I've been having a bit of coolant loss from my reservoir tank and not too sure why, it's not a great amount but it's going somewhere. I've been keeping a close watch and it there is no coolant leaking onto the ground? I'm suspecting it might be a problem with the cap so I bought a new one however comparing the two of them I found out that the new one is 16lbs and the old one (I'm assuming it's the original cap) is 18lbs, can I still use the 16lbs one or should I go get an 18lbs cap? It's for a 1996 Grand Cherokee Laredo. Do you have any suggestions/advice on where it could be leaking onto if not the ground? I've looked pretty much everywhere and can't seem to find it. Thanks.

 

The cap is correct, factory calls for 14-18 lbs. I had a leak similar to this on my 98, one of the side tanks was slowly seperating from the core so while I was driving I would lose a bit of coolant but when it was sitting cold I never had anything under it. Take a close look and see if there are any signs of seperation between the aluminium and plastic.

 

Do you think it could possibly be a blown head gasket n the coolant is going into the cylinders or something? I really hope that's not the case.

 

It could be a head gasket, but I really doubt it. More likely culprits are radiator (main or heater), hoses or water pump.

 

Yeh I really hope its's not a head gasket. How could I be sure that it's not a head gasket and how could I check to see if it the radiator (main or heater), hoses or water pump?

 

I'm going through the same thing right now with my 2002 gc then the check engine light came on and the jeep started to run ruff.
I did all the same thing rad cap and add anti-freeze every two days not alot a inch or two.
cyclinder 3 and 4 had a misfire code and the spark plugs are soaked and wont fire.

I hope you dont have this problem.
p.s.
i started the way you are right now

 

Yeah I hope I don't have the same problem as you, so far it seems like it's running fine and no check engine light on yet (hopefully stays that way). I just finished checking it and it seems like it didn't lose any coolant from the last time I checked it yesterday, I'm not 100% sure but I'm guessing I might of had air pockets in the reservoir or something, I'll keep a close eye on it, but I'm really hoping that's the end of the problem.

 

You can have the cooling system pressure tested, it makes looking for a leak a little easier. blown gaskets are usually accompanied by overheating problems.