Coolant leak need help

[ErikL]

The woman living with me is having a weird serious coolant leak.... it started overheating and leaking real bad the other night pretty late, so i climb out of bed and under her car and it looked like the lower radiator hose.... so i replace that last night for her, and as i get to the second gallon of coolant it all starts pouring out, so i get back under its coming from above the radiator hose housing(water pump?) and its also running of the back of the motor..... im thinking possibly water pump seals? bad head or block?


any help would really be appreciated.... its a 94 4.0 zj

 

[gptrilik]

I have a 2000 XJ that was leaking coolant all of the sudden and I couldn't really tell where it was coming from.. The only thing I saw was coolant puddling underneath. I eventually sourced the stream of coolant running down my block at the passenger side rear. It appeared to be coming from the rear of the engine.

The group thought it was a freeze plug that was leaking and wouldn't you know it.. Bamn.. leaking freeze plug. I had to pull the head of course to see it. Even then that freeze plug looked ok from the outside. When my friend was tapping it out, a hole was easily knocked though it. The backside of that freeze plug was pitted and corroded beyond belief....

So.. What I can recommend is get a pressure test on the cooling system. Very cheap and easy. THat should show you whether the cooling system has been opened up somewhere, which it sounds like it is...

Next step is the end all be all to source where the leak is coming from.. Leakdown test. You will be able to tell whether the head and the gasket is ok with this one and be able to tell where the source of the leak is by listening\feeling for the escaping air..

If you don't know what a leakdown test is, don't be discouraged as up until 2 months ago I didn't either. Run a quick search on the forum as Cooling issues have been discussed very very thoroughly and 10-20 min of searching through the forums will get you the information you need quicker than waiting for folks to respond.

Good Luck!

George Trilikis

 

[firehazzard]

you would be able to see if its your thermostat just by looking "so you could rule that out". make sure that new rad hose you put in is tight the upper is clearly visable so you could rule tha out. take your fan shrou out and shove your hand under the water pump " with the engine off of course" and see if your fingers are still there.... I mean wet, if they are its your water pump.

 

[Kejtar]

The woman living with me is having a weird serious coolant leak.... it started overheating and leaking real bad the other night pretty late, so i climb out of bed and under her car and it looked like the lower radiator hose.... so i replace that last night for her, and as i get to the second gallon of coolant it all starts pouring out, so i get back under its coming from above the radiator hose housing(water pump?) and its also running of the back of the motor..... im thinking possibly water pump seals? bad head or block?


any help would really be appreciated.... its a 94 4.0 zj

CLean it off, start it up and look. If it's leaking as bad as you're describing you should be able to see whether it's leaking above the water pump or if it's just being slung there. Anyways, my bet's on a water pump in dire need of replacement

 

[otto]

The woman living with me is having a weird serious coolant leak....

That got my attention. I was scared for a minute there...:wierd: