I have a 1996 cherokee 180K on body/tranny, 70K on engine. I noticed the other day she was running a little hot going slow in traffic/through town. Engine was running 220-230. Couldn't mess with it then so today, I started it up and let it idle for about 30 minutes. Temp was between 210-220. All hoses going to/from radiator were hard. Rad fluid looks good. I noticed the electric fan did not come on, and does not come on when AC is turned on. AC is broken so I never use it. Searching on here I see that if AC does not work electic fan will not turn on even if it reached 220. Prior to starting I also spun the mechanical fan. It turned but I would not say it was free spinning. After the engine was hot I turned the fan again and felt the same amount of resistance, not more. I drove the jeep for 20 min and temp dropped immediately down to around 200, never went above 210 while driving. So I'm thinking its a fan clutch issue, does that sound right, also what can I do to get the electric fan going without fixing the AC? Thanks for your help

 

Sounds like the E-Fan sitches are bad. It should turn-on when the temp are over 205. Fix that first, It should work correctly, wether or not the AC does. I'd say if you are holding 200-210 most of the time the Mechanical Fan clutch might be OK. It will never completly tighten up, and the clutch starts engaging as air flowing over ot reaches 170 degrees. It should NEVER be FREE spinning. No harm in changing the clutch, testing it is not simple and never conclusive. Fan clutch is one of those if you think it bad change it. BUT check every thing else involved FIRST. Kind a dumb to spend $50 on a fan clutch, when the problem is a $3 radiator cap or T-Stat.

 

x2 on getting the aux fan working 1st then moving from there.

 

If a/c doesn't work, the belt driven fan should be all u need, presuming ALL components of the cooling system are functioning correctly. XJs with standard cooling came from the factory with no efan and didn't overheat. ECU turns efan on at 218F.

 

thanks for the help so far, I checked fuses and all were good. I then wired fan directly to battery and it started up. Where does that leave me? The relay? where is that located? I searched and found some conflicting info about the relay location, thanks

 

It may also be the the Temp. Sensing (not sending) unit in the T-stat housing. I beleive that that is what the ECU uses to sense the temp for the Electric fan.