The Rubi Q Build

[DAA]

Oh, crap... That's about as bad as I've seen.

- DAA

 

[UNSTUCK]

I’m starting to wonder if there’s another issue somewhere. Blew out the newish heater core last week and now the radiator. Over pressurizing and the cap not venting? Would the plastic blow out before a hose? Seems unlikely.

 

[mbryson]

I’m starting to wonder if there’s another issue somewhere. Blew out the newish heater core last week and now the radiator. Over pressurizing and the cap not venting? Would the plastic blow out before a hose? Seems unlikely.

head gasket? What other issues would create pressure in the cooling system?

 

[N-Smooth]

I blame Arizona.

 

[I Lean]

head gasket? What other issues would create pressure in the cooling system?

Those are the two things I can think of. (faulty cap or combustion gases getting in)

 

[Gravy]

Or old crap plastic radiator and heat core tanks.

I've got a lifetime warranty radiator in my TJ from Vatozone....so worth it.
I'll bet I've swapped out 3 or 4 of them. (Rolling or motor mounts that aren't stiff enough for monster trucking over cars has nothing do do with it...)🤣

You.could.try that cheaper tester thing to see if you've got.combustion gasses in the coolant

 

[Greg]

I've got a lifetime warranty radiator in my TJ from Vatozone....so worth it.
I'll bet I've swapped out 3 or 4 of them. (Rolling or motor mounts that aren't stiff enough for monster trucking over cars has nothing do do with it...)🤣

Lifetime parts from Autozone = you'll be changing that part out, the rest of your lifetime.

 

[85CUCVKRAWLER]

I would get one of those cheap coolant test kits to test for combustion gases.

 

[UNSTUCK]

Livy took this job and ran with it. Only got stuck a couple times. She wasn’t strong enough to open the hose clamps with the pliers I gave her and the shroud screw holes in the radiator were in the wrong place. I had to help her install some self tappers instead to hold it in place.
We put in a new cap so hopefully that solves the issue. I need about two months before the new engine swap can begin.

 

[Gravy]

Lifetime parts from Autozone = you'll be changing that part out, the rest of your lifetime.

🤣🤣🤣 Totally some stuff for sure! 🤣🤣🤣
Since '04 I bet I've warrantied a half dozen reman saginaw 3 bolt steering boxes, 7 Dana 30 front axle shafts, countless ball joints and unit bearings. Broken before they got worn out- I've got my money's worth on those ones 😉

 

[glockman]

View attachment 161938

Livy took this job and ran with it. Only got stuck a couple times. She wasn’t strong enough to open the hose clamps with the pliers I gave her and the shroud screw holes in the radiator were in the wrong place. I had to help her install some self tappers instead to hold it in place.
We put in a new cap so hopefully that solves the issue. I need about two months before the new engine swap can begin.

I don't know if you are raising an awesome Gen Z daughter or preparing yourself for severe disappointment when she has to fix all the stuff around her house while her future husband plays on his VR headset (maybe Alaska will cure that problem). Either way, self reliant kids are definitely the solution to many of todays problems. Good on you Josh and good on Livy!

 

[Hickey]

I don't know if you are raising an awesome Gen Z daughter or preparing yourself for severe disappointment when she has to fix all the stuff around her house while her future husband plays on his VR headset (maybe Alaska will cure that problem). Either way, self reliant kids are definitely the solution to many of todays problems. Good on you Josh and good on Livy!

You just described my son-in-law perfectly, and now I’m more annoyed about his lack of substance.

 

[UNSTUCK]

I don't know if you are raising an awesome Gen Z daughter or preparing yourself for severe disappointment when she has to fix all the stuff around her house while her future husband plays on his VR headset (maybe Alaska will cure that problem). Either way, self reliant kids are definitely the solution to many of todays problems. Good on you Josh and good on Livy!

Thank you for the kind words. She’s one of a kind for sure. She started dating a boy not too long ago. Her first boy friend. She gave up waiting for him and planted the first kiss on him. We know of him from church but don’t really know him yet. Livy has clued him in about how I feel about things like VR headsets so he is nervous to meet us. He comes from MONEY, and well, Livy doesn’t. He picked her up for prom in his dads new C8, for one thing. Anyways, we want to have him over for family dinner, so he can meet us. We are thinking about doing something like standing around the table before we dish up food and listen to the Roseanne Barr version of the National Anthem. Tell him we love her and listen to it before each meal. That or after the blessing on the food all three of my kids just get up and walk out, leaving him there with just Mary and myself. See if we can scare him to death. And Livy is down with all this, so yeah, she’s pretty cool.

But yes, she’s getting good practice working on the jeep, which brings me to my next post…..

 

[UNSTUCK]

Not five miles on the new radiator.



