Forgive me if this comes off as a stupid question. I have tried searching on google but I can't seem to find anything addressing this.

Last night I was checking some maintenance items off of both of my babies, 20k service for the Jeep, and 60k mile service for the Jag, according to the handbooks. The visual stuff mostly, you know, since I wasn't going to do any actual wrenching at 10 pm. I checked fluids level and color, tire pressures and tread depth, hose conditions, visual inspection of brake pads, looking for any leaks, and serpentine belt condition, which along with the supercharger belt on the Jag, I'm changing once I am done with the NBDE part 1 on Thursday (pray for a pass guys, I'm really nervous about this test).

While I was checking the condition of the hoses on the Renegade, I noticed nearly all of the cooling system hoses, but specially the radiator hoses, were wrapped from the factory with some sort of thin material. I don't know how to describe it well, but I will do my best. It was tightly, not loosely wrapped around the hoses, it had a solid but plasticky feel to it, definitely not metal and it had no compliance to it other than what the hose itself has. It also had some pores on it. Come to think of it, it seems like some sort of sleeve for the hoses.

I then checked on the Jag's hoses and none of them had a similar material on them. I imagine this is some sort of heat insulation material, but I was under the impression that would actually be a bad thing for the hoses. You need them to dissipate heat, not keep it trapped in there.

I'll try to snap a picture when I leave the library tonight. Does anyone have any idea what it could be?


Also, while I was checking the serpentine and supercharger belt, I found a tiny coolant leak which is the culprit of my squeaking belts. There's a three sectioned hose that runs from the expansion tank. The first section is about 2 or 3 inches long in rubber, the second section is a plastic line that runs under the intercooler and then emerges behind the snout of the supercharger where the third section, which is rubber, begins and attaches just behind the upper pulley of the supercharger. That third section is leaking, the first section from the expansion doesn't look to be in good conditions.

Is it possible to replace those two sections with any old cooling hose of small diameter that I can find at Pep Boys without breaking the plastic line that runs under the intercooler? Got any tips on removing those old hoses?

Initially I was going to try to plug the holes while I changed the hose, but I think it's a good time to flush the coolant.