Coolant Reservoir Leak (replace tank and outlet?)

[Yakpimp]

Last year I had an issue with a radiator leak at the seem but the radiator wasn't listed as one of the suspect date ranges. (see post here https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...hara-86000-kms-53000-miles.81323/post-2085646)

Ever since a camping trip a couple years ago where my wife spilled maple syrup in the back of my Jeep I sometimes get a strong whiff of it when I fire it up and back out of the garage. I just assumed some had dripped down the back and was somehow getting heated and smelling delicious. Fast forward a couple years to me finding I had a coolant leak at the radiator seems and needing to replace the entire thing to get my temps back in line.

Tonight I went out to take a look at the new seams after a few months to see if there were any leaks, as I noticed the other day that my coolant level was low and had to top it off. It's crazy low again, but this time no leaks on any seam. I had the flashlight in there and could clearly see no pink/orange residue on anything. I traced some of the hoses around and saw nothing until I took a look at the bottom of the reservoir.

It looks like I might have a misting or slow leak around the base of the reservoir where the hose connects to the tank. I read in some other posts that if coolant gets too hot the pressure can force it through openings it normally wouldn't leak from so I'm not sure if this is the result of the old issue or what is causing my new issue. I wiped the fitting down to check it in a couple days to see if it looks like there is fresh misting or leaking, but I'd rather just replace the parts needed and be happy.

Anyone run into this before? I assume I'll need to replace the bottle and the outlet. If I'm not seeing any other leak residue anywhere else should that solve the problem?

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[mwilk012]

Clean it up, fill it up, and recheck later. It’s probably leaking and replacing those two parts is very simple.

 

[Yakpimp]

Clean it up, fill it up, and recheck later. It’s probably leaking and replacing those two parts is very simple.

I ordered the parts, but I'm looking at things just to see what the right way to swap them out is.

From what I've gathered it looks like I have to drain the system (not a huge deal, pull the plug, catch the juice)
Then remove the tank itself, couple bolts and some pins holding the tube on the outlet port.
Then remove the tubing itself (only one pipe clamp toward the bottom of the engine, which looks accessible from under.
Replace parts in reverse order.
Refill coolant.

Are there any gotchas I'm missing?

 

[Rob_21]

Any update? Currently having the exact same issue. Wondering if replacing these two parts will save me a trip to the dealership 🫠

 

[Yakpimp]

Any update? Currently having the exact same issue. Wondering if replacing these two parts will save me a trip to the dealership 🫠

the parts took forever to come in, just showed up two days ago. I might try to tackle it this weekend.

make sure you confirm your leak isn’t the seam on the radiator. That was my first issue. I’m wondering if the ultra high temperatures from that caused high coolant temps that may have lead to the other leak forming.

 

[Rob_21]

the parts took forever to come in, just showed up two days ago. I might try to tackle it this weekend.

make sure you confirm your leak isn’t the seam on the radiator. That was my first issue. I’m wondering if the ultra high temperatures from that caused high coolant temps that may have lead to the other leak forming.

I confirmed my radiator seam is leaking along with the reservoir. I think you might be right about the high temp coolant pressure causing the leak. My reservoir drips a bit when the car is first turned on. Going to order a new radiator this week. Keep us posted on what you find! Thanks!

 

[Yakpimp]

I confirmed my radiator seam is leaking along with the reservoir. I think you might be right about the high temp coolant pressure causing the leak. My reservoir drips a bit when the car is first turned on. Going to order a new radiator this week. Keep us posted on what you find! Thanks!

Having done this radiator replacement myself I can confirm there is nothing hard about it, you will just need to dedicate some time and be ok with ripping a lot of stuff off the front of your jeep to get at the necessary bolts.

I found the AllData DIY instructions for this project to be incredibly helpful.

 

[Yakpimp]

My parts finally arrived and with my wife going out of town for a couple days, I really needed to get my JL up and running again safely so that I could have a car while she was gone.

