XJ afraid of heights? ??overheating

[HotxjGuy]

I replaced thermostat. Upper hose, reservoir and cap everything runs perfect and won't heat up unless climbing. I am getting frustrated. I feel like I can hear the oil or coolant boiling.


This only seems to happen when my XJ is under load
If I could relate this to my diesel it would be lugging it and causing my egts to rise if I leave it in lower gear it happens slower

[HotxjGuy]

Here is my temp guage

[Pookapotamus]

XJ's do tend to run hot, it's due to the small surface area of the rad. Have you flushed the system? How many cores does your rad have? What temp of thermostat did you install? When is the last time the water pump was changed??


Having 4WD means getting stuck in more inaccessible places!

[Mayooo]

Kind of confused. You say it won't heat up but you feel like its boiling and your gauge is spiked.

I'm going to take this as, normal driving your temp is low and under loads it's redlined. Ahhhhh... The joy of owning a xj. And welcome to xjtalk. Lets start.

First check your radiator
Anything blocking your grill
Check for blockages on your radiator, mud, leaves, ect..
Check for proper coolant/water mix. 50/50, 30/70. Dependent on your climate.
I find running 30/70 summer and 50/50 winter works great for me.

Next check fans
How's your clutch fan working. Stiff, loose, ect.
Is your auxiliary fan kicking on.
If not check relay, temp sensor, wiring or if the fan Spins freely.

Water pump as mentioned in last post.

Thermostat is something that you will hear a lot of people argue about. I'm a firm believer on keeping the set temp at 190-195. Any lower and you will start to experience slow or no climb to normal operating temps. Higher you will experience above normal operating temps. Also with lower set temp you will cause your engine to run rich.

Your use of the a/c will greatly affect operating temps.

By know means am I an expert at this and not sure of your skill level.
This is just the steps I would take to trouble shoot a system.

Had the same problem with high temps. I finally gave up and installed a 3 core radiator, high flow water pump and 3 10" high velocity efans. And run a 190 thermostat. She purrs wheeling all day about 205-210.

Hope this helps.

[Carves]

Could be one thing causing your issue ... or a few things with minor faults.

Thats why I tend to do all the cooling system at once.

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/carves-oz/Vehicle%20Bits/CoolingItems.jpg


X 2 on post comments above.

If you can ... use an IR temp gun to see whether the bottom of the rad is much cooler than the top,

... which would suggest some clogged tubes.

As Pook mentioned, the rad is barely adequate ... and needs to be in top notch condition.


Fanclutch could be on the way out and not engaging fully at the higher revs,

Water pump is a possible ... especially if its been in there a while, and parts of the impellor have corroded off.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/glennster_01/DCP01844.jpg



A new thermostat should be OK, buttttt .. :D

Too strong a coolant ratio - can cause issues ... especially in warmer climates,

... which is why I use a 10/90 mix.

[HotxjGuy]

Kind of confused. You say it won't heat up but you feel like its boiling and your gauge is spiked.

I'm going to take this as, normal driving your temp is low and under loads it's redlined. Ahhhhh... The joy of owning a xj. And welcome to xjtalk. Lets start.

First check your radiator
Anything blocking your grill
Check for blockages on your radiator, mud, leaves, ect..
Check for proper coolant/water mix. 50/50, 30/70. Dependent on your climate.
I find running 30/70 summer and 50/50 winter works great for me.

Next check fans
How's your clutch fan working. Stiff, loose, ect.
Is your auxiliary fan kicking on.
If not check relay, temp sensor, wiring or if the fan Spins freely.

Water pump as mentioned in last post.

Thermostat is something that you will hear a lot of people argue about. I'm a firm believer on keeping the set temp at 190-195. Any lower and you will start to experience slow or no climb to normal operating temps. Higher you will experience above normal operating temps. Also with lower set temp you will cause your engine to run rich.

Your use of the a/c will greatly affect operating temps.

By know means am I an expert at this and not sure of your skill level.
This is just the steps I would take to trouble shoot a system.

Had the same problem with high temps. I finally gave up and installed a 3 core radiator, high flow water pump and 3 10" high velocity efans. And run a 190 thermostat. She purrs wheeling all day about 205-210.

Hope this helps.
sorry if it didnt make sense basically my jeep seems to run perfect (normal operating temp) but then if I climb at low speed or high speed I start to heat up. Its at a very consistant rate. It dosent really spike it just consistantly gets hotter. Then if i drive on flat ground I am good it cools down and is fine. Only problem is I bought this thing to go up hills hahaha

I forgot to add new water pump and tstat is stock replacement from ORIELLY and I looked at my radiator and it seems to be fine no mud or leaves or anything blocking the front.

Both fans were on today last time it got hot the fan on my passenger side was on but not the driver side fan today both seemed to be on the whole time??? I am new to all this but am getting frustrated I just want to fix things that I break offroading haha I cant seem to even get there yet!

