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Help...Radiator hose replaced...temp light on


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OK...I have replaced many radiator hoses in my life, but I have never worked on a cooling system like this. It is the 4.0L with the pressurized bottle mounted back by the firewall. I replaced the lower hose because it ruptured last night, filled the bottle with fluid and ran it for a few minutes to make sure everything was OK...BUT, the temp light came on after about 5 minutes of sitting at idle. I was running it with the cap off so I could see if it needed more fluid...is this wrong to do on this type of system??

 

I put the cap on, left it sit for about 10 minutes and started it again, but the temp light is still on :roll: .

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OK...new development. I took it out for a drive and all seemed to be OK now. I stopped at the gas station after driving for about 15 miles and as I get out of the truck, I hear a very high pitched whining noise so I open the hood and the coolant bottle is puffed up like a balloon :eek: . Any suggestions on why this happened?

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you may have a cracked bottle, or it may have gotten the coolant so hot it deformed the plastic. That was the case for my MJ.

It's likely that the temp light is coming on because you have air in the cylinder head. The closed cooling system is a bit of a pain to burp.

Most recommend that you pull the temperature sender in the rear of the cylinder head, and then fill it until coolant comes out there. this is of course with the rear of the motor higher than the front.

 

I bought a brass t fitting with a screw on cap, and spliced this into the upper hose that goes to the coolant tank from the thermostat housing. I pull the cap, park it nose high and fill the bottle until coolant comes out.

You'll likely needa new collant pressure bottle, once they deform they don't hold pressure to well.

Crown makes one that you can get for about $20, it's a good part, that's what I replaced mine with.

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Well...it seems that I did not have enough fluid in it. It finally cooled off enough for me to open the bottle and it was dry as a bone. I filled it again and took it out for another ride and so far it seems to be OK. Iam waiting for it to cool off again so I can look in there and see if there is enough in it yet. I bought some of that new 50/50 pre-mixed coolant/water and that is really nice not to have to try to be sure to balance it yourself ;) ...just pour it in and go.

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Well...it seems that I did not have enough fluid in it. It finally cooled off enough for me to open the bottle and it was dry as a bone. I filled it again and took it out for another ride and so far it seems to be OK. Iam waiting for it to cool off again so I can look in there and see if there is enough in it yet. I bought some of that new 50/50 pre-mixed coolant/water and that is really nice not to have to try to be sure to balance it yourself ;) ...just pour it in and go.

 

... balance? haha. i just pour a little of both and go!

 

I'm suprised your coolant didnt boil all over the place sitting at idle for 5 minutes with the cap off... i know for a FACT that mine will... EVERY time. hahaha, to many times. do the temp sensor suggestion to burp the air...

 

and sometimes it also helps to pull off hoses individually and fill those up, like the upper rad. hose and thermo housing hose. i usually fill those up by themselves.

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Thanks for all the help. It seems to be OK now...BUT, what a pain in the @$$. It took me 20 minutes to change the hose and 3.5 hours to get it driveable again. :mad:

 

After the 4th test drive, it is finally working properly and the bottle is staying full and un-inflated :jump:

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Thanks for all the help. It seems to be OK now...BUT, what a pain in the @$$. It took me 20 minutes to change the hose and 3.5 hours to get it driveable again. :mad:

 

After the 4th test drive, it is finally working properly and the bottle is staying full and un-inflated :jump:

 

make sure that lower hose you got had a spring or some type of device to keep the hose from suctioning closed. the OEM ones had springs inside to keep it open... not sure how much of an issue it is, but people have warned me against them collapsing under pressure, so i figured i'd pass it on

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make sure that lower hose you got had a spring or some type of device to keep the hose from suctioning closed. the OEM ones had springs inside to keep it open... not sure how much of an issue it is, but people have warned me against them collapsing under pressure, so i figured i'd pass it on

I work at a Jeep Dealership in the Parts Dept. so it is a Mopar hose (with spring inside) that I put on ;) :cheers: Thank you for thinking of it and posting though. :D
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i just got done doing that same thing

 

i put a "T" connection on the hose that comes off the water pump and returns to the bottle. i let the screw cap off the "t" connection and just let it run. worked flawlessly

 

i thought that nosie was the water pump running dry? once i got water and some sticky stuff in there is sounded a lot better. if my darn camera would work i would toss i pic up on here to show u what i did with it

 

the thing eats batteries like a pervert does....