I watched a youtube video first to make sure I understood the process. The video only covered the bottle/reservoir replacement and not the hoses, but I figured 'how hard could replacing a hose be?'.
Video Here: Install: Replacing Jeep JLU Coolant reservoir bottle - YouTube

I ended up doing things a bit more gently than in that video and found it easier to flip the hood up all the way so that I could access things without having to duck under the hood.

I started opening the plug at the base of the radiator and letting the system drain for a bit before disconnecting anything. The placement of the opening kinda pours coolant all over stuff, but I had a big cement mixing flat bucket to catch so it wasn't a big deal to wipe down after it stopped dripping. I left the valve open while I worked above and heard random drips every once in a while as I moved hoses and lifted the tank. I removed the hose coming into the top of the tank. This is the one from the video where the metal portion had broken off in the tank. I didn't have that problem so with a little wiggling and the help of a flat screw driver I was able to pull that off cleanly and tuck it somewhere so it wouldn't drip. I then took out the two 10mm nuts holding nuts holding the tank housing in place, this allowed me to lift the tank (with the attached bottom hose) and get at the 10mm on the bottom that holds the tank in the housing.

The clip holding the hose on the bottom was pretty simple to pop off. Tuck a small screwdriver under the metal clip and it should slide right out. If you aren't replacing this hose, make sure you put that little metal clip somewhere safe. After that clip is off the hose pulls straight down from the tank and you can remove the bottle. You may want to pop the Christmas tree clip that's toward the front of the tank just to give you a little more movement. If you are only replacing the tank, you are pretty much done now, just do the same steps in reverse and replace the nuts at the top making sure the tank housing is properly seated on the pin underneath.

I wasn't sure if it was the tank or the hose/connection that had a problem, so I had actually ordered both.

Replacing the hose appeared to be pretty straightforward. I traced it through the engine bay and since I had a new clean one in hand I could see where all the clips and things were. There is one Christmas tree clip toward the tank side of the hose that is pretty well hidden. Everything else is just a C style piece of plastic that attaches to whatever hose or item happens to be next to it.

The only other connector on the hose is the one that enters the front of the engine. You can probably get to it from the bottom, but I really didn't want coolant and particles dropping into my eyes while I was trying to get the hose off. I ended up just removing the air intake and lifting it out of the way. This gave me pretty good access to the hose.

There is a small sensor (I think that's what it is) that is connected to the air intake toward the passenger side which you can just squeeze and pop of to allow you to flip the whole thing out of the way. Two bolts hold it in place where you see those blue marks above the fan and then two pipe clamps, one on each end.

Once that is out of the way you can look down and see where the hose connects.

You can see the silver nipple coming out right above the big hose at the bottom. This is where your hose will be connected. It took me a good 10 min to get the old hose off. I slid the clip back but it was stuck on there pretty good. I read some tips online suggested a heat gun or hair dryer to loosen the hose, but I didn't have either of those handy so I got my flat screw driver and started slowly working the edge back. Since I didn't need to save the hose I wasn't being super careful with the rubber. I was making sure not to scrape the nipple though because I wanted a good seal later. Eventually I was able to grab it gently with pliers and wiggle sections of it free and then it just popped off.

This next part was the hardest part for me. Pulling the house out and getting the new one back in place so that it lined up and all the clips could be attached. Take a good look at where this hose travels through the engine bay and what it clips to, when you go put the new one in make sure you follow the same path. I found it easier to pull the house out toward the front of the vehicle and put it in front to back. This is mostly because the hose is actually a combination of rubber flexible parts and metal tubing. And the massive connector on the end can be a bit of a pain to wiggle through the right spot. When you get it right you will know because the Christmas tree clip will be perfectly line up and all the little C clamps will have a place to snap cleanly.

Connecting that hose is pretty simple. Just slide it onto the nipple, unclick the clamp lock. Then connect the bottle using the new spring clamp that's on the connector and reverse the bottle removal steps. Put the air intake back in place. Make sure you tighten the hose clamps and reconnect that plastic sensor thing on the top.

