Ok guys so last night I was taking my lady to the cheesecake factory. It was the first mildly warm day I have gotten to take the jeep on the freeway since I installed a electric fan on the jeep. Needless to say it got a little warmer that normal, about 212-215. Usually stays a hair below 210 in the city and previously before yesterday on the freeway. Nothing to high but I am planning a trip to Texas and logic dictates that a longer drive would have the jeep slowly climbing higher and higher. I am seriously looking into installing a hood vent of some type but not sure if it would actually make that big of a difference. Given the price I'm a little worried it'll do too little. Outside of being drastic and taking off my winch and lights I'm not sure what more I can do. I already upgraded to a flow cooler pump, aluminum 2 core radiator and said derale electric fan. These parts were only replaced as needed/ wanted not due to previous heating problems. What ideas do you guys suggest. Is the hood vent that big of a difference maker I should just bite the bullet? I do enjoy the peppy throttle I got with going the electric fan deal and have actually registered a 2 mpg difference so would love to keep away from the mechanical one even though I know that would be the easiest choice.
Cooling tips.
- Thread starter Omgbecki
- Start date
RockChucker
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland
How many CFM is your fan rated to pull? Do you have shroud around the fan?
If you don't have a shroud around the fan that ensures that it will pull air through the entire radiator, I would start there. Depending on what the fan is rated to pull, you may end up having to get a fan that can pull more air through that radiator.
I have a poison spyder hood louver on my rig. I didn't notice a difference in coolant temps, but under hood temps did drop a fair amount. Not sure that a hood louver is the best bang for your buck to fix this problem.
If you don't have a shroud around the fan that ensures that it will pull air through the entire radiator, I would start there. Depending on what the fan is rated to pull, you may end up having to get a fan that can pull more air through that radiator.
I have a poison spyder hood louver on my rig. I didn't notice a difference in coolant temps, but under hood temps did drop a fair amount. Not sure that a hood louver is the best bang for your buck to fix this problem.
First thing I would ask you is "are looking at the dash temp gauge?", if yes, then get better data.
I had an exhaust valve stick I thought I was running at about 215 because that is what the dash gauge said. After having the head rebuilt and installing a digital gauge from summit I have found the dash gauge is not accurate. I have found that the PCM does know the correct temperature, the gauge in the dash just is not accurate. If you have an OBD2 scanner that displays temperature use that. The temp from my new gauge which the sensor is installed in back of my 7120 head, and the OEM sensor in the thermostat housing are pretty much identical. My dash gauge will say a bit over 210 and my real gauges say 225, so don't trust the dash.
(all my experience is on a 99 XJ with a stroker)
Cherokees are known for undersized cooling systems and small engine compartments. The radiators are about 3ft wide by about 10 inches tall and there are a few different shrouds that can be purchased to house 3, 10 inch electric fans. You see these setups for sale used all the time because they typically don't work as well as the factory setup. People have gotten electric fans to work but they spend a ton on quality, high cfm fans. The XJ factory setup is one mechanical fan and one electric fan, I know the tj is a single mechanical fan.
If you just worked on the system is all the air out of the system?
I would think if you are warming up on the freeway the fan is not the issue and I doubt that vents would help too much on the freeway, there is just a ton of air moving at that speed. I ran mine pretty hard yesterday since I am still not sure it will stay cool. Running at 60mph it stays about 210 but if I stop and idle it climbs to just over 220, at 70 degrees yesterday.
For me the flowkooler seems to help at idle, like it doesn't heat up as much when I run it hard and stop at a stop light, or it cools a bit quicker at a stop light. I don't think the flowkooler helps much at higher rpms.
Having a real gauge is cool because you can see the temp drop when the tstat opens
I don't have a magic bullet for you, I am trying to figure mine out too, Of course I had the great idea to put 15% more displacement with an undersized cooling system ;( ...
Nathan
I had an exhaust valve stick I thought I was running at about 215 because that is what the dash gauge said. After having the head rebuilt and installing a digital gauge from summit I have found the dash gauge is not accurate. I have found that the PCM does know the correct temperature, the gauge in the dash just is not accurate. If you have an OBD2 scanner that displays temperature use that. The temp from my new gauge which the sensor is installed in back of my 7120 head, and the OEM sensor in the thermostat housing are pretty much identical. My dash gauge will say a bit over 210 and my real gauges say 225, so don't trust the dash.
(all my experience is on a 99 XJ with a stroker)
Cherokees are known for undersized cooling systems and small engine compartments. The radiators are about 3ft wide by about 10 inches tall and there are a few different shrouds that can be purchased to house 3, 10 inch electric fans. You see these setups for sale used all the time because they typically don't work as well as the factory setup. People have gotten electric fans to work but they spend a ton on quality, high cfm fans. The XJ factory setup is one mechanical fan and one electric fan, I know the tj is a single mechanical fan.
If you just worked on the system is all the air out of the system?