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OK...now that everything seems to be OK, the belt is squeeling and won't quit. The hole in the lower radiator hose that started all of this was spraying right on the belt. It was squeeling really bad for a while, and has quieted some, but will not stop completely even after over 30 miles of driving. :nuts: It is perfectly quiet when cold, but starts making noise after just a few miles. :roll:

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sometimes putting on a new water pump or anything that hooks up to the pulley will do that. it will go away once it works itself into the belt

 

mine (again) is doing th e same thing

 

has somethign to do with how the bearing is pressed in or something. straight from a union workers mouth lol

 

make sure ur belt is tightened "properly"

 

i heard a half an inch up or down play is good. there will obviously be some differences depending on who u here it from. no idea what the real value is

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Yea...I knew about the soap thing, but I haven't tried it yet. I was hoping that I could figure out why it was doing it and stop it without using such tricks. I have had one of our techs at the dealership check all the pulleys to be sure that the problem is not mechanical, so I know it is coming from the belt. The only thing that he said is the water pump looked like it may have a "little bit" of a wobble in it, so it may have a bearing going bad and is creating a little too much resistance. I know I have the water pump in stock at work, so I guess I will try that next week.

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Your belt is probably just coolant soaked. Not much you can do for it. Sometimes spraying it down with brake parts cleaner helps, sometimes not. Be VERY careful if you try the running belt trick. Have personally seen TWO guys at work break fingers because they had their hands run through pulleys trying to rub stuff on a belt with engine running. New belt=$35: broken fingers, lost work time, embarrassment =$$$$$.

 

 

On a side note, since you also work for Chrysler... did you see the recent issue of the DCX times where the guy at the Denver parts depot got caught for selling stolen parts on E-bay? Over $300,000 worth!

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Yea...every time I think of the soap trick, I have visions of fingers going through pulleys :eek: . It definitley got soaked with coolant all the way around several times as the leak was spraying directly on it whike it was running...and it is a brand new belt too :mad:

 

Yes, we were just talking about that guy at work the other day because all the guys there know that I am big in to selling stuff on eBay too, so they were giving me some sh%$# over it ;)

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I guess I am going to need another coolant bottle now. There are no cracks or anything, but after driving and getting it heated up good, it starts hissing and spitting water out from around the cap.

 

I have done the point the nose down and pull the temp sender out of the head thing and all is good with the coolant level...it just doesn't seem to want to hold pressure since it got all puffed up the other day.

 

I alos tightened up the belt a little bit and put soap on it, but it still will not completely quit squealing. I'm gonna give that another week of driving and see what happens. Maybe it will work that coolant off and quiet down.

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Have you ever tought about going to a open system here is a link that i found

 

http://jeep.off-road.com/jeep/article/a ... ?id=257864

Yes, actually I have been told about that by another member on here. He is a fellow Floridian and a friend of mine through a local Jeep Forum here. He said he has done it and is willing ot help me do it when I am ready. :D

 

I will keep track of that article though too...thank you! :cheers:

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Well, after looking at that article and reading some other info, I have decided to do the conversion, but I am going to compile the info and write a good article on it as the info in the article posted above is out dated and the source given for the radiator is no longer in business. I have already found a source for the 3 row radiator at a good price and I have biult a list of Mopar part numbers of things needed to do it, now I just have to get back from vacation (will be gone from 1/20 - 1/30) and start putting it all together. Can't spend the money until vacation is done ;) .

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm just getting my 87 mj underway and trying to use it as a DD since my other truck just blew up. Hopefully you'll have that radiator parts list available since I'd like to go with the open system. Any ideas as to what 92+ cherokees had a 3 row radiator?

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I am back from vacation and should be getting to this soon. The Cherokees were not built with a 3 row radiator, but I have found a source for them. They are a true HD 3 Row radiator, not just a 3 row with smaller tubes that really make no difference. I'll update as soon as I can. :cheers:

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The swap to an open system makes sense only IF you know the radiator needs to be replaced anyway, AND you are prepared to deal with the fact the new radiator probably won't have a place to screw in the sensor for the auxiliary fan.

 

I prefer replacing the plastic coolant bottle with a Moroso surge tank. It's all aluminum and uses a standard radiator cap, so you get all the benefots of the "open" system and none of the headaches associated with converting.

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