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[Brynjaminjones]

The upper hose on my XJ split today, then leaked coolant everywhere. I briefly spoke to Maf about it (cheers for the help btw!), but I thought I'd post everything on here to see if there's an underlying cause, or if it was just because the hose was old.

Here's exactly what happened, bullet pointed for ease of reading

• Drove for about 35 mins at 60-90mph (I mean 60-70 ahem ). XJ was at normal temp.
• Got into town and drove for about 7 mins at 30mph, with a couple of traffic lights.
• I then got stuck at a few traffic lights in a row, so was crawling around for about 5 minutes, after which I parked and shut the XJ down. the electric fan had been running until I shut it down.
• It was then that I noticed a little steam coming from the front of the bonnet
• I opened it up, and found coolant spewing from a crack in the upper rad hose, right near the thermostat housing. It continued doing this for 5-10 mins with the engine switched off
• Once it stopped and cooled down a bit I removed the rad cap (which was still a little hot) - coolant level looked normal, and header tank had hardly gone down.
• I drove the XJ just up the road to a safer place to leave it, and the heater was working fine on full blast.
• Upper hose remained full of coolant, and if I bent it it spewed more out (this was about 3 hours later)

I had done a full coolant flush about a month or two ago, and replaced the thermostat at the same time. As I didn't know better, I used a cheapy Crown thermostat.

Is it likely that whilst replacing the thermostat, the bending of the old (99% sure it's original) hose could have weakened it, or is it more likely that something else, e.g. stuck thermostat or dodgy radiator cap could have caused pressure build up??

I'm not too clued up on the cooling system, so I'm not quite sure under what circumstances the upper hose would be pressurised.


Any help/nudges in the right direction would be muchos appreciated!

[jay140285]

Was you temperature guage reading normal?

Chances are its the age of the pipes.

When I had my Saab Aero I blew a hose on that under pressure of acceleration, though worst case but it was just age related hoses.

When my Isuzu Blew a couple of hoses and had increasing temp guage reading it was a different story.

[Brynjaminjones]

Honestly, this is one of the few times that I was pretty ignorant and didn't check the temperature gauge. It was at normal temp before I slowed down in town, but once in traffic the fan came on, but even then I didn't think to look. I don't think the fan had been on for long though!

[just-boot-it!]

Sounds like the hoses were the weak link with all your new bits. When I bought my XJ I noticed the leccy fan was on a lot of the time, turned out the rad was full of rad weld and it looked like it had been shot with a pump action! So I replaced the rad, water pump, coolant temp sensor and coolant with a flush. We warmed up the hoses a little with a hot air gun just to help.

[JamesH]

Old hose

[Dutch]

Yo Bryn,

Seeing the antics on Sunday must have jinxed your truck 

[Brynjaminjones]

Cool, cheers guys. I just wanted to check that once I put a new hose on it won't do the same again!


I think so Dutch - it saw yours and Maf's Jeeps blow their coolant everywhere, and wanted to follow suit! 

[jay140285]

Get the new hose on mate then check the rest when you get home for cracks and feeling brittle.

Preventative maintenance!

[YT]

I blew the top hose on mine a while back, when picking up the replacement hose I got stuck in tragic in Maidstone, the fan was only running for a couple of minutes at a time. Magnum automotive can suply & post out replacement for under £25.

[Dutch]

I got stuck in tragic Maidstone

 

[Brynjaminjones]

I blew the top hose on mine a while back, when picking up the replacement hose I got stuck in tragic in Maidstone, the fan was only running for a couple of minutes at a time. Magnum automotive can suply & post out replacement for under £25.

Cheers for that - I called Mansfield 4x4 yesterday (after closing time!) and they've sent one out to arrive tomorrow for £22.98 all in, which I was very pleased with!


Fingers crossed I can swap it over easily enough, as I'm working during the day so won't have long to do it!

[bgbazz]

Don't worry Bryn..it's 20 minute job..and a bottle of coolant.

[big g]

Yeah,it's nice and straight forward.

That's a good price,last one I got I paid 20 quid delivered for an used one.That was against 70+ from the dealer.

[bgbazz]

Just have to remember to fill everything right up before you start up..she'll spit out what's not needed and you may even have to top again after a half hour drive. Have the heater on full for all of the test drive and KEEP an eye on the temp gauge!!

[gazjeep]

  wise words from the aussie young un 

[Jonny Jeep]

Did you deliberately misquote that Dutch so it looks less ghay?

[bgbazz]

wise words from the aussie young un 

Ya cheeky bugger Gaz..65 years old and still a few miles left in me yet!! Been driving since I was 9 years old and had my first Jeep at 10..cost me 5 bucks and was a 1942, ex US Army model..had to dig and bag a hell of a lot of potatoes to buy that!

[Bulldog67]

I got stuck in tragic in Maidstone

 

Its deliverance country round these parts bro

[YT]

I got stuck in tragic Maidstone

 

Bloody fat fingers, & not checkin before hitting submit.

[YT]

Don't worry Bryn..it's 20 minute job..and a bottle of coolant.

Yeah, what he said.

[YT]

I got stuck in tragic in Maidstone

 

Its deliverance country round these parts bro

I picked a Friday lunch time to go, just when they'd half of Maidstone dug up for gas mains work !

[Bulldog67]

Tragic will be relieved his reputation (& virginity) remains intact

[Dutch]

Did you deliberately misquote that Dutch so it looks less ghay?

 

 

[gazjeep]

wise words from the aussie young un 

Ya cheeky bugger Gaz..65 years old and still a few miles left in me yet!! Been driving since I was 9 years old and had my first Jeep at 10..cost me 5 bucks and was a 1942, ex US Army model..had to dig and bag a hell of a lot of potatoes to buy that!

Goes to show I shouldn't type in a hurry & check before I hit the post button 

Should have read, agree with the wise words from the aussie ...... take note youth 

Bet you wish you still had the 42 Jeep matey

[Brynjaminjones]

XJ is back up and running.

Dad taxi'd me to Plymouth to fix it - 10 minutes later I was all done   

I'll check the coolant level again in the morning, but I've done about 2+ hours of driving since and it's been spot on