Wierd noise from coolant reservoir

[ripler]

This is my wife's 2.0T JLU. We went for a short 30 minute drive and I heard this coming from the coolant reservoir. Any idea as to what's going on?

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[desertdude59]

Thats for your turbo.

 

[ripler]

Thats for your turbo.

Gotcha, normal or no? Never did this before.

 

[desertdude59]

I'd say it's not normal. Hopefully your turbo isn't pushing air into the coolant system. Hopefully you just have a bad cap. Maybe your cap is loose.

 

[Carolina Jeeper]

More likely there is an issue with your cap. Worst case,, you have a slightly cracked head, block or just a leaking head gasket. A badly blown head gasket will dump coolant in a gross manner, internally, externally or both.

A minor crack or head gasket leak would allow enough cylinder gasses to get pushed into the coolant system. Plausible. It'll make some odd sounds after running an engine, like thumping, bubbling and various sounds as the gasses escape the cooling system.

I can't say for certain if the turbo on this engine could pressurize the cooling system. It's doubtful.

There are two coolant caps. One on the radiator and one on the coolant overflow reservoir.

Do the following if you know your way around an engine bay. If you don't, skip it and let someone who does. Heres one quick way to see if there are at least gasses getting pushed into the cooling system. With the engine cool, run it for about a minute just enough to barely warm it up. Turn off the engine and loosen the radiator cap. Dont remove it, just turn it enough to break the seal. If it's pressurized after just that short amount of time, there's a serious issue in your engine.

This is just a quick way I would look it over if it was my engine. Undoubtedly there are more and better ways if you have the proper tools. But if it's under warranty, just let the dealership take a look.

 

[ripler]

More likely there is an issue with your cap. Worst case,, you have a slightly cracked head, block or just a leaking head gasket. A badly blown head gasket will dump coolant in a gross manner, internally, externally or both.

A minor crack or head gasket leak would allow enough cylinder gasses to get pushed into the coolant system. Plausible. It'll make some odd sounds after running an engine, like thumping, bubbling and various sounds as the gasses escape the cooling system.

I can't say for certain if the turbo on this engine could pressurize the cooling system. It's doubtful.

There are two coolant caps. One on the radiator and one on the coolant overflow reservoir.

Do the following if you know your way around an engine bay. If you don't, skip it and let someone who does. Heres one quick way to see if there are at least gasses getting pushed into the cooling system. With the engine cool, run it for about a minute just enough to barely warm it up. Turn off the engine and loosen the radiator cap. Dont remove it, just turn it enough to break the seal. If it's pressurized after just that short amount of time, there's a serious issue in your engine.

This is just a quick way I would look it over if it was my engine. Undoubtedly there are more and better ways if you have the proper tools. But if it's under warranty, just let the dealership take a look.

Thanks, I'll try your suggestions. It's still under the power train warranty, which I assume will take care of this. We've had 25+ vehicles and none of them have had as many issues as my wife's Wrangler

 

[jjvincent]

I'd say it's the coolant cap bleeding off pressure. Turbos sill not pressurize the coolant system. If the turbo is faulty, it'll leak usually into the exhaust and it'll smoke like a freight train.

I suggest that you check the coolant level first. Best way is to open that hood all the way up to the windscreen frame, take the cap off and look down into it with a flashlight. There is a tab in there (bright yellow) that will indicate what the coolant level is to be when cold. If low fill it up (they sell the correct coolant at autoparts stores which is made for what you have). I would also look under the FL wheel and see if there is a pink trace. If so, it might be leaking coolant out of the water pump housing. They are notorious for leaking and it's because many are not tightened enough, come loose and then they leak. Jeep knows about it and they will fix it.

Also those two coolant caps are this. The one right in front of the driver is the expansion tank for the coolant system for the engine. Other is for the coolant system for the intercooler. Two different systems.

 

[ripler]

Both reservoirs were low. I topped them off before we drove 1.5 hours home. I opened the hood to check the turbo coolant tank and it was acting normal. I'll check for leaks and make an appointment with the dealer and I'll keep an eye on it until I get it into service.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[jjvincent]

At least it's not like I deal with in racing. Some cars need you to pressureize the coolant system to 20 or 30 psi when cold. Then others, have a system that you can force fill it with a pressurized tank. Then others that has a pump which is hooked up to a thing that looks like a water cooler (mostly for filling).

 

[ScotM]

Came home from a 30 minute trip, normally just hear the turbo coolant pump working, but today I seemed to notice a bubbling sound coming from the turbo reservoir. I never noticed this before. Coolant level is fine, cap is tight. Is this normal, and I just never noticed it before?

 

[ScotM]

Bump

Came home from a 30 minute trip, normally just hear the turbo coolant pump working, but today I seemed to notice a bubbling sound coming from the turbo reservoir. I never noticed this before. Coolant level is fine, cap is tight. Is this normal, and I just never noticed it before?

. Anyone hear of this?

 

[Omen]

Came home from a 30 minute trip, normally just hear the turbo coolant pump working, but today I seemed to notice a bubbling sound coming from the turbo reservoir. I never noticed this before. Coolant level is fine, cap is tight. Is this normal, and I just never noticed it before?

I just had this happen yesterday afternoon. Never happened before. Levels are fine. I left the hood open to cool everything down. Once out of warranty, I may have to look at other, better, engine swap options... I feel like these JL's are a grenade with the pin pulled.

Maybe @alphawolff can shed some light on this?

 

[alphawolff]

I'd suspect the coolant is boiling and the pump isn't working properly

 

[ScotM]

Mine turned out to be loose cap. I checked the pump near the passenger control arm, sounds good and is on after engine shut off. Haven’t heard anything since I tightened the cap

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