Auto Repair Articles

Question:

why is the over flow for a 1988 Jeep Comanche keep over heating. (water bottle type). is there a replacement radiators? it keeps over flowing. replaced the cap. replaced the bottle. but it keeps over flowing. hose is good. is there a replacement RADIATOR out there? there r no leaks in the system. Can we replace with a Radiator that does not need the bottle?

Answer:

All cooling systems on vehicles made since about the early 1970′s use a coolant expansion tank (overflow bottle). On older vehicles with cooling systems that held a lot of liquid overflow bottles were not necessary, since having a couple inches of air space in the top of the radiator when the car was cold did not matter much. On newer vehicles like your jeep, the cooling system is designed to only hold just enough coolant to make the system work properly; the bottle is there to catch the hot coolant when it expands and then return it to the radiator after the engine cools off. there is no radiator available that would add enough capacity to make a bottle unnecessary.

If your radiator needs to be replaced, it must be replaced with one of the same size and type as what the vehicle was built with or it will not fit nor work well.

It sounds like you have straight water instead of a 50/50 mix with water/coolant. Straight water will boil at a lower point than if you mixed it with coolant as intended.

Reference: http://www.freeautomechanic.com/overheating.html

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