I would think if you are warming up on the freeway the fan is not the issue and I doubt that vents would help too much on the freeway, there is just a ton of air moving at that speed. I ran mine pretty hard yesterday since I am still not sure it will stay cool. Running at 60mph it stays about 210 but if I stop and idle it climbs to just over 220, at 70 degrees yesterday.
For me the flowkooler seems to help at idle, like it doesn't heat up as much when I run it hard and stop at a stop light, or it cools a bit quicker at a stop light. I don't think the flowkooler helps much at higher rpms.
Having a real gauge is cool because you can see the temp drop when the tstat opens
I don't have a magic bullet for you, I am trying to figure mine out too, Of course I had the great idea to put 15% more displacement with an undersized cooling system ;( ...
Nathan
Attachments
Lol. I wouldn't be complaining with that displacement problem. Seriously though. On the way home I turned the fan off to see what would happen. The temps still climbed up so then I just forced the fan on until the temps dropped then but the switch back to the thermostat controlled setting. I have been debating on doing a set of gauges for water temp and oil
lhracing
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Layton, UT
This may not be your problem but I have a friend with a YJ and he was having overheating problem at high speed. The problem he found was that the lower radiator hose did not have a spring inside it which allowed the hose to collapse and restrict water flow.
That's a interesting thought.
str8axleguy
Registered User
- Location
- Ogden, UT
I didn’t even think of the hose issue, I have read on forums of this being an issue. May be worth a squeeze on the lower hose mine has a spring through the majority of it.
lhracing
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Layton, UT
The bottom hose is the suction or inlet to the water pump, the top is the high pressure or water pump outlet. The water pump outlet hose does not necessary need a spring but the inlet hose does to keep it from collapsing because of the water pump's suction.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
I've found that factory engineered cooling systems are designed quite well. I stick to factory type cooling fans and such. EVERYONE I know that hasn't used a factory fan system has eventually converted to one. I use a Taurus fan (with both speeds operating) on my 350 TBI in a YJ. It works quite well. Both speeds are required at times.
In my opinion, it's worth looking into a Taurus or Lincoln or Volvo fan setup if you want to continue with the electric fans. For summer driving, I think you'll need more than the pictured fan? It looks fancy but what CFM does it flow?
In my opinion, it's worth looking into a Taurus or Lincoln or Volvo fan setup if you want to continue with the electric fans. For summer driving, I think you'll need more than the pictured fan? It looks fancy but what CFM does it flow?
Funny you say that. I actually have a Lincoln fan waiting on what I decide to do. The fan that is on now is rated 2400 cfm
Your Lincoln fan will probably move double that 2400 CFM, assuming it's from a big Lincoln....Continental or similar. I had one of those fans on a buggy, and it's a monster. Basically a super-sized Taurus fan. I never used anything besides low speed and did not have cooling issues, even with the rear-mounted radiator.
I think I was having mounting issues when I tried before. I had a Taurus fan on the stock rad but mounted it to close and the clip rubbed a hole in the radiator. Hence why I had to change out the radiator. It was at that time that I decided to do the pump and thermostat at the same time and put the stock fan back on. In the winter I ran way too cold with the stock fan so decided to do the electric one again so the jeep would actually warm up. Right now only freeway driving is a issue.
Sorry. I mean when the thermostat would open it would drop a lot and the heater sucked. My initial thought was a bad thermostat so I changed it out. Did little difference so I thought I had nothing to lose by putting the electric fan on. Worked great until now lol. A simple case of I should have left well enough alone but here I am
- Location
- West Jordan
Solutions I'd consider if I was you (in order of preference):
1 - Return the cooling system to stock.
2 - Same as above.
3 - Same as above.
4 - Same as above
5 - Reinstall the Taurus/Lincoln fan (mounted with better clearance to your new radiator) and leave everything else stock.
Solutions I'd NOT consider:
1 - Any solution that involves a fan that isn't your stock one, or the Taurus/Lincoln fan.
With a properly functioning stock system, none of the problems you've been experiencing will be an issue.
1 - Return the cooling system to stock.
2 - Same as above.
3 - Same as above.
4 - Same as above
5 - Reinstall the Taurus/Lincoln fan (mounted with better clearance to your new radiator) and leave everything else stock.
Solutions I'd NOT consider:
1 - Any solution that involves a fan that isn't your stock one, or the Taurus/Lincoln fan.
With a properly functioning stock system, none of the problems you've been experiencing will be an issue.
lhracing
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Layton, UT
I agree with @bryson, the stock systems have a lot of engineering behind them. My experience over the years with muscle cars has been when someone puts in an aluminum radiators and electric fan they end up with heating issues. I have seen a number of problems resolved by removing the electric fan and replacing it with a stock clutch fan and shroud. Another problem with some aftermarket aluminum radiators is they do not have enough water volume built into them. In my opinion you can never have too larger of a radiator, in my Camaro with a 500 cu in big block I run an aluminum radiator with two 1.5in rows for a core thickness of 3+ inches, it is as wide and tall that would fit, it is a fairly expensive Griffin radiator but worth every penny. I also have a factory fan shroud with a clutch fan.