Just completed the radiator conversion on my '89 yesterday. Last week, the stock closed radiator with plastic tanks decided it had had enough and blew up on me. I had been hoping it would last a little longer as $ was tight but the jeep had been having cooling issues for a while. The temps would be fine driving around town on short trips but if I had to drive for anything longer than a 30 minute trip on the freeway, temps would start going to redline. I think that I had a sticking thermostat too since I would watch the temps bounce around from redline, to around 210 and back to redline with in a matter of a few seconds.
Ive never been a fan of the closed system on the pre 91 XJs, so a conversion to the open system was the obvious choice. I had originally planned on getting an HD 3 row CSF from DPGOffroad but they are closed from March 31st to April 12th for the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab. I ended up buying a 91+ Modine 2 row with metal end tanks from a local radiator shop. Since the whole cooling system on my jeep was unknown to me, I also replaced everything else related to it. New lifetime waterpump from Napa, 91+ thermostat housing from Mopar, 180deg thermostat, stock 91+ overflow bottle from Mopar, a new 91+ heater control valve and all new radiator and heater hoses. I still need to do the GM fan control switch mod but for now I am letting the electric fan run at all times like I had with the closed system.
Once everything was installed and all fluids were checked, I let the jeep idle for about an hour, watching temps. The temp sat solidly at the 1/4 way mark (180deg??) on the stock temp guage, occasionaly creeping up just barely past it. I then took the jeep for a 45 minute test drive in traffic and on the freeway and the temps never changed from what I saw at idle. I dont think this jeep has ever run this cool in its whole life! I am very pleased with the outcome, even though everything ended up costing about $130 more than I originally expected (the radiator was $192 after taxes locally which was actually about the avarage cost around town from what I could find).
The only problems I ran into during the conversion was trying to figure out a good place to mount the overflow tank and puncturing the AC condensor while tring to attach it to the radiator (they attach to each other to prevent movement). So now I will have to replace the condensor ($130 from Napa) at sometime so I can have AC again :bawl:
I would like to thank Bryan C. for his little writeup found here: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17466&highlight=radiator+conversion
I found that to be the most usefull info when it came time to route the new heater hoses thru the 91+ heater control valve, plus it has all the part #s needed to do the GM fan control switch. The other article I found very helpfull is this writeup on Cherokee America:
http://www.off-road.com/jeep/cherokee/98/12_dec/radiator/radiator.html
I will post pictures of the completed setup later today. For now, here is a shot of the old radiator and its blown up tank. More pics can be found here: http://xj.rockmongers.com/gallery/radiator
Platic tanks SUCK!!
Ive never been a fan of the closed system on the pre 91 XJs, so a conversion to the open system was the obvious choice. I had originally planned on getting an HD 3 row CSF from DPGOffroad but they are closed from March 31st to April 12th for the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab. I ended up buying a 91+ Modine 2 row with metal end tanks from a local radiator shop. Since the whole cooling system on my jeep was unknown to me, I also replaced everything else related to it. New lifetime waterpump from Napa, 91+ thermostat housing from Mopar, 180deg thermostat, stock 91+ overflow bottle from Mopar, a new 91+ heater control valve and all new radiator and heater hoses. I still need to do the GM fan control switch mod but for now I am letting the electric fan run at all times like I had with the closed system.
Once everything was installed and all fluids were checked, I let the jeep idle for about an hour, watching temps. The temp sat solidly at the 1/4 way mark (180deg??) on the stock temp guage, occasionaly creeping up just barely past it. I then took the jeep for a 45 minute test drive in traffic and on the freeway and the temps never changed from what I saw at idle. I dont think this jeep has ever run this cool in its whole life! I am very pleased with the outcome, even though everything ended up costing about $130 more than I originally expected (the radiator was $192 after taxes locally which was actually about the avarage cost around town from what I could find).
The only problems I ran into during the conversion was trying to figure out a good place to mount the overflow tank and puncturing the AC condensor while tring to attach it to the radiator (they attach to each other to prevent movement). So now I will have to replace the condensor ($130 from Napa) at sometime so I can have AC again :bawl:
I would like to thank Bryan C. for his little writeup found here: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17466&highlight=radiator+conversion
I found that to be the most usefull info when it came time to route the new heater hoses thru the 91+ heater control valve, plus it has all the part #s needed to do the GM fan control switch. The other article I found very helpfull is this writeup on Cherokee America:
http://www.off-road.com/jeep/cherokee/98/12_dec/radiator/radiator.html
I will post pictures of the completed setup later today. For now, here is a shot of the old radiator and its blown up tank. More pics can be found here: http://xj.rockmongers.com/gallery/radiator
Platic tanks SUCK!!
Happy to be of help. I thought the GM fan switch was a great soloution to running the electric fan.
