Running just above 210 normal?

Is it normal for these Jeeps with the 4.0 to run a little hotter than 210 when the weather gets hot? I hear all these stories that when so and so put in a new radiator the temp never even touched 210. I can't seem to get my to work so well.

I've replaced the radiator with a new all metal 2 row, the thermostat, the lower rad hose with the spring in it and the fan clutch. I've flushed the system, put in new antifreeze with distilled water and I think I've got all the air out.

My 97 still runs hot. Around town it is fine but once I hit the dirt roads up the mountains or the highway over 65 it climbs above 210. I am guessing that it hits 215 to 220 then the efan kicks in and that usually holds it down to just above 210. I want it to stay at or below 210. Once it goes over 210 my oil pressure drops from 20 to 15 or 10 when at idle and that is what bugs me the most.

This has got to be bad and it is really making me mad. I don't know what else to do besides replace the water pump and I doubt that will make a difference.

I thought that maybe the head was cracked or the gasket blown but I am not losing any antifreeze or oil. I never see any oil in the antifreeze or antifreeze in the oil.

I'm about to just say screw it and try to forget it.

At least I got rid of some of the noises coming from the engin after adding Restore.

My OEM radiator took a dump at 97000 miles. I replaced it with a cheapie. From the first time I started it after the replacement, it ran hotter. Right around 215-220. It never ran that hot with the OEM. Always 210 or below.
Now my cheapo radiator is leaking. I am going to replace it with a good quality 3 row from radiatorbarn.com.
Keeping a 4.0 cool is difficult enough with OEM, let alone cheap aftermarket cooling stuff.
I know how you feel.

Well... I did my research after posting and found four or five older post with the same question... I guess that a little hot is normal when the outside temp gets above 80...

The radiatior I got was from radiatorbarn.com and I am sure it works fine.... I think I'll try to pick up a thermostat from the dealer in the next few days and see what that does.

It just seems that it is not getting enough air flow or the coolant is not moving quickly enough through the system but I can't figure out which one.

Mine was also close to 97000 miles when I did all this replacing stuff. But I just can't remember how well it cooled before.

I don't know that you really have much to worry about. I've replaced everything but the fan clutch. I used a CSF rad. My temps stay right at 210 during normal driving up here. If I go down the mountain where it's usually about 10 degrees hotter, then I'll hit that 220 range and the aux fan will do it's thing. I'm getting ready to install hood vents. Your situation doesn't sound any worse than mine.

ABN146 said:

Is it normal for these Jeeps with the 4.0 to run a little hotter than 210 when the weather gets hot?

My 97 still runs hot. Around town it is fine but once I hit the dirt roads up the mountains or the highway over 65 it climbs above 210. I am guessing that it hits 215 to 220 then the efan kicks in and that usually holds it down to just above 210. I want it to stay at or below 210. Once it goes over 210 my oil pressure drops from 20 to 15 or 10 when at idle and that is what bugs me the most.

Click to expand...

The 4.0 is designed to run between 195 and 220*F so as long as the gauge doesn't go above 220 in hot weather when the engine's loaded up (e.g. driving uphill, towing, AC on full blast), there's no need to worry.
Oil pressure at idle should be not less than 13psi. You could use a higher viscosity oil (e.g. 15W-50) in the summer months if the oil pressure's a bit marginal.

Mine is the same, with only 80000 miles. Getting ready to install hood vents. I've done a lot of searching in this forum and others and it is very common. Vents seem to help quite a bit.

my 93 xj was running around 210 anywhere and with 2 kayaks on top it was HOT. i tried everything and it was not working. had a low temp thermostat 180 degree and that worked but not good for gas mileage. i took it out and got a standt standard 195 thermostat. i would not advise the heavy duty one as it takes longer to open and on my car it seemed to make the temp spike and then drop while it was warming up. the basic no frills standt thermostat for 195 seems to do the trick, its 5.00 cheaper and it now my POSXJ runs at 195 and no hotter when commuting to work, then when i have kayaks on board its just below the middle. seems like it was the thermostat for the heating issues i had.

i bought 2 gallons of the premix coolant by Peak since I cannot mix fer sh*t.

while i was at it i swapped to a new plain jane lower and upper radiator hose. nothing fancy. no spring in the lower either.

i had serious chunks of crud in my reservoir for coolant as well so i washed all that out. although that should not affect anything unless it was gettin sucked into the radiator.

i would check in this order:

- radiator for gunk
- hose condition
- thermostat
- coolant ratio to water

good luck with that. should be ok.

Yeah, check your coolant mix and make sure its not over 50/50 and make sure your condesor isnt clogged with any debris blocking airflow. Also, keep it mind that the OEM gauges arent 100% accurate. I thought I was having cooling issues when I first got the XJ and it turned out that the gauge was running 15-20 too hot. I replaced the sender and nothing changed so I swapped out the gauge and that wasn't the problem.

It turned out after looking through the previous owner's repair receipts, that someone had misdiagnosed a cooling problem before I got it and replaced the OEM temp sensor with an aftermarket one, I can't remember the brand name, but it wasn't OEM, when really the sensor was fine. It was a bad water pump. Not knowing any better, I replaced that one with another aftermarket one, and then I replaced that one with an OEM one and it started reading accurately. I had the same problem with an aftermarket oil pressure sender. I broke the original changing the oil and replaced it with one from autozone. I read way too high all the time. I finally got around to replacing it with an OEM one and its back where it should be--60 at cold start, 50-55 while driving, and 25-30 at hot idle depending on how hot it is outside. I'm done with aftermarket sensors, its worth the extra money for OEM in this case.

You know its funny you bring this up...ITs over a 100F up here in CA Valley and the traffic doesnt help. My jeep usually sticks in the middle but now a days in traffic especially with the AC on it goes past the middle and stays about 225F ( 3/4 way next to the next white mark after half) . I think its normal especially in this heat that everyone is experiencing.

Good luck.

pete

Got a '91 with 300k and it has always ran 210 or more in heat. I have a HD 3row rad and fairly new waterpump, thermostat 180, I think, and new hoses with no issues. As long as the efan is kickin in I would watch it but not sweat it, typical especially under load. The 4.0 is a solid block, have ran mine empty and still got home 50 miles away. lol. You might want to look into a higher flow thermo housing, 3row rad, or a better efan. HTH

Don't get too hung up on the temperature shown on the gauge unless it gets to above 225. Mine used to run right at about 205 at highway speeds with the A/C on or off with an outdoor temperature of 85-90 degrees F. I replaced the temperature sending unit (don't ask why) and now it reads about 215 under the same conditions. It can read higher at low speeds like on the trail unless you modify your system to be able to manually activate the auxilary electric fan.