This is a long post, with many spelling and other grammar mistakes. I have dyslexia so please go easy on me.
So i picked up this Jeep liberty, 2003 3.7 with around 160K miles on it, its very clean seems almost new inside, original owner used to to drive from eastern long island to the city in the winters. Never been off road, decent service history, no leaks, sounds, slips or bangs. No rust or human slime, pet hair or kid stank. Im sure i paid to much but winters here and need something for the snow...
ANYWAY in addition to my OCD and anxiety I have head gasket fears and ill explain why.
Dude told me his mechanic replaced the water pump and radiator because it overheated on him and his mechanic said there was a crack in the radiator and the water pump was leaking. He then told me he had his guy also check for head gasket issues after doing the water pump and radiator. He even let me take it on a 15 mile test drive in long island rush hour traffic and on back roads where i could get it up to speed. around a 30 min test drive, it was great.
So decided to buy it. Later that night i noticed the heat was very weak when in park or idle but at speed it was fine. I started to have nightmares about the issues i once had with a 2001 Chevy Malibu that had a blown head gasket, the first symptom were issues with heat.
So with the motor running i noticed one of the hoses for the heater core was cool and one was hot, i then slowly opened the overflow bottle and a bubble came out then the heat was fine. Then i took out my block tester kit, you know the kind with the blue juice and the plastic tube and tested for exhaust fumes in the coolant, it was very hard to get decent suction but when i did the fluid stayed blue.
There is no white spew in the oil, there is no steam from the back end
Then i used a scanner to test the operating temp several different times and some times it would get no hotter than 190f other times it would go up to 218 and the fan would come on and it would drop to around 201, all in all the temp is between 185 and 218 never hotter than that.
Drove the jeep all day today, put around 135 miles on with zero issues and then again tonight at idle the heat was weak, not cold like last night just no as HOT as it is when driving.
Also on the coolant bottle there is 3 chambers, the far side to the passenger wheel is FULL to the absolute top, the middle one fluctuates between the cold fill line and just to the top of the what i assume is the "hot" fill line and the one towards the drivers side is empty.
Does any and all of this sound normal? Am i just freaking out? Does it sound like there was hidden head gasket issues the P/O did not fully tell me about? Again, AM i just going insane?
So i picked up this Jeep liberty, 2003 3.7 with around 160K miles on it, its very clean seems almost new inside, original owner used to to drive from eastern long island to the city in the winters. Never been off road, decent service history, no leaks, sounds, slips or bangs. No rust or human slime, pet hair or kid stank. Im sure i paid to much but winters here and need something for the snow...
ANYWAY in addition to my OCD and anxiety I have head gasket fears and ill explain why.
Dude told me his mechanic replaced the water pump and radiator because it overheated on him and his mechanic said there was a crack in the radiator and the water pump was leaking. He then told me he had his guy also check for head gasket issues after doing the water pump and radiator. He even let me take it on a 15 mile test drive in long island rush hour traffic and on back roads where i could get it up to speed. around a 30 min test drive, it was great.
So decided to buy it. Later that night i noticed the heat was very weak when in park or idle but at speed it was fine. I started to have nightmares about the issues i once had with a 2001 Chevy Malibu that had a blown head gasket, the first symptom were issues with heat.
So with the motor running i noticed one of the hoses for the heater core was cool and one was hot, i then slowly opened the overflow bottle and a bubble came out then the heat was fine. Then i took out my block tester kit, you know the kind with the blue juice and the plastic tube and tested for exhaust fumes in the coolant, it was very hard to get decent suction but when i did the fluid stayed blue.
There is no white spew in the oil, there is no steam from the back end
Then i used a scanner to test the operating temp several different times and some times it would get no hotter than 190f other times it would go up to 218 and the fan would come on and it would drop to around 201, all in all the temp is between 185 and 218 never hotter than that.
Drove the jeep all day today, put around 135 miles on with zero issues and then again tonight at idle the heat was weak, not cold like last night just no as HOT as it is when driving.
Also on the coolant bottle there is 3 chambers, the far side to the passenger wheel is FULL to the absolute top, the middle one fluctuates between the cold fill line and just to the top of the what i assume is the "hot" fill line and the one towards the drivers side is empty.
Does any and all of this sound normal? Am i just freaking out? Does it sound like there was hidden head gasket issues the P/O did not fully tell me about? Again, AM i just going insane?