Heater control valve totally broken and overheated

[hgeranium]

Currently stranded due to overheating because my HCV has completely broken off. I’m an hour and a half away from home and I really have no idea what to do. For some reason the truck isn’t drinking any coolant, I poured a bunch into the empty coolant bottle and even after overheating again it hasn’t drank anything. I thought maybe there was air in the system but after pulling the top thermostat hose off, I saw the thermostat is completely dry 

A quick response would be appreciated but from what it seems like, I may have no choice but to get it towed 80 miles back home. 

[hgeranium]

Also how does the coolant run from the bottle? I’m just trying to figure out why the engine isn’t taking any coolant and it’s all just sitting in the bottle? I see the bottom hose goes out and splits between the heater core and thermostat. What would be stopping it from entering the thermostat? I’m wondering if maybe with all the overheating the thermostat got stuck closed? I’m worried about pulling off the housing because I don’t have a gasket or RTV on me to seal it back up properly

[89 MJ]

Is this just one of the heater hoses? Or do you still have the closed loop system and it’s one of the pressure bottle hoses? If it’s a heater hose, just loop them and run it. 

[hgeranium]

How does one remove the metal pipe of the HCV from the rubber hoses with these metal collars on the end? I’ve never done work with heater hoses so I’m just unfamiliar

[eaglescout526]

That’s probably why Chrysler did away with that set up. Cause one couldn’t do an on the side of the road bypass. Makes sense now. 

[hgeranium]

Quick update. One of my good friends was gracious enough to stop by an Autozone hub to pick up a new HCV, thermostat, and heater hoses. Sad news I still have to wait about an hour and a half for him to get to me. I’ve got the whole HCV set up disconnected. Just need to get the tstat housing off. I’m a little peeved that I have to go through the process of manually loosening the serpentine belt to get clear enough access to that bottom housing bolt.
 

 It’s pretty evil that they use these little collars instead of just hose clamps from factory because I have to buy new heater hoses. I may be able to cut it at the collar and reuse it but I’m worried the length will be just too short, plus these are original hoses so might as well do it for the peace of mind while I’m dillydallying on the side of the road  

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

24 minutes ago, hgeranium said:

I’m a little peeved that I have to go through the process of manually loosening the serpentine belt to get clear enough access to that bottom housing bolt.

You and me both!

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

50 minutes ago, hgeranium said:

How does one remove the metal pipe of the HCV from the rubber hoses with these metal collars on the end?

I would assume you could cut them with a dremel and a cutting wheel, or some other similar approach.

[hgeranium]

There might be a slight chance the thermostat indeed failed. This thing looks older than me. 

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

You could always just leave the tstat out until you get home.

[89 MJ]

5 minutes ago, AnotherOldJeepGuy said:

You could always just leave the tstat out until you get home.

No, he shouldn’t do that. That can allow coolant to circulate too quickly and also cause overheating. He could gut the thermostat, but shouldn’t remove it entirely. 

[hgeranium]

17 minutes ago, AnotherOldJeepGuy said:

You could always just leave the tstat out until you get home.

I’m waiting on parts anyway. Plus I would’ve needed a new housing gasket. My friend is bringing the HCV, two heater hoses, thermostat and housing gasket. I’m assuming it’s gonna try to overheat again because I’ll have to burp it. Maybe I can pour a bunch of water directly into the engine from the thermostat housing to mitigate it. I just don’t wanna wait for the truck to cool again if I need to burp it lol. I’m already going to be home way after dark so I’m trying to think ahead

[hgeranium]

Quick update. Overheated at about 5pm last evening and I didn’t get home till 2:30. Heater control valve and heater hoses installed without a problem. When trying to reinstall the thermostat housing, I realized that what seemed like a guide pin was actually the top bolt that snapped in half! In the field without heat, I wasn’t able to get the bolt to the engine to budge let alone get the other half of the bolt out of the housing. I ended up just having to absolutely lather the thing with RTV to seal the top half. After adding water directly through the thermostat, I was able to get it about 30 minutes down the road before I had to add more water. At that point it got easier as I just had to pull over every 30min to refill until I made it home. 
 

To anyone having issues with having to limp their 4.0 home because of a coolant leak and you still have the closed system, it was pretty effective to install the tstat housing without the tstat and fill it all the way up with water through the large port with the hose off. No need to burp it and you can still add it when it’s hot and under pressure later down the road without having to worry about the bottle blowing up water on you when taking the cap off. 

[TheNerfsmith]

Thank god I’m converting to the open system, best wishes with your overheating issue. 

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

Congrats getting home, what a "fun" trip.  Now you will get it fixed up right.

 

I had an overheat trip once, driving from Texas to WV in the middle of summer.  Stopped at a parts store in nowhere ARK and replace the thermostat with some borrowed, very used tools from the shop.  Unfortunately that was not the problem, and I ended up driving the rest of the trip in the middle of the summer with the heater on full to get the extra cooling from that, the Jeep didn't overheat but the driver sure did.  Problem was the radiator and got one in WV so I could use my AC on the trip back, much better!