pjmjr508
01-23-2012, 09:40 PM
On Sunday at about 2am the coolant line has came off & dropped all my coolant in the bad part of north Seattle. Its the hose in the passenger fender (pinch weld). It came off from tire hitting it. I believe Knappaster did the same if I remember right @ Camp Commander. I didn't know it popped until I saw the temp jump to red. Its one thing if happens during the day, but @ 2 am & by myself was not fun at all. I normally have spare coolant when I go wheeling, but in downtown Seattle who knew. After waking a friend up twice (he fell asleep the first time thinking it was a dream that I called) My friend came & picked me up & took me to grab 2 gallons of coolant to put in the jeep to get back up going. Also fixed the hose that came loose too.
This is where I found out how much of a PITFA this cooling system is. I had popped the cap off with the jeep cooled down (about an hour & half after the hose came off & it was 34 out & raining. I filled up to the top. Then started it & let it run for about 5 to 10 min topping off when the level dropped. Also topped off the coolant reservoir. Started to drive home about 5 min later the temp jumps to red. It sat in red for about 2 min before I was able to get somewhere that was lit that I can safely park at.
Looked at it again and there didn't seem to have any flow to the top radiator hose & when I popped the radiator cap it gurgled but wasn't hot water. I took a taxi home (been up going on 26 hours by then)
Came back about 4 hours later & dumped about 2 gallons of water in it & started for home. When I first got there I did notice that the coolant reservoir was empty. On the way home the temp would keep going from half way to 3/4 way & then go back to half way. It did get to red once on the way home, I went to pull over at this point then the temp dropped right back to half way. I was guessing that there was an air bubble stuck in there. I was able to get it home 25 min away. I took it in to have the coolant system flushed & it completely fixed the issue. They used a pressurized system to flush the coolant.
Well now its at the shop for an unrelated reason, and they have to replace the fender liner because it is split from when sliding off the road in ice from the week prior, so the shop will try to pound the pinch weld flatter & then try to use a few screws to bring the fender liner closer to the fender. Lets see how that works out when I get it back.
This is where I found out how much of a PITFA this cooling system is. I had popped the cap off with the jeep cooled down (about an hour & half after the hose came off & it was 34 out & raining. I filled up to the top. Then started it & let it run for about 5 to 10 min topping off when the level dropped. Also topped off the coolant reservoir. Started to drive home about 5 min later the temp jumps to red. It sat in red for about 2 min before I was able to get somewhere that was lit that I can safely park at.
Looked at it again and there didn't seem to have any flow to the top radiator hose & when I popped the radiator cap it gurgled but wasn't hot water. I took a taxi home (been up going on 26 hours by then)
Came back about 4 hours later & dumped about 2 gallons of water in it & started for home. When I first got there I did notice that the coolant reservoir was empty. On the way home the temp would keep going from half way to 3/4 way & then go back to half way. It did get to red once on the way home, I went to pull over at this point then the temp dropped right back to half way. I was guessing that there was an air bubble stuck in there. I was able to get it home 25 min away. I took it in to have the coolant system flushed & it completely fixed the issue. They used a pressurized system to flush the coolant.
Well now its at the shop for an unrelated reason, and they have to replace the fender liner because it is split from when sliding off the road in ice from the week prior, so the shop will try to pound the pinch weld flatter & then try to use a few screws to bring the fender liner closer to the fender. Lets see how that works out when I get it back.