a couple more cooling questions, PLEASE HELP....ive searched

9

93xj-jeeper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Pacific Northwest
so after posting on here a while ago about my cooling problems on my 93 xj 4.0L i was advised to install a temp guage. ive had one before so was pretty sure my rig was running way too hot but installed one anyways. my assumptions were correct and i NEED to figure out what to do about my cooling...

basically whenever driving up any grades the jeep will keep on rising and rising until it overheats.....it stays at 210* USUALLY when driving on flat or freeway but whenever i go up any grades it will immediately raise to 220, then 230, then 240....

yesterday i had to let it cool down four times for at least 15 mins each time when i was going over a 7 mile medium grade moutain pass. after each cool down within a minute or so it would be back up to 230*. currently, i have a couple month old water pump, couple month old thermostat, about a 2 year old GDI radiator, a couple month old radiator cap (13 lbs), my aux fan is wired to a switch and runs constinately....

so now i am at the point where i dont know what to do....i am thinking about replacing my radiator but dont know what to buy. ive searched numerous times and there seems to be a lot of mixed opinions on modine, csf, gdi (which i have), or an aluminum (i dont know which brand)

or i am wondering if my clutch fan may have something to do with it. is there a good way to test it. i mean i just now tested by reving my engine and it definately seems to increase speed with my rpms.....ive read a lot about clutch fans should lock up? honestly, i dont really understand what this means, could someone explain? also, ive read about replacing them with a GM clutch, but couldnt find a lot of info....is this a good mod?

i was also contemplating a hesco water pump but there seems to be a lot of mixed opinions on this as well and i dont know how much it would help.

if any body has any opinions on any of these parts (radiator, fan, water pump) or has any other ideas of what could be wrong please help....

its getting to the point where if im driving for any extended periods of time or going to be going over very big hills im screwed, and cannot drive.

sorry about the long post, just wanted to get most of the info in now, thanks for any help guys....Jake
 
i've been thinking about trying some of that redline water wetter. it's supposed to drop temps by like 20 degrees. maybe that or some other additives we sell at my work that claim to drop the temperature. i honestly think it's worth a shot. either that or some other type of cooling additive.
 
you know a friend of mine uses water wetter in his modified "street racing" car and claims it helps a lot......i cant think there would be any side effects to using it right? any body know much about it or any of the other things in my first post?
 
well from a ton of research i've been doing this evening after my XJ overheated in the florida heat this afternoon i've found this.

water has twice the thermal transfer properties of a 50/50 water/glycol mixture does. race cars and drag cars all run just straight water in their radiators. the only thing is with straight water is it doesn't have any corrosion resistance. with the water wetter added to a system of just water it will give it the corrosion resistance plus help the heat transfer itself.

living in florida i don't have to worry about antifreeze, so i'm going to try and run mine on straight water with some water wetter + 180 degree thermostat and see how it goes. it's completely worth a shot.
 
sorry to bear the bad news but my 1989 xj heats up on long grades too and I've had 15% glycol, 85% water and REDLINE WATTER WETTER in it for awhile. the watter wetter helps a little but it will still easily overheat.
 
If your fan clutch is more than a few years old, I would start with that first. That could definitely be the problem if yours is bad.

K
 
Water wetter is a BAND AID that is trying to solve a problem that should be properly fixed by replacing defective, worn cooling system parts.

I live in Phoenix, so on one on this board probably has a bigger challenge keeping his XJ cool than I do. I NEVER have overheating problems.

What's my secret, you ask? All OEM or OEM equivalent parts, in "as new" condition, running 50/50 glycol-water mix. Doing this, my XJ performs exactly as the design was supposed to--it keeps the coolant temp at or below 210 degrees, even at 115 degrees air temp, in stop and go traffic.

I don't need the band-aids that come in the form of water wetter, 3 row radiators, 180 thermostats, high flow water pumps, dual electric fans, etc.

Use OEM parts, and keep them in good condition, and the cooling system should handle anything you can throw at it.
 
