rubber hold down strap will now pass over the cap rather than the bottle. I will see if I can post some pics later on

Any questions?? ask away
Click to expand...

You dont need the bottle and the cap unless your current bottle is crap. If your current bottle is good, and/or you have been replacing cap after cap because they keep failing... go to your local Volvo dealer, and get a coolant bottle cap from a 940 Turbo. It fits on the XJ tank, and works fine. It IS fairly expensive however, about 50 bucks. Another benefit is that its rated to a slightly higher pressure. IIRC, its 20psi. This will decrease your boiling point.
 
Last edited:
Update!

Well my jeep overheated big time yesterday. Still don't know exactly what happened, but it was reading 240 F when I noticed the problem. Had been driving for about 10-15 minutes, A/C on, ambient about 85 F, was on the freeway for 1-2 minutes when I noticed the problem. Got 260 F by the time I got off the freeway and parked at a gas station. Saw just a tiny bit of steam from under the hood, and a leak, small leak under the lower radiator hose at the radiator.

Turned out the lower radiator hose slipped (or blew) off the lower radiator hose nipple. It had been on there for a good 2-3 years since I put all new hoses and new radiator...etc on the rig. Only about 20,000 miles since then too. The engine never missed a lick, gave no signs of overheating, no knocking, etc. No other signs of a coolant leak anywhere! Not even from the bottle or clamped bottle cap. Bottle still looks new, and the clamp trick on the bottle is still working perfectly. I inspected it while refilling the coolant system. In fact the hose came of the radiator nipple before the bottle and cap could fail!

I put the hose back on the radiator, tightened the hose clamp, refiled the system, with a 50/50 mix, and drove it home with AC on and off, cycled the AC/electric fan, the electric fan works, coolant thermostat is working, AC is working, fan clutch seems to be OK. It ran about 5 degrees hotter than normal when I got it off the 30 mile freeway run while headed back home, but it may need one cool down period to complete bleeding the system. Ran about normal on the freeway with AC on or off. Rock solid steady temp at about 190 F.

So far I am not sure what triggered this failure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Root Moose
Cooling System Reset (2000 XJ)
Replies
1
Views
1K
Rob Mayercik
R
G
Coolant System No Pressure
Replies
9
Views
2K
Woodswanderer
W
S
Issues flushing dirty coolant
2
Replies
29
Views
4K
fenns7
F
C
Cranking Time
Replies
6
Views
109
CBJeeper
C
I
2000 Cherokee XJ Misfire Mystery
Replies
12
Views
272
Tim_MN
Tim_MN
Back
Top