Coolant Bottle/Tank burst! Why?

[Dansjeep89]

Hi everyone,

Here is what happened:

About an hour ago I was drove back home from walmart in my 1989 jeep cherokee and everything seemed normal. Well, I pulled into my driveway put the jeep in park and was rolling up my windows (Jeep was still idleing) when I heared a sound like this: TSSSSS!!!! So, I looked down at my gauges and saw that my temp gauge was rising (It was at normal temp.). I turned off my jeep as quickly as I could before it got to hot and when I got out I saw my coolant leaking like crazzzzy from under my car.

When I opened the hood as saw that my coolant tank looked like it was going to Blow Up because it looked like a balloon and was shooting coolant out of a hole in the side of it.


Anyone have any idea why this happened? It is about 93 degrees outside but I only drove like 2.5 miles??? And it was not over heated till I heared it burst???

Thanks,
Daniel

[MagicRat]

Your cooling system normaly builds some pressure, about 15 psi.
Your radiator cap should release any excess pressure above 15 psi. So, if your cap is working properly, the coolant tank may just be fatigued and old and busrst under normal pressure. Get a new tank.
However, if your rad cap is defective it may have over-pressurized your system and burst your tank, so get a new cap, too.

[Dansjeep89]

Thanks for the information. I guess I will go get a new tank and radiator cap. Hopefully it want cost too much being as I recently had to spend about $1000 to fix its Death Wobble....

Thanks Again,
Daniel

[89ltd]

I think you have closed system, there is no rad cap.

[Dansjeep89]

ok? So does that mean if my cooling system builds more then 15 psi it can not release pressure? Resulting in another busted coolant tank?

Daniel

[mrbill3]

Originally Posted by Dansjeep89

ok? So does that mean if my cooling system builds more then 15 psi it can not release pressure? Resulting in another busted coolant tank?

Daniel

No. It means that instead of a radiator cap, the cap on the plastic tank is pressure rated and should also be replaced to be sure it is releasing pressure whenit should.

[SteveB05]

with it getting that hot that quickly, you may have a small leak that allowed air to get into the block. Once you replace the bottle and cap, check really good for other leaks.

[4x4grey88]

Dude,

It appears that you are having mulitple issues. If your tank blew up the engine got real hot. The first thing I would check is the thermostat and water pump to insure that you have some kind of circulation. You will have to replace the tank if it blew up or atleast the cap. I would then 'burp' the engine. Venting the air out of the
block by loosening the temp probe in the back of the engine (while its not too hot). And checking the clutch fan for proper operation.


I went as far as just changing out my old radiator with a 1992 (three pass) radiator. The 1992 offers a radiator cap that you can see the circulation in the engine block. If you make this change you will need to replace the water resouvure and make changes to the heater valve (easy change). The change will be well worth it.

There are alot of past postings on our era Jeeps about "overheating"

Do some research and learn from others mistakes.

Hope you find it and keep it cool.

[Dansjeep89]

Dang that sucks... I really hope it isn't anything too bad because I just don't have any money right now and I need my jeep. I will search through some of the older posts on overheating.

Thanks for all the info.

Daniel

[Dansjeep89]

Originally Posted by 89ltd

I think you have closed system, there is no rad cap.

89ltd, I was just reading in my Owners Manual on how to replace the coolant and it said:

"Filling Cooling System

1. Engine must be off and cool.
2. Remove radiator and coolant bottle caps."

and so on...

So that sounds to me like I do have a radiator cap... So should I get a new radiator cap too?

Thanks,
Daniel

[mrbill3]

Originally Posted by Dansjeep89

89ltd, I was just reading in my Owners Manual on how to replace the coolant and it said:

"Filling Cooling System

1. Engine must be off and cool.
2. Remove radiator and coolant bottle caps."

and so on...

So that sounds to me like I do have a radiator cap... So should I get a new radiator cap too?

Thanks,
Daniel

And does it show where this radiator cap is?

[Dansjeep89]

hahaha!!! Yes, I guess that is the trick. I can't find a radiator cap anywhere. Nevermind.

[SteveB05]

There is a cap. It is on the passenger side tank, but burried under the upper core support.

[Dansjeep89]

Well, I replaced the coolant tank, cap, and just filled it with coolant/water. I was just wanting to know the best way to bleed any possible air out of the system? I can do it be unscrewing the coolant temp sensor, Right? I will do it in the morning and then take it on a test drive. I am hoping it doesn't over heat...

I let it idle for about 12 minutes in the driveway, right after I replaced the coolant, and the temp rose to just about 210 (I played with the gas, reving it up). Isn't 210 a little hot??? What do you guys think?

Daniel

[Dansjeep89]

Dang! Why doesn't anything ever go smoothly. This morning when I went outside to try to bleed any possible air out of my cooling system I ran into a problem.... When I went to pull the hood release handle it came all the way out (Broken hood release cable!). There was like 1/2 inch of the broken cable on the end of the handle.

It took me a while to figure out how to open the hood which I was able to do with a cloth hanger. Anyway, I was kind of pissed about my hood release cable being broken so, I just topped of the coolant and let it idle for about 30 to 35 minutes. It ended up maxing at about 210. Not to bad, huh? Does any one know any simple ways to get air out of the cooling sytem, that i can try?

Well, I guess I now need to start a new thread so I can figure out how to replace my hood release cable.

Daniel