Cherokee Sport/WEIRD overheating problem

[newcan]

I completed an uneventful 900-mile trip yesterday in my 1996 Cherokee Sport. Today I drove it 50 miles; later I noticed coolant had leaked out onto the driveway. At the end of the day I thought I'd better be careful driving home. The car started fine, the temperature guage came up to a normal temperature and stayed there, and the inside heater seemed to be blowing warm air as normal, so I figured all was OK. The radiator and reservoir bottle seemed to have the right amount of fluid. So I drove home.

At the end of the 50 mile journey, the temp. guage still showed normal, the heater was still blowing warm air, but the engine sounded horrible. When I parked, smoke came out of the hood and oil was dripping all over the road. But the coolant bottle was still full and so appeared the radiator.

This seems weird to me as normally if the engine overheats because of a lack of coolant circulation, this normally shows on the temeprature guage. Alternatively, if it overheats because of a lack of coolant altogether, the heater normally does not blow warm air. In this case, it would seem the engine had overheated badly (and may now be damaged). However, the cooland did not seem to be hot. Any ideas? Coolant pump perhaps? Also, does the fact that the engine was so hot that it leaked oil mean for sure that my engine is ruined?

[1996Chreokee]

Why do you think it over heated? because there was oil all over? Did the engine start making any noises when you noticed the oil leaking?? If no noises thats a good thing....

Make sure you check your oil and tranny fluid before you go anywhere. major oil leaks can come from an oil sending unit or a tranny line could have broke spraying oil around the engine compartment

To check your water pump feel the hoses (keep your hands clear of the fans and anything hot) they should all be similiar in temp after its been running awhile... and a bad water pump will usually begin to leak ...

also after the vehicle is warm you can feel the radiator to make sure there is no cold spots which would represent a blockage.. You can check the radiator fairly easily by removing the fans (when the fans are off, no power to them) Removing the fans is a simple task. While inspecting the radiator make sure to look over the fins real good...

Let us know how you made out

[fredjacksonsan]

It sounds like the cooling system might be ok...it's the oil leak I'd worry about. It could be as simple as what 1996 said, or as bad as a head gasket.

Definitely check all the fluids. I'll be your oil is low. How was your oil pressure during the trip? Time to find the source of the leak....if it's a bad one, you should be able to top off the oil, start it up and watch under the hood to find the leak.

[newcan]

Thanks for the replies. I started the engine this morning and took a look. Oil is being splattered by the radiator fans from somewhere at the front, I looked underneath and it was dripping off of a bottom main radiator hose, so the leak must be above that somewhere. the engine sounds very rumbly and now I think maybe one of the bearings at the front of the engine may be damaged? Would that cause oil to leak near the front and get splashed around by the radiator fans?

The fluids were all at normal levels - plenty of oil.

It still wouldn't explain the one-time discharge of coolant on the driveway yesterday though, would it?

At any event, pending your kind follow-up, this one sounds like it's probably beyond my capability.

[fredjacksonsan]

Sounds funky. Are you sure it's oil and not transmission fluid? There is usually a trans cooler (don't know about yours specifically) attached to the radiator.

Is the leakage coming from the radiator itself? It could be the water pump, but that wouldn't leak oil. Odd.

[newcan]

OK I went outside again and took a closer look. The one fluid I had forgotten to check was the steering fluid. The steering fluid chamber was almost empty, and brown and foamy. The rumbling noises the "engine" makes may in fact be noises from the steering pump, which seems to be leaking badly.

Again, though, this would not solve the one-off loss of coolant, would it? Perhaps that was just an anomaly.

I do not know how the steering pump connects with the rest of the engine -I had thought just via a belt, in which case it would not explain the coolant. However, it could explain the loss of "oil," (aka steering fluid), the nasty noises, and the smoke coming from the hood last night.

If there is some way the steering pump could influence the coolant and cause the coolant loss, then maybe I am close to solving the problem.

Is replacing a steering pump hard?

[fredjacksonsan]

Bingo - steering pump failure. Not a difficult replacement, have to remove the serpentine belt, and the hoses running from the pump to the steering gear. The power steering pump itself bolts up and should come out easily.

Reverse the procedure, put in some fresh fluid and you'll be back on the road.

Be careful driving it until you replace the pump. You could have a sudden loss of power steering which would make your steering effort increase dramatically. You'd still be able to steer, but would have to work a LOT harder at it.

With the brown and foamy it sounds like you had some water contamination.


:Edit: consider flushing the system while you have it apart, if there's water contamination you'll want to get it out of there.

[newcan]

Thanks again - your help has been invaluable.

The only piece of the mystery that is left is --- what would have caused coolant to have spilled all over the driveway? I'm assuming no relation to the steering pump problem. Maybe more than one thing is happening at once.

I'm off to go get a steering pump - I think even I should be capable of replacing that myself!

Thanks again for helping me to focus my mind.

[fredjacksonsan]

Originally Posted by newcan

Thanks again - your help has been invaluable.

The only piece of the mystery that is left is --- what would have caused coolant to have spilled all over the driveway? I'm assuming no relation to the steering pump problem. Maybe more than one thing is happening at once.

I'm off to go get a steering pump - I think even I should be capable of replacing that myself!

Thanks again for helping me to focus my mind.

Welcome;sometimes just to bounce stuff off folks helps a lot.

I don't know about the coolant spill. If you refilled it after one of your trips, it might have been overfilled and spilled out the extra.

One other thing I thought of....why did the fluid loss occur? Check your power steering hoses to make sure they're not cut or holed.

[newcan]

As far as the power steering fluid loss is concerned --- it seems the bearing on the shaft that the pulley goes on is shot (it can be moved from side to side), so I'd say the fluid started leaking from there. I'm halfway through taking off the old pump and am hoping this will fix the problem.

[fredjacksonsan]

That would do it! Good luck on the repair, let us know how it comes out.

[wagonbldr]

My leak is on a slip connector on one of the power steering hoses, in front of the engine. I also was looking for an oil leak, and found this leak.