[HotxjGuy]

Could be one thing causing your issue ... or a few things with minor faults.

Thats why I tend to do all the cooling system at once.

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/carves-oz/Vehicle%20Bits/CoolingItems.jpg


X 2 on post comments above.

If you can ... use an IR temp gun to see whether the bottom of the rad is much cooler than the top,

... which would suggest some clogged tubes.

As Pook mentioned, the rad is barely adequate ... and needs to be in top notch condition.


Fanclutch could be on the way out and not engaging fully at the higher revs,

Water pump is a possible ... especially if its been in there a while, and parts of the impellor have corroded off.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/glennster_01/DCP01844.jpg



A new thermostat should be OK, buttttt .. :D

Too strong a coolant ratio - can cause issues ... especially in warmer climates,

... which is why I use a 10/90 mix.
wow thanks for this comment and all the pics

you know what I am not sure exactly were my coolant ratio is I was trying to find the leak in my closed system and kept filling with water but then I fixed it with a new res and cap and started evening it out with straight coolant I bet my ratio is off I thought it was 50 50 but Ill drain and check

so new radiator isnt a bad IDEA also is this an easy DYI ????


89 xj

[HotxjGuy]

how would I drain and fill this closed system correctly ?????

[Pookapotamus]

New rad is not a bad idea at all, fairly straight forward to remove and replace.

Draining the system is easy, if you got the rad out, all the coolant is out.

Filling is simple too, once you have everything back together, fill with 50/50, fill the over flow bottle to proper limit, run the engine through a few cycles of cold to operating temp, making sure the overflow bottle is topped up.

I would suggest picking up a mixture gauge, can't think of what it's called but they are super cheap, $5

Lots of write ups online too.


Having 4WD means getting stuck in more inaccessible places!

[Mayooo]

Could be one thing causing your issue ... or a few things with minor faults.

Thats why I tend to do all the cooling system at once.

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/carves-oz/Vehicle%20Bits/CoolingItems.jpg


X 2 on post comments above.

If you can ... use an IR temp gun to see whether the bottom of the rad is much cooler than the top,

... which would suggest some clogged tubes.

As Pook mentioned, the rad is barely adequate ... and needs to be in top notch condition.


Fanclutch could be on the way out and not engaging fully at the higher revs,

Water pump is a possible ... especially if its been in there a while, and parts of the impellor have corroded off.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/glennster_01/DCP01844.jpg



A new thermostat should be OK, buttttt .. :D

Too strong a coolant ratio - can cause issues ... especially in warmer climates,

... which is why I use a 10/90 mix.

How does that 10/90 work out for you?

[Carves]

......... I thought it was 50 50 but Ill drain and check

so new radiator isnt a bad IDEA also is this an easy DYI ????

... any where between 30/70 and 50/50, ought, to be OK for you.

If you have high and low yearly weather temps ... changing the ratio as Mayooo does, is not a bad idea.

Radiator swap is a bit fiddly if you try to do it without removing other components. Most use some cardboard to protect the fins when sliding the new one in.

I Have read that some with the older XJ system, have experienced pressure loss due to a dodgy cap on the overflow bottle.

Your radiator cap is a 15psi one ??

Loss of pressure means the boil point happens at a lower coolant temp.


how would I drain and fill this closed system correctly ?????

I'm sure others do it more professionally ... but I dont give a damn about the neighbors stray kittens ... and just pop the lower hose off - in the driveway .. :o .. :D

[Carves]

How does that 10/90 work out for you?


Works good for me.

The digitally monitored temps are much more stable than using 50/50.

No more than 5*f mood swings on the gauge ... compared to the 15*-20*f when running 50/50

I rarely see winter temps of less than 30*f ... and thats only in early mornings,

... so the anti-freeze isnt much of a nescessity.

What I use tho ... is a factory premix that has a dose of the anti corrosive/anti foaming etc., additives in it.

[Mayooo]

Funny! I was just listening to a podcast today about mudderoy and his high temp problem.. He finally got a remote temp gauge and it turns out that his dash gauge has been reading wrong.. Hopefully he can shed some light on this.

[HotxjGuy]

I just drained the coolant now I'm going to refill I have read different methods of burping it anyone want to shed light on this?

[HotxjGuy]

Funny! I was just listening to a podcast today about mudderoy and his high temp problem.. He finally got a remote temp gauge and it turns out that his dash gauge has been reading wrong.. Hopefully he can shed some light on this.

This is a good idea also thanks

[HotxjGuy]

Hey guys thanks for all the advice I just wanted to report back that I was able to take my Jeep off roading today I had a blast it stayed cool the whole time the solution was to drain all my coolant and mix it to the proper level an burp the system I let it warm up and cool down multiple times and kept refilling my reservoir it ran like a champ today thank you guys so much:bacondance:

[HotxjGuy]

Here is a pic

[Pookapotamus]

Good to hear!


Having 4WD means getting stuck in more inaccessible places!

[Mayooo]

Heck yeah!