Normal operating temperature?

I haven't driven my '99 XJ regularly for years. It's mostly used for running errands around town, towing our small trailer, etc. I randomly decided to drive it to work the other day, which is 37 miles away and almost all freeway (70+ MPH).

On the way home, I noticed that the temperature gauge seemed higher than I remember it being in the past. I had the AC cranked and had the cruise set at about 73 MPH and noticed the temp creep to the line past the 210 mark. It never went above that mark, but it was high enough that I wanted to make sure that all is well.

When I got home, I checked to make sure both fans were going, which they were. There coolant line was rock hard, so it has good pressure in the system. Is this the normal operating temp, or was it running hot?

I personally don't worry about temp until it's one more up. Also. Kinda low oil pressure there. But yes. To normal people that's a bit warm. In my 2000 I can crank the ac and blast down the highway with my stroker motor with the stock rad and be fine. As long as the air is moving I'm fine. But for you. Check if there's not a bunch of bugs and crap in the fins and check the color of your coolant. Also. Get another way of reading temp ( an ir gun) to verify the guage


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First off, stock gauges are notorious for being inaccurate.
#2, if you had the AC on it was probably hot-ish at least. And, they typically run warm with AC on.
#3, at that 'tick' probably 215-220 MAX.
Only way to check/verify would be an IR temp gun, used at the t-stat housing, hoses and other areas to see temp differences.
Also, if you have a smartphone and a BT/Wifi OBD reader you can plug that in and see what that shows the ECU sees. Or a proper Scan Tool.
There are also a handful of factors, such as maintenance and what has been serviced recently. That can play a part in what is potentially happening. But I do not see it out of the ordinary for an XJ.

blakews2217 said:

I personally don't worry about temp until it's one more up. Also. Kinda low oil pressure there. But yes. To normal people that's a bit warm. In my 2000 I can crank the ac and blast down the highway with my stroker motor with the stock rad and be fine. As long as the air is moving I'm fine. But for you. Check if there's not a bunch of bugs and crap in the fins and check the color of your coolant. Also. Get another way of reading temp ( an ir gun) to verify the guage


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Just saw this post after I completed my mine.
As far as oil pressure, I would assume the pic was taken at a stop/lower speed/parked, and average psi.
But, that also is something that can be verified by a mech oil pressure gauge.

Thanks guys. Yes, the pic was taken when I stopped the XJ, not going 70 MPH down the freeway. Hence the lower oil pressure. Everything appears to be working fine. I'll double check the cooling system for good measure and move on if all looks well.

radiator probably has restricted flow, time for a coolant flush

ehall said:

radiator probably has restricted flow, time for a coolant flush

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It has been a couple of years since the system was flushed. I'll go down that route if the coolant is old. I'll have to check my records to see when the last time was I did this. I replaced the radiator a few years back with one of those two row brass ones, if I recall correctly.

You might as well do the water pump and thermostat if you're gonna flush the system if you haven't already

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Those were done around the same time as the radiator. Good tip though.

Like it was stated above. Nothing really wrong here. And since you took that picture when the car was stationary the oil pressure was fine. You could check the coolant levels and be sure you dont need to add any. Or change it all together if its old.

Not saying that's bad, but if you want it to go down some more, throw an external transmission cooler on there.