Does this look like a radiator cap leak?

M

MissoulaGriz

New member
Sheesh, me and my dang coolant issues...replaced a water pump two weeks ago and everything seems to be okay with that. However, after a 60 mile trip yesterday I noticed some coolant dripping on the driveway. I crawled under the Jeep and this is what I saw at the front of the engine looking up from under the passenger side:

Coolant three.jpg

Then I popped the hood and took a look around to see what I could find. The only real "source" of coolant outside the radiator at the highest level is in the square pockets of the air filter case:

Coolant1.jpg

Coolant 2.jpg

I'm curious if this looks to be a radiator cap issue or something else? I seriously can't track down any other places where this thing is leaking. The reserve tank level dropped about an inch so I know something is going on.

Any insight and/or help would really be appreciated. Thanks!
 
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Well, I'm not sure from looking at the pics but don't feel alone. I have a very similar issue going on with mine. Noticed a puddle under jeep the other day, looked up underneath passenger side and had quite a bit of radiator fluid sprayed about. Popped hood and noticed there was some fluid around the cap and also air filter box similar to your pics. I'm gonna try replacing the radiator cap first and then take it from there. I already replaced water pump about a year ago to fix that common leak. Keep us posted what you find and I'll let you know after I replace cap if that worked for me.
 
Thanks for the reply's. I re-tightened the cap and set the overflow hose a little tighter coming off the radiator. No leaks so far but I'm going to keep checking. My "new" water pump is leaking again so it's going back into the shop to get re-done this week. I'll also ask them about the other leak to see if they might be able to follow it when they have the JK on a lift. Here's the leaking water pump. Sounds like it's a very common issue.

WaterPump.jpg
 
WTH?? It's leaking again? If that's the case, could be that coolant is just getting flung around by the serpentine. Hope they get it fixed this time around.
 
Yeah, I thinking that also. I was on a photo shoot this weekend and we were definitely digging in through the snow in the back country so there was a lot of "sloshing" going on. I've been driving it all weekend and it hasn't leaked from the cap or reserve hose any more. It's going in today at 1:00 for the new water pump. I'll keep you posted. Cheers!
 
Just got my JK back from the shop and they said the new gasket that they used for the new water pump was too thin so they used a thicker gasket and it appears to be holding fluid. They also put a small hose clamp on the reservoir hose coming off the radiator. You could see where the coolant was leaking out from the bottom of the hose at the radiator.

They also drained all the coolant and replaced it with new coolant which is nice since the other week I inadvertently put a quart of "Universal" fluid in the reservoir tank because it was low. It's nice knowing that I have 100% HOAT in there now.

One quick question, I noticed when I got home that the reservoir tank is empty so they must not have filled that up. Is that common or is there some sort of thinking behind not having coolant in the reservoir? If not I guess it would do me good to get some HOAT to have on hand anyway and fill it up to the "Min" line.

Thanks!
 
I used to wonder why I had rad. fluid on my engine now and again , then I noticed my overflow tank has an overflow tube that just goes straight down . When I did steep climbs , it would leak on the engine . I got a rubber tube that would fit over the overflow tank tube and routed it down past the diff. , and now I never have that problem !
 
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