############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############
############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############
############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############
############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############
############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############

Once I was sure everything was back together I opened up a fresh bottle of OAT 50/50 and poured it in. Mine took about 1.25 bottles since I didn't drain the whole system, just the tank and radiator. I expect you may take a little bit more if you tank is currently at the correct level as mine was super low.

I ran the engine with the cap open and let the vehicle warm up a bit as I cleaned up. As the levels would drop I'd add a little bit more to make sure I wasn't underfilling. I'd also squeeze the big hose going into the radiator a few times every couple minutes to pump out any bubbles.

After about 10 min I closed things up and drove up the driveway and down the street just to make sure things were working well. Keeping an eye on the coolant temp which seemed to be stable. Came back and checked levels one more time and then once a day for the next couple days. No leaks, no drop in level.

So far so good.

 

[Jeffy56]

Good write up!

 

[Rob_21]

My parts finally arrived and with my wife going out of town for a couple days, I really needed to get my JL up and running again safely so that I could have a car while she was gone.

I watched a youtube video first to make sure I understood the process. The video only covered the bottle/reservoir replacement and not the hoses, but I figured 'how hard could replacing a hose be?'.
Video Here: Install: Replacing Jeep JLU Coolant reservoir bottle - YouTube

I ended up doing things a bit more gently than in that video and found it easier to flip the hood up all the way so that I could access things without having to duck under the hood.

I started opening the plug at the base of the radiator and letting the system drain for a bit before disconnecting anything. The placement of the opening kinda pours coolant all over stuff, but I had a big cement mixing flat bucket to catch so it wasn't a big deal to wipe down after it stopped dripping. I left the valve open while I worked above and heard random drips every once in a while as I moved hoses and lifted the tank. I removed the hose coming into the top of the tank. This is the one from the video where the metal portion had broken off in the tank. I didn't have that problem so with a little wiggling and the help of a flat screw driver I was able to pull that off cleanly and tuck it somewhere so it wouldn't drip. I then took out the two 10mm nuts holding nuts holding the tank housing in place, this allowed me to lift the tank (with the attached bottom hose) and get at the 10mm on the bottom that holds the tank in the housing.

The clip holding the hose on the bottom was pretty simple to pop off. Tuck a small screwdriver under the metal clip and it should slide right out. If you aren't replacing this hose, make sure you put that little metal clip somewhere safe. After that clip is off the hose pulls straight down from the tank and you can remove the bottle. You may want to pop the Christmas tree clip that's toward the front of the tank just to give you a little more movement. If you are only replacing the tank, you are pretty much done now, just do the same steps in reverse and replace the nuts at the top making sure the tank housing is properly seated on the pin underneath.

I wasn't sure if it was the tank or the hose/connection that had a problem, so I had actually ordered both.

Replacing the hose appeared to be pretty straightforward. I traced it through the engine bay and since I had a new clean one in hand I could see where all the clips and things were. There is one Christmas tree clip toward the tank side of the hose that is pretty well hidden. Everything else is just a C style piece of plastic that attaches to whatever hose or item happens to be next to it.

The only other connector on the hose is the one that enters the front of the engine. You can probably get to it from the bottom, but I really didn't want coolant and particles dropping into my eyes while I was trying to get the hose off. I ended up just removing the air intake and lifting it out of the way. This gave me pretty good access to the hose.

There is a small sensor (I think that's what it is) that is connected to the air intake toward the passenger side which you can just squeeze and pop of to allow you to flip the whole thing out of the way. Two bolts hold it in place where you see those blue marks above the fan and then two pipe clamps, one on each end.

Once that is out of the way you can look down and see where the hose connects.

You can see the silver nipple coming out right above the big hose at the bottom. This is where your hose will be connected. It took me a good 10 min to get the old hose off. I slid the clip back but it was stuck on there pretty good. I read some tips online suggested a heat gun or hair dryer to loosen the hose, but I didn't have either of those handy so I got my flat screw driver and started slowly working the edge back. Since I didn't need to save the hose I wasn't being super careful with the rubber. I was making sure not to scrape the nipple though because I wanted a good seal later. Eventually I was able to grab it gently with pliers and wiggle sections of it free and then it just popped off.

