Disappearing Coolant?

King Kong, I went with Clearwater Cylinder heads. It was $455 shipped to my door. Valves and springs were already in place. Only thing I had an issue with was the dowels for the intake were not present in the new cast replacement, I am guessing that they were supposed to get pulled and put in the new, but no biggie. Everything else is buttoned up on mine and I have about 300 miles on it since the replacement. I am about ready to change oil again, along with the filter this time, so that most of the rest of the crap in the system has or is flushed out and its ready for some trippin....well ok maybe anyways. Visit my thread: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1097730 and see what I found so far....hope you can get yours back together.

Jeff
 
Do not apply anything to the head gasket. You don't want to screw with something as critical as a head gasket. Most of the head gaskets available are of the MLS variety and very high quality.

A think coat or orange high temp RTV is fine for the intake/exhaust gasket as I haven't seen any gasket for that I really like except for the 00+ gasket, which won't work on yours.
 
Talyn said:
Do not apply anything to the head gasket. You don't want to screw with something as critical as a head gasket. Most of the head gaskets available are of the MLS variety and very high quality.

A think coat or orange high temp RTV is fine for the intake/exhaust gasket as I haven't seen any gasket for that I really like except for the 00+ gasket, which won't work on yours.
Click to expand...


I bought the Felpro Head Gasket (http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/we...asket-felpro_15780247-p?searchTerm=headgasket).

You're saying just drop it on dry and do not apply any shellack to it?
 
Sounds like a tea kettle whistling. Bearing whine of some kind, E-Fan or idler pulley bearing running dry, or a vacuum leak.
 
Ecomike said:
Sounds like a tea kettle whistling. Bearing whine of some kind, E-Fan or idler pulley bearing running dry, or a vacuum leak.
Click to expand...

Kind of a relief actually.

So you don't think it's inside the engine? If not, that's comforting. It sounds like it goes away or settles down a lot after like 5 minutes.

I'll go look at those tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
The old e-Fan in my 87 makes a similar noise on cold start ups sometimes. Dry bearing about to go bad I think. A real squealer!!!:laugh3:

If it is something on the serp belt (Idle pulley bearing), you can pull the belt, start the engine and see if the noise is gone. Also disconnect the e-fan if it is on all the time? See if that kills the noise. Check the spark plugs, make sure none are loose, check ALL the vacuum lines for leaks.


For starters.

Have you driven it? If not, I would worry that maybe the torque converter is not installed in the transmission right?

Squirt water along any vacuum area connections, intake manifold, vacuum line connections. If the engine RPM changes you found a vacuum leak.
 
Sounds like bearing noise to me. I replaced my tension pulley under the PS pump when I was doing the head on mine. I was getting a real annoying high pitch squeal that when you let off the gas, would go away till you throttle back up and then it was there again. It had been there since I had bought mine, and after I replaced the pulley it hasn't shown its ugly head since. Has your water pump been replaced?? Since you are doing the head, you have about 90% of the area already exposed to where you can get at all the bolts pretty easily. A mechanics stethescope can be used to find some bearings going bad. Its almost easy to tell. If you are in doubt, change it out. Mine had such crappy maintenance on the cooling system, that I have been replacing things to make sure I don't have any future issues. Also make sure you don't tension the belt too much. I will say this though, I am going to likely change all my rocker arms and the bearing units that go on their center. My engine at times the clickity clack of the rocker arms, makes it sound like a diesel. Cool, but weird. The lifter tick/rocker arm noise is pretty common on these guys anyways.

Jeff
 
Didn't even think to start the engine without the belt on to see if it's a pulley.

Dumb question; Do you need to remove the fan clutch to get the belt off? It made installing the belt way easier.

Yes, drove it about 120 miles so far, and it's perfect. No bogging, no weird noises, etc etc. Except the exhaust. I'm pretty sure my 3/8" threaded rod bolts that i used to hold the header onto the rest of the pipe has fallen off. Once the jeep cools off some i'm going to go look at that.

Yes, i actually replaced all the cooling components about a month or so ago as i thought the coolant i was losing was a cracked radiator (and while i had that out i figured i might as well do the thermostat, thermostat housing, water pump, hoses, etc etc. Then i realized it was a cracked head. Haha.

I don't have a belt tensioner. I tightened my belt up until i could twist it like a 1/4" turn or slightly less if that makes sense.
 
Kingkong0192 said:
Dumb question; Do you need to remove the fan clutch to get the belt off? It made installing the belt way easier.
Click to expand...
Nope. Leave the fan on.
I don't have a belt tensioner. I tightened my belt up until i could twist it like a 1/4" turn or slightly less if that makes sense.
Click to expand...
How did you tighten he belt then?
 
Maybe that's not the correct word. I have the tensioner on the PS pulley to adjust the belt.

I meant I don't have the tool/instrument to figure out if my belt is too tight, too loose, etc etc. I just eyeball it sort of.
 
I'm kind of shocked at just how much tension it takes on the serp belt to get it to not squeal... but hey, whatever works.

I have to wonder if this shortens the life of the water pump, idler pulley bearings, etc. though...
 
It does shorten life if they use cheap China bearings!
 
One trick I learned on this forum was to use a Gates or Goodyear belt only. We have four XJs, and all have squealed at one time or another. But with the Gates belts, sourced from NAPA, all is quiet!

The tensioner gauge you're thinking of is a Kricut II, also from NAPA. Yes, the belt wants to be what feels like too tight. I wiped out a not-too-old water pump trying to get rid of a chirping squeal, but the Gates belt, properly tensioned with a Kricut II, and it's good.
 
yep, tension was set "by the book" per the Krikit and no more squeal. Don't know what the belt was but it was a good quality belt installed by a mechanic I trust... but he must have trusted his thumb to set the tension, I was cussing him (but not really 'cause he's a good guy, and honestly, had I not checked it with the Krikit I would have said it was quite tight enough.) I'm assuming it was Gates or Goodyear or maybe Conti as he tends not to use cheap crap and knows that I'm kinda particular about my vehicles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Overheating final boss
Replies
19
Views
667
StimitheJoop
S
T
Another Cooling Issue Thread - 99 Cherokee 4.0
Replies
18
Views
534
Black1990jeep
B
J
Head Gasket, copper coat or install dry
Replies
4
Views
686
75SV1
7
I
Stiff shifting plus coolant leak?
Replies
8
Views
473
illidurit
I
DonQuiXJote
Post-Coolant-Leak-Repair Concerns
Replies
6
Views
240
DonQuiXJote
DonQuiXJote
Back
Top