Max517

Good morning. I’m a new owner of a 2008 Jeep Jk. Obviously it’s got the 3.8 v6 in it. I’ve had it a week as of today. The Jeep has 174,000 miles on it. Through out the week I’ve found somethings that need to be fixed that I didnt see when I bought it, one of which I’ve been losing coolant. I noticed on Monday that the reservoir was almost empty. I filled it back up and continued to watch it. I let it sit in the driveway for a few days to see if I could see any puddles but I didn’t see anything. Without it running for those few days I didn’t any loss of coolant. I also checked the oil and it doesn’t appear to be milky. After a few days of sitting, I started it up and let it idle up to running temperature checking for white smoke and I also smelled the exhaust and it didn’t smell sweet like coolant. I also let the heater run for a few minutes and again, it didn’t smell like coolant. Nothing in my floor boards either. I also checked the radiator through the little “window” behind the reservoir for white flakes but I didn’t see anything.

While looking around yesterday, I stuck my nose around the engine compartment after I drove it. I did smell coolant near the driver side head light but I’m not sure if I was smelling the coolant from the reservoir or if that’s where the leak is coming from and is evaporating before it shows any signs.

I work graveyards and when I got home this morning I didn’t smell the odor of coolant in the area which leads me to believe that maybe where it’s coming from when the engine is hot. When I checked this morning the engine had well over 12 hours to cool overnight.

Curious if anyone else has ran into this problem and if so what they did to fix it.

Im sure I left something out but can always up date.

resharp001

that 3.8L is known to have coolant loss down in the valley of the engine below the intake. You might also take a few minutes and pull the airbox, intake tube, and fan shroud to get a good look at the backside of the radiator, but the timing and amount you're losing makes me think more likely in the valley of the engine.

Jay2013jk

Welcome to JK Forum. Ditto on resharp's post.

Max517

So I wouldn’t have any signs of it being in the oil or it burning?

Ryan0260

Don't forget to check the water pump. They are notoriously bad on the early JK models and don't always leak enough to leave antifreeze on the ground.