Replaced it all and it still over heats!

So I'll start from the beginning. At the beginning of the year I went out to play in the mud after a little rain, got stuck, and after a couple of hours got out but on the drive home I was blowing white smoke out the tail pipe.
So I hoped it was only the head gasket and so I tore it apart and replaced the head gasket. It did look like it was bad. Put it back together and it still was blowing smoke.
So took it all apart again and had the head checked. It was cracked. Got another head from the junk yard and had it checked and then machined. Put the new head on and while doing so I replaced the cracked exhaust manifold and put on some new injectors, plugs and of coarse changed the oil a few time to get the water out of it.
Well it runs and doesn't blow white smoke but now it runs a hot. It never ran hot before I replaced the head. It also failed emissions test twice.
So in trying to fix the cooling system I started replacing everything, radiator, both sensors, thermostat, thermostat housing and did a ford taurus fan upgrade. Flushed it a few more times.
After everything I replaced it still gets about halfway between the 210 line and the red.
So now I'm wondering if I did something wrong when I swapped the head. Can the head gasket be put on backwards or upside down? and maybe I'm plugging something.
I'm still scratching my head on this one. I've searched other thread talking about overheating issues but none are like mine.
Any Ideas?
I have a 94 Cherokee with a 4.0

Weird.
Could it be running lean for some reason? air leak, o2 sensors, fuel pressure, etc? Wild ass guessing here..

I also just replaced the O2 sensor and the fuel pressure is normal

Possible deposits in the block water jackets? Fans operating with full power / at appropriate temperature settings? If the taurus fan isn't getting full power / isn't kicking on properly, that would do it... Are the hoses collapsing under suction from the pump? Frequently overlooked, but if they suck down that could reduce flow...

Check the accuracy of your gauge with a temperature prope, too. A thermometer, an IR prope, whatever. It could be a bad sensor out of the box.

Check the cam timing

How do I check the cam timing? Does it involve taking the timing cover off?

yossarian19 said:

Possible deposits in the block water jackets? Fans operating with full power / at appropriate temperature settings? If the taurus fan isn't getting full power / isn't kicking on properly, that would do it... Are the hoses collapsing under suction from the pump? Frequently overlooked, but if they suck down that could reduce flow...

Check the accuracy of your gauge with a temperature prope, too. A thermometer, an IR prope, whatever. It could be a bad sensor out of the box.

Click to expand...

The fan is kicking on and I have the stock electric fan on as well. Hoses seem to be fine and not collapsing. I have checked with a thermometer but a little confused about it. On the thermostat housing it seems low but on the block in some places seems to be high or just right(about 200 degrees)
Where should the reading be taken from?

The dash gauge sensor is in the top rear of the head, on the passenger side. Normal running temp there should be 210.

You mentioned you replaced the thermostat. What thermostat did you use? And does it have the air bleed hole?

It's also possible that you still have an air bubble where the dash sensor is. It can take quite a few thermostat cycles to get it out.

Put your belt driven fan back on with a new fan clutch. Maybe you blew the head gasket again after you overheated it the second time around? Also, like Jeff said, there might be air bubbles in the system still. That will make even the newest cooling system overheat like crazy.

Check for exhaust leaks blowing on the block. Test the O2 sensor output, see if it is reading rich or lean, or if it is a steady oscillation with an average voltage of .45 volts.

Did you check the exhaust manifold port faces for flatness, parallelism? If not you may have an exhaust leak at the exh-manifold gasket blowing on the block.

Did the machine shop check the head for flatness?

Did you check the block for flatness?

Is the thermostat installed backwards?

Are you sure it is really overheating? The dash gauges and sensors are notoriously wrong.

Is it boiling over, are you getting a steady flow of bubbles in the coolant over flow bottle?

Did you replace the radiator CAP???

Did you replace the water pump???????

Post the emissions inspection data please.

And the infrared temp data and locations.

Ecomike said:

Check for exhaust leaks blowing on the block. Test the O2 sensor output, see if it is reading rich or lean, or if it is a steady oscillation with an average voltage of .45 volts.

Did you check the exhaust manifold port faces for flatness, parallelism? If not you may have an exhaust leak at the exh-manifold gasket blowing on the block.

Did the machine shop check the head for flatness?

Did you check the block for flatness?

Is the thermostat installed backwards?

Are you sure it is really overheating? The dash gauges and sensors are notoriously wrong.

Is it boiling over, are you getting a steady flow of bubbles in the coolant over flow bottle?

Did you replace the radiator CAP???

Did you replace the water pump???????

Post the emissions inspection data please.

And the infrared temp data and locations.

Click to expand...

How can you tell if exhaust is leaking past manifold? The manifold is brand new so I assume its flat.

The O2 sensor is also new but ill have to double check the voltage on it.

Yes machine shop checked for flatness.

I did not check the block for flatness. Although if I have good compression(which I do) can I still have a warped block?

Thermostat cant be installed backwards. So no its not.

Whats the best way to check the gauge? I thought that it might be bad. Just seems odd that it worked fine before and now after the head swap it wouldn't.

It is not boiling over. Just seems to be running hot according to the gauge.

Yes cap was replaced.

Yes pump was replaced.

Ill have to find my emissions results and post them.

Two things come to mind for me here....
1. Have I read some place about getting the correct water pump due to reverse rotation fins on the pump? (You said you replaced it)
2. Could your fans clutch be bad?

Just throwing it out there as possibilities ..............

If I read correctly, he doesn't have a fan clutch.

First of all, yes you can put the head gasket on upsidedown. I am replacing the head on my 2000 Sport 4.0 as I type this, and the gasket has a "TOP" imprinted on the middle of it. (Felpro) the "TOP" was indicated to face up, towards the head, not the block. There are two water jackets on the backside of the block (by firewall) that will be blocked if the gasket is installed upsidedown because there are not the same waterjackets on the front of the block by the water pump.
Sorry, I hope that is not your problem. But seeing how you have had it apart a few times now, your probably getting good at it. Haha.

First of all, yes you can put the head gasket on upsidedown. I am replacing the head on my 2000 Sport 4.0 as I type this, and the gasket has a "TOP" imprinted on the middle of it. (Felpro) the "TOP" was indicated to face up, towards the head, not the block. There are two water jackets on the backside of the block (by firewall) that will be blocked if the gasket is installed upsidedown because there are not the same waterjackets on the front of the block by the water pump.
Sorry, I hope that is not your problem. But seeing how you have had it apart a few times now, your probably getting good at it. Haha.

Lazybones said:

First of all, yes you can put the head gasket on upsidedown.

Click to expand...

The head gasket may physically fit upside down, but the head bolts won't go in. The rear passenger side head bolt hole is offset.

Confirmed about the one head bolt that would not line up. Talyn is correct.

B.RAIDER said:

Two things come to mind for me here....
1. Have I read some place about getting the correct water pump due to reverse rotation fins on the pump? (You said you replaced it)
2. Could your fans clutch be bad?

Just throwing it out there as possibilities ..............

Click to expand...

Well I had the issue before I replaced the water pump. So I don't think that would be the issue.

And I don't have a fan clutch anymore. It's all e-fans.

Running how hot? At slow speed, on the highway, both? Have you verified the gauge reading with an IR thermometer or similar? I bought a CTS a few months ago, and it was off by 30 degrees right out of the box.

Just because you don't think the hoses are collapsing doesn't mean that they aren't.

If you don't have a spring in the lower hose keeping it open, you're asking for trouble.