It seems to be fine until after she shuts the engine off. Just like the other radiator. She shut it off, walked away and then someone else notices it “smoking” a few minutes later.
😭😭😭

 

[Trate D]

Does it seem to be flowing coolant? Seen a few broken impellers on the water pumps not moving hot coolant through the system. Heat builds up in top of radiator and usually cracks it. Other than that seems like a combustion issue bleeding into system.

 

[UNSTUCK]

So the jeep sat for a few days while it, and I, cooled down. I slapped some jb weld on the crack, after drilling out the ends. Let it set up over night and tested it. First I did the compression gas test. The blue die never turned yellow. Or even yellowish. Then with my radiator pressure tester installed I got it nice and warm. Pressure topped out at 11 psi. I then tested the new cap I purchased with the radiator. It opened at about 20psi. It’s rated for 18.
I took the radiator back to Oreillys. They swapped it out for a new one. Alivia jumped on it and got it swapped pretty quick, again with only minor help from me.
She has been running it for two days now with no issues. Looks like it was just a bad build. Only need it for about two months while I get the L92 rebuilt.

 

[Greg]

So the jeep sat for a few days while it, and I, cooled down. I slapped some jb weld on the crack, after drilling out the ends. Let it set up over night and tested it. First I did the compression gas test. The blue die never turned yellow. Or even yellowish. Then with my radiator pressure tester installed I got it nice and warm. Pressure topped out at 11 psi. I then tested the new cap I purchased with the radiator. It opened at about 20psi. It’s rated for 18.
I took the radiator back to Oreillys. They swapped it out for a new one. Alivia jumped on it and got it swapped pretty quick, again with only minor help from me.
She has been running it for two days now with no issues. Looks like it was just a bad build. Only need it for about two months while I get the L92 rebuilt.

Which radiator are you planning to run with the V8? Electric fan with a shroud, too?

 

[UNSTUCK]

Which radiator are you planning to run with the V8? Electric fan with a shroud, too?

Funny you should ask. I was just looking at radiators. I think I will give the superior radiators cross flow with shroud and 16” fan a try. I haven’t heard anything bad about them and have heard a few good things. At $550 it’s worth a try.

What do the masses think?

 

[Greg]

Funny you should ask. I was just looking at radiators. I think I will give the superior radiators cross flow with shroud and 16” fan a try. I haven’t heard anything bad about them and have heard a few good things. At $550 it’s worth a try.

What do the masses think?

That's the one I had considered, read nothing but good reviews about it.

 

[UNSTUCK]

I’m a bit late for an update. Here goes.

Oreilly brand Murray radiator #2 blew up. Split the upper tank again in the exact same place as the other one. I jumped online and ordered the Superior Radiators radiator with shroud and electric fan combo. It’s a dual pass radiator set up for an LS engine. I had no idea if it would work with the 4.0 but I didn’t want to buy a different radiator for a short time.
The radiator arrived this week and I jumped on it Friday night and finished the install yesterday. I was able to reuse the stock upper radiator hose and found a lower hose at Oreillys that I was able to make work. I was real happy about that as I didn’t want to make one hose out of two.
The radiator comes with a steam vent port on the radiator. I decided to use that port to run a pressure gauge into the cab so I could see what it was doing while I drove it.

The radiator is no work of art. ‘Nuff said.



I had to make some AL washers to cover the massive lower acre hole cut outs.

The fan had a sticker on it that said 12v 120 watts. Umm that had me a bit concerned. Quick math tells me that’s only 10 amps. I’ve never seen a radiator fan that only draws 10 amps. The fan shroud has a bit of a gap running down both sides of it and there are some crude plasma cutouts for air flow on both lower sides.

Anyways I got it mounted up and it just clears the 4.0’s water pump. I had to use some strategically placed zip ties to hold my lower hose where it would rub the belt or pulleys. I wired the fan through a relay to ignition hot so it’s always on. My cooling system now holds at least a gallon and a half more coolant.

I went for a drive. It quickly got up to 210. It even went just a bit higher. I was surprised. Most of the time my new pressure gauge stayed around 15psi. I didn’t really know what to expect so I was ok with that. Then it climbed more.



How does a cooling system over pressurize? Shouldn’t the cap open it it’s pressure and dump it? My temp gauge was still showing just over 210. I decided to put my scan tool on it. It said the ect was 234. I cooled things off and pulled the t-stat. I boiled it and it never opened. I picked up a new one with a 180* open temp vs the 195 stock temp. I boiled the new one. It didn’t start opening till about 190. But at least it opened. I also picked up a new temp sending unit but the new one does not match the electrical plug so I couldn’t install it.
I went for another drive with my scan tool still plugged in. I watched the live data of the ect. It still climbed past 220. The temp gauge showed right on 210 the whole time. Just as I was getting back to my place the hose to my pressure gauge blew out and sprayed coolant all over the engine bay.

I walked away……again.