Also you can't run pure water, the cooling system needs the corrosion inhibitors and lubricants that are in the anti-freeze even if using distilled water. Granted you can run less thah the 50/50 mix but I would not go much below 25/75 or corrosion is going to eat the impeller and just about everything else in there fairly quickly.
From your initial description, fan clutch. How is it in traffic or just idling in the sun....
 
I had engine temp rise every time we went uphill even when the XJ was new and then everything was OEM, the service was in the local distributor who would ONLY put OEM parts as he was the importer of Jeep spare parts.

I have always laughed with my wife that this XJ has comed with an inclinometer instead of a temp gauge.

Before this 4.0L HO XJ I had a 2.6 L V6 XJ and that one did not have that heat rising temp situation.

So that the XJ's have high operating motor temperatures has been said and discussed in many different threads here, so to me that's a fact of life, that there are many different ways to tackle this situation, that's also a fact, what is or are the best solutions that's open to discussion and we will find a lot of people arguing in different ways, and that's what makes this threads so interesting.

Cheers

SACEM
 
well to answer a few questions:

how is it in traffic? usually around 210 or so, but thats usually, unless its for any extended period of time...

ideling? honestly ive never left it ideling long enough to watch. ive had it idle and get to 215 or so but never kept it going.

i think i will go ahead and replace the radiator and the clutch fan....any opinions on radiators? i was leaning towards csf but really no strong reason why. would some sort of a performance aluminum work better, or modine?

also anybody know if a 97+ fan clutch is the same as the older ones? is it better? also anybody know much about the gm fan idea? thanks again
 
Seems to me like the tranny is causing too much heat in your jeep. You may want to add a tranny cooler to the loop, and also get it flushed and checked out. Another thing you might want to try is to add a tranny temp gauge. That might help you zero in on the problem, especially if you can see it's temp rise before the engine's temp does.
 
My opinion is that the XJ radiator is marginal capacity at best. Take a look at the single row of tubes; it is a single row to save production costs, period. If not, Chrysler would fill up the existing space in the radiator housing with more tubes.

My 89 heated up, and I replaced the stock radiator with a 2-row GDI, which solved the problem.

My 'new' 96 heated up last Saturday, in 95* heat (105* heat index). Granted, the A/C was on, and it was in normal traffic. This is not acceptable to me, so I ordered a CSF (all metal) radiator in a 3-row this time. We'll see how it cools, but I expect this will end the cooling problems on this one too.

These single-row XJ radiators are just too %&*# small capacity for the engine size. :mad:
 
Runnin'OnEmpty said:
My opinion is that the XJ radiator is marginal capacity at best. Take a look at the single row of tubes; it is a single row to save production costs, period. If not, Chrysler would fill up the existing space in the radiator housing with more tubes.
Click to expand...
Your statement seems to contradict my limited experience. My 1992, and my 2000 (both 4.0 w/AC) had two row radiators as OEM.
 
Your statement seems to contradict my limited experience. My 1992, and my 2000 (both 4.0 w/AC) had two row radiators as OEM.
Click to expand...
Jeff, I was wondering how yours could run so cool in Arizona heat. That must be it, you have 2-rows of tubes. Maybe towing packages...?

Both of my Sports, 89 & now 96, have had the single row radiators.....
 
My 1992 was a 4.0 with AC, AW-4 automatic, but NO towing package.

It had a 2-row OEM BRASS rad that I replaced due to rot. The replacement was a Modine 2-row from NAPA.

My 2000 is also 4.0, AC, AW-4, but it DOES have the towing and "Up Country" packages on it. It has a two row ALUMINUM rad, with plastic end caps on it.

Both of them never ran over 210 (plus or minus 5 degrees), when all parts were working as designed.

Then again, I change my coolant EVERY YEAR, as I don't want to have rad corrosion issues here in this level of heat.
 
Interesting.....It seems like some XJer's like you have no cooling problems, and some others, me included, have overheating problems like crazy. It must be from the number of radiator tubes that came stock on these things. (Both of mine were/are low mileage with regular coolant changes and clean coolant)

I wonder how many XJ's are out there with single row radiators....? Wonder why Chrysler would even put two different types in them; maybe the ones sold in hot climates had 2-tubes, while the ones sold in cooler climes had 1-row? Both of my XJs came from up north originally......
 
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