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Cooling System

trevanator

trevanator

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fullerton, Ca
Okay so here's what I have:
FF dynamics triple core aluminum radiator and triple threat electric fans ( same set up as jeeperjohn for those of you that know his)
new water pump
new thermostat 195
new tstat housing relatively it is new from the new motor which has about 20k on it
b and m transmission cooler and the tranny fluid only goes through it and not the radiator at all
aftermarket temp gauge installed into tstat housing as well as the stock gauge still

So my dilemma is this. I can drive on the freeway no problem at 80mph no heating up at all and I can drive on the streets and all that no heating up. But as soon as I start to go up a hill it will start to climb. My stock gauge which I believe to be off by about 20 degrees on average reads 210 normally but when I checked the fluid with a temp sensor in the coolant flowing out of the tstat housing it was 185 roughly. So my aftermarket gauge reads about 185 because it is getting the fluid out of the tstat housing so I take that to be more accurate. Anyways upon driving up hill it will heat up to about 190 195 according to my aftermarket gauge and 220 225 according to my stock gauge when I drive up lincoln in corona which is approximately 4 miles up hill at a decent grade. once I reach the top the motor cools pretty quickly within a mile of driving on flat. this weekend driving up cahone pass to the desert my stock gauge read 235 and my aftermarket 205 but the grade would plane out and it would cool back down then it would go back up as soon as i started going back up hill. So I made it up the hill never exceeding those temps but it still bothers me that it heats up at all and definitely that much I can understand 10 degrees or so but 25 or 30? what am I missing?
 
I suggest adding a 75 amp relay to power the 3 fans and use the fan controller that came with the kit to trigger it. I found that the fan controller that comes with the kit limits the current to the fans and cannot handle the current draw in the long run. I had noticably higher fans speeds after I did this mod. I also suggest adding a switch to trigger the fans manually and hit it just prior to going uphill. Other than that, make sure the system is well bled of air. Also, if you do not have the shrouds for the fans I would get them or make some similar ones. They made a noticable difference on mine because they allow the fans to pull air over all of the cooling fins instead of having 3 large circles where air doesn't flow.
 
mine is an overheating pig too, i finally bought the labaron hood vents and installed them, that helped but it still needs more. im thinking of adding 2 fans to the underside of those vents, so in essence i would have 2 fans drawing air into the compartment, and two fans at the hood drawing air out.
 
You just can't beat the stock fans pulling air through a good radiator..........but this has already been said a bazillion times on this forum. :)
 
trevanantor said:
my aftermarket gauge reads about 185 because it is getting the fluid out of the tstat housing so I take that to be more accurate. Anyways upon driving up hill it will heat up to about 190 195 according to my aftermarket gauge [...] once I reach the top the motor cools pretty quickly within a mile of driving on flat. this weekend driving up cahone pass to the desert [...] my aftermarket 205 but the grade would plane out and it would cool back down then it would go back up as soon as i started going back up hill. So I made it up the hill never exceeding those temps but it still bothers me that it heats up at all and definitely that much I can understand 10 degrees or so but 25 or 30? what am I missing?
Click to expand...
That behavior sounds perfectly reasonable to me, maybe even on the cool side
 
ehall said:
That behavior sounds perfectly reasonable to me, maybe even on the cool side
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing too. I read the post a couple of times and didn't see where it was coming close to ever heating. Only ten degrees above the t-stat opening temp... I wish mine only "over-heated" like that.
If you are sure your aftermarket gauge is correct (which it sounds like it is pretty close to the T-stat operating temp) I would not worry about it.
 
jrowell said:
I thought the same thing too. I read the post a couple of times and didn't see where it was coming close to ever heating. Only ten degrees above the t-stat opening temp... I wish mine only "over-heated" like that.
If you are sure your aftermarket gauge is correct (which it sounds like it is pretty close to the T-stat operating temp) I would not worry about it.
Click to expand...
If you are not reaching temps above 240 then you should be just fine.
 
Really, you think 240 is fine, or just on his gauge?

When my various cooling systems are working fine, which they almost always do, there is little to no temperature rise when going up hills. My buggy has a totally stock cooling system other than a better aftermarket radiator.....stock clutch fan, stock aux fan, closed system with the stock plastic expansion tank. I have a nicely built 4.7 stroker motor and it has to pull 40" soft sticky tires with low pressure. When racing or pre-running it runs flat out sometimes and many times is full throttle accelerating. I'd say that is a little more load on the motor than most XJ's get on most street driving, even uphill. It runs at 210* virtually all of the time.
 