This next part was the hardest part for me. Pulling the house out and getting the new one back in place so that it lined up and all the clips could be attached. Take a good look at where this hose travels through the engine bay and what it clips to, when you go put the new one in make sure you follow the same path. I found it easier to pull the house out toward the front of the vehicle and put it in front to back. This is mostly because the hose is actually a combination of rubber flexible parts and metal tubing. And the massive connector on the end can be a bit of a pain to wiggle through the right spot. When you get it right you will know because the Christmas tree clip will be perfectly line up and all the little C clamps will have a place to snap cleanly.

Connecting that hose is pretty simple. Just slide it onto the nipple, unclick the clamp lock. Then connect the bottle using the new spring clamp that's on the connector and reverse the bottle removal steps. Put the air intake back in place. Make sure you tighten the hose clamps and reconnect that plastic sensor thing on the top.

############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############
############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############
############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############
############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############
############ CLOSE THE RADIATOR DRAIN VALVE. ############

Once I was sure everything was back together I opened up a fresh bottle of OAT 50/50 and poured it in. Mine took about 1.25 bottles since I didn't drain the whole system, just the tank and radiator. I expect you may take a little bit more if you tank is currently at the correct level as mine was super low.

I ran the engine with the cap open and let the vehicle warm up a bit as I cleaned up. As the levels would drop I'd add a little bit more to make sure I wasn't underfilling. I'd also squeeze the big hose going into the radiator a few times every couple minutes to pump out any bubbles.

After about 10 min I closed things up and drove up the driveway and down the street just to make sure things were working well. Keeping an eye on the coolant temp which seemed to be stable. Came back and checked levels one more time and then once a day for the next couple days. No leaks, no drop in level.

So far so good.

Thanks for all the info! Really appreciate it. Currently looking for the best place to buy a radiator/coolant reservoir and will be tackling this soon.

 

[Yakpimp]

So after all this work I check the coolant tank regularly and it looks like I'm losing coolant somewhere I keep filling it up to between the min/max lines but it keeps dropping. I don't see any drips on the ground and I don't see any evidence of misting. When I had a radiator issue I saw pink residue all over the plastic components in the engine bay.

I went under the jeep to see if I could see any proof that things were leaking and used a flashlight to look all around. Nothing pink anywhere. Any ideas of where to look?

 

[Rhinebeck01]

So after all this work I check the coolant tank regularly and it looks like I'm losing coolant somewhere I keep filling it up to between the min/max lines but it keeps dropping. I don't see any drips on the ground and I don't see any evidence of misting. When I had a radiator issue I saw pink residue all over the plastic components in the engine bay.

I went under the jeep to see if I could see any proof that things were leaking and used a flashlight to look all around. Nothing pink anywhere. Any ideas of where to look?

Crawl under and with a strong flashlight, look over all the visible seams on the radiator itself. Look for pink frosting along the seams..(Could be in one one more places) May be there but not real apparent..

You can have coolant leakage that dries quickly as as a frost of sorts on the seams and you will never see "drips" on the ground. Do you ever smell anti-freeze when using your JL?

 

[Yakpimp]

Crawl under and with a strong flashlight, look over all the visible seams on the radiator itself. Look for pink frosting along the seams..(Could be in one one more places) May be there but not real apparent..

You can have coolant leakage that dries quickly as as a frost of sorts on the seams and you will never see "drips" on the ground. Do you ever smell anti-freeze when using your JL?

I did look at the seams first since I already had that issue last year and had to replace the radiator. I saw nothing. Also I had cleaned some of the white plastic that had previously had pink mist dried on it due to the leaking/misting radiator previously. The white plastic is still white and no new residue is present.

I do smell maple syrup sometimes when backing out of the garage, but I'm wondering if that is just residual that is burning off the engine when I start it. It seems to be right when I start it so it's not really hot yet.

Also I went out there today to check levels and saw the overflow tank was below the minimum. When I opened the lid it seemed to jump back up to within the min/max range so maybe I'm just being paranoid.

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