2003 Jeep Liberty ran hot

30

Asked by nickgamer219/TheEvol... Feb 22, 2017 at 11:27 PM

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Earlier today my car overheated & eventually
started smoking. I pulled over & cut the car
off. I looked underneath on the ground &
saw a puddle...I touched it & it didn't appear
to be green...was kind of clear but not
really...like dirty water or something...but I
could smell something like the radiator...the
guy I got it from told me her replaced the
radiator about 8 months ago because it was
cracked so Idk...but what could be my
problem?

8 Answers

58,955

The leak needs to be located but may not be the sole reason for overheating and/or smoking. Check coolant lever. Check oil lever. Look around it real good for the leak point. Check that the cooling system was bleed of air good after that radiator installation the previous owner did. Check coolant reservoir for leaks even around the cap gasket. Make sure cooling fans are working, test the temp sensor if its not working and if its good then run jumper wires to fan and battery to test cooling fan motor. Check that the thermostat is present or working correctly. Look for collapsed hoses, Water pump bad may be bad, A possible Bad head gasket or head gaskets from running hot or gasket material just deteriorated, Do a compression test on each cylinder, do test for exhaust in coolant (radiator) and/or look for air bubbles in coolant reservoir.

30

This is so much! I know little about how to do any of that stuff...but I did notice the leak was coming from the area where my reserver is located...but the reserver was not wet...I have no idea if the fans were blowing & he said he's never changed the thermostat before...I can smell that radiator or whatever it is...its like a sweet smell or something

30

I'm thinking about taking it to a shop tomorrow & have them look at it...I came across a few post similar to mine wit the same prob on the same type of vehicle, are these cars known for this type of thing????

30

Exactly...its only so much that I know but whatever it is that's wrong I'm hoping not to have to come out of big bucks because I refuse to do so

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