Goatman said:
Really, you think 240 is fine, or just on his gauge?

When my various cooling systems are working fine, which they almost always do, there is little to no temperature rise when going up hills. My buggy has a totally stock cooling system other than a better aftermarket radiator.....stock clutch fan, stock aux fan, closed system with the stock plastic expansion tank. I have a nicely built 4.7 stroker motor and it has to pull 40" soft sticky tires with low pressure. When racing or pre-running it runs flat out sometimes and many times is full throttle accelerating. I'd say that is a little more load on the motor than most XJ's get on most street driving, even uphill. It runs at 210* virtually all of the time.
Click to expand...

People on here just don't believe you can keep these things cool. We have a 2 row radiator and 2 late model stock electric fans on the racer and we run 200-205 all the time. And when you are pulling a soft sand wash, foot to the floor in 2nd gear for 5+miles it puts a serious test on the cooling system.
 
DieselSJ said:
People on here just don't believe you can keep these things cool. We have a 2 row radiator and 2 late model stock electric fans on the racer and we run 200-205 all the time. And when you are pulling a soft sand wash, foot to the floor in 2nd gear for 5+miles it puts a serious test on the cooling system.
Click to expand...


Interesting that you're running two stock aux fans, don't know why I hadn't heard of doing that before. Any idea of the CFM of the stock late model fan? I've been wondering what the stock fans pull.

Radiator, radiator, radiator, radiator...........can we say that enough? :)
 
If this is happening at highway speeds, I'd personally rule out the fan situation unless they are restricting airflow at high speeds. I'd be curious whether you have the correct water pump for your application. While I haven't tried it myself, if you have the pump that has the vanes backwards for your year, it seems reasonable that it would have a temp-climb issue.

Edit: If you're running pure-electric fans, how did you accomplish the clutch fan delete and did it involve rerouting the belt?

That or the new T-stat isn't opening 100% or it doesn't flow as well as some of the others.

If this is happening at lower speeds, then the fans may be suspect. I haven't spent much time exploring Corona, so I can't say I remember where Lincoln is. Guess I could look at a map...
 
Unless your increasing the power of your engine or inducing more heat with aux coolers (PS or trans) there's no reason a stock or relativly stock cooling system can't handle your cooling needs. Your engine creates power by turning heat into motion and your cooling system is designed to handle that certain amount of heat. Adding extra load with bigger tires, more weight etc. shouldn't cause a properly working system to overheat.
IMO most people are just figuring they need to upgrade their system if it gets hot, but really should be addressing the problem.

I would try this since it's it's cheap and easy...

http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoRadiatorRestrictor.htm
 
Goatman said:
When my various cooling systems are working fine, which they almost always do, there is little to no temperature rise when going up hills.
Click to expand...
I don't have much trouble with going up hills but I do notice a bit of a rise. The op says he is seeing ~10 change which is not outrageous. I see ~20 change just sitting at a red light sometimes so to me ~10 is static noise.
 
Goatman said:
Ahhh.........that's what the thermostat is for. Instead of that silly arrangement use the stock 195* thermostat.
Click to expand...

That doesn't replace a thermostat, it's in addition to one. He is using a 195*.

It helps reduce drastic tempature swings, the article explains why it works.
 
ehall said:
I don't have much trouble with going up hills but I do notice a bit of a rise. The op says he is seeing ~10 change which is not outrageous. I see ~20 change just sitting at a red light sometimes so to me ~10 is static noise.
Click to expand...

Just re-read the original post, yes 10-20* is nothing.
 
Sero said:
That doesn't replace a thermostat, it's in addition to one. He is using a 195*.

It helps reduce drastic tempature swings, the article explains why it works.
Click to expand...



JMHO, but I'd rather have the temp swings.
 
205-210 for temps is nothing. If you have verified that the aftermarket gauge is accurate then don't worry about it.

How about posting some other specs - year, tire size, gearing, engine mods, etc...?

What temp do you have your fans set to come on?

What about new radiator cap? Find a 16lb replacement.
 
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