Almost a bad day

[Neomonk21]

My buddy asked me to help him move something. I hop in my Gladiator and head up the mountain a few miles away to help him. As I pull in with my windows down, I shut off my Jeep and hear water gushing. My first thought was that he was pouring something out while he was working on his old Willys truck he restored. I look over and he has a weird look on his face staring at my Jeep. Then I see smoke and steam coming out from under the hood.

I hopped out quick and popped the hood. My coolant was spitting and bubbling out of the container and the lid was missing. Somehow, the lid was stuck up near the front of the Jeep near the actual radiator. I'm really glad we found the lid and I am also glad I didn't run my errands first before stopping at his place.

A little over a week ago I topped off my overflow reservoir and I thought I put the cap back on. I drove my Jeep to work two days after that, around town one day, and to the airport and back. Maybe I crossthreaded it or didn't tighten it down. Who knows? To be safe, I ordered a new cap that I'm going to put on and I guess I need to keep coolant in my Jeep now.

What's funny is that on our last off-roading trip, my buddy busted a body mount on his Willys. This caused the fan blade to bury into his radiator which then dumped all of his coolant. Now THAT was a bad day.

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[Jefe1018]

I had a similar experience once on a hunt in the old XJ with the 4.0... we saw water, popped the hood, saw nothing weird, drove home 6 hours a few days later, parked it for a few weeks and before our next wheeling trip we realized there was 0 water in the radiator. It was a 4.0 so it didn't matter.

 

[firemedic2714]

I've owned mine since July 2019 and I've had to top it off a couple of times in 75k miles. The lid is extraordinarily hard to tighten. It's not like the old radiator or traditional overflow tank caps where it's easy with noticeable notches on the neck. I can totally see this happening.

 

[NC_Overland]

I had a similar experience once on a hunt in the old XJ with the 4.0... we saw water, popped the hood, saw nothing weird, drove home 6 hours a few days later, parked it for a few weeks and before our next wheeling trip we realized there was 0 water in the radiator. It was a 4.0 so it didn't matter.

Yeah, they run hot no matter what you do. Good thing you didn’t blow it. The only engine I ever lost new under warranty. They were really hit or miss as far as reliability goes.

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