SurplusFan98
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- LA
Recently rescued a 98 2wd 4.0 5speed XJ. After working through issues getting it started and running, I'm trying to flush out the cooling system.
Its hard to know how long this car sat up, and when I received it, the cooling system wasn't completely full. I could see that the coolant that was in it was brown (though not the worst I've seen) and there was some visible sediment under the rad cap. I went about flushing the system with as water hose, and I got all the old brown coolant out. I then reconnected everything and dumped in some rad cleaner and started filling with distilled water. Got it filled to the top and burped via the upper hose, and then started the engine. With the heater running full blast, I kept topping with water and burping until the radiator would not accept any more water, and then waited for the thermostat to open.
When the engine eventually gets warm, and right about the time I would expect the thermostat to open, the water starts essentially boiling back out of the radiator rather than sucking up any more water. The volume of stuff coming back out the way it went in eventually gets to be so much that I have to shut the engine off. The water coming back out is pretty brown and gross. I checked all the hoses, and they're all hot except for the upper rad hose by the battery. That seems to indicate that the thermostat doesn't open, but I'm not sure if that means its bad or if I'm just not patient enough.
So, my questions:
Its hard to know how long this car sat up, and when I received it, the cooling system wasn't completely full. I could see that the coolant that was in it was brown (though not the worst I've seen) and there was some visible sediment under the rad cap. I went about flushing the system with as water hose, and I got all the old brown coolant out. I then reconnected everything and dumped in some rad cleaner and started filling with distilled water. Got it filled to the top and burped via the upper hose, and then started the engine. With the heater running full blast, I kept topping with water and burping until the radiator would not accept any more water, and then waited for the thermostat to open.
When the engine eventually gets warm, and right about the time I would expect the thermostat to open, the water starts essentially boiling back out of the radiator rather than sucking up any more water. The volume of stuff coming back out the way it went in eventually gets to be so much that I have to shut the engine off. The water coming back out is pretty brown and gross. I checked all the hoses, and they're all hot except for the upper rad hose by the battery. That seems to indicate that the thermostat doesn't open, but I'm not sure if that means its bad or if I'm just not patient enough.
So, my questions:
- Am I doing this right?
- Do I have a stuck closed thermostat, or am I just not waiting long enough for it to open (should I have put the rad cap back on and let the resevoir fill until it opened)?
- Is it possible that I just have a clogged radiator or hose?