1999 XJ 2.5TD Radiator leak
 

Hi all,

Last weekend I changed by coolant at a friends house about 35km away from where I live. Drove the car home no problem, parked it on a slight downward slope towards the front and the next morning observed a small amount of coolant right at the front of the car near the side to where the drain plug is.

I checked the drain plug and all hoses and all were dry. I left the car parked in the same spot for a few days and the leak did not appear to subdue. I then parked the car in my garage on level surface and after a few days the leak completely stopped.

Running the engine in park and reaching operating temperature has no effect on the leak as in, it does not make it worse which I expected it would. As the leak stopped completely after a day or two I drove the car shorter distances and would always check after and observed no leak.

I wasn't confident that all was good so I bought one of those cooling system pressure testing kits and the moment I pressurised the system to about 10-15psi the leak emerged almost like a waterfall. I again checked all hoses and all were dry. The leak appears to be coming somewhere from within the radiator side, the same side of the drain plug.

At this point I think the radiator is toast but can't help but wonder how it is that it does not leak during driving and when the system is under operating temperature but it does when cold and under "artificial" pressure.

Anyways, I have been looking for a new radiator and am having a real hard time finding a replacement radiator. Nobody seems to stock these for the Diesel version here around Melbourne.

Does anybody here know where I can find a reasonably priced replacement radiator?

many thanks!

Good luck finding one. There used to be a company on ebay in the UK that sold new ones same as original at a reasonable price even with shipping.
I had a small core leak about 150,000km ago & I patched it with a bit of epoxy paste. Since then I have run a non pressurized cooling system.

Looks like this might be the right thing:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RADIATOR-TO...8AAOSwA0JcZuLy

Model JE301 (OEM part 5202 9100AB i believe).

Ordered rad from them about 2 years ago - happy so far.
Do not know if would ship to Oz, or if it's worth it.

https://www.adrad.co.uk/car-radiator...model=CHEROKEE

These guys in aus and have them instock full alloy radiator
https://radiatordirect.com.au/jeep-c...8?search=61008

I did my TJ (obviously not a diesel) recently and when I checked my heater hoses they were pretty bad so I changed them as well. Worth a look.