I was offroading/camping (meaning I had a lot of weight) in my 1997 Cherokee Sport, going up a big hill and noticed my engine was overheating at 260. I gave it a rest and it eventually went back down to 200ish but ever since that day about a week ago its been doing it very frequently. I replaced the water pump, new thermostat and gasket, checked the hoses for leaks which there weren't any, and put on a new radiator cap, and of course flushed the cooling system and replaced the fluid. None of this works, in fact after I replaced the thermostat, it now it runs even worse. It chugs in low gear and when it comes to a stop and actually shut right off at a stop sign. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm clueless as to what it might be. The rad? Any help would be great thanks!

 

is your radiator clogged with anything as in mud or dirt in the fins, are your fans working like they should?

 

Haven't checked the rad yet as its a ***** to take off but ill deffinitely check that next. The fan works and the electric fans kicks in after 5-10 mins of running. Not sure if the electric fan is supposed to always be running?

 

Holy crap the e-fan is supplemental and mainly for ac. It should only kick on when the ac is on or on very hot days in traffic if your cooling system is working right. Are your hoses hot? That will indicate it is flowing. If it is flowing and the fins in your radiator are clear its gotta be either a big air bubble or a blockage inside the radiator. I would lean towards the radiator. BTW does it cool down a little if you crank up the heater?

 

You might wanna do a compression check and make sure you didn't blow your head gasket or mess up your crack or warp your head. I have checked for coolant in the oil in mine and also for oil in the coolant, two main signs of a blown head gasket, and I have neither but a compression test showed me that I have low compression on two cylinders which indicates a blown head gasket.

 

I have been driving myself crazy working on and throwing parts at mine. Finally every single thing that has to do with the cooling system is brand new on mine and it still over heats. Like I said in the last post there where no bubbles or coolant in my oil or any other sign of a blown gasket so I never considered it till now and finally bought a compression tester and bam there was my original problem. All that money spent on new parts and all the time and frustration spent trying different things and all I had to do was a simple compression test out of the Haynes repair manual.