Hey everyone. I recently went to see my parents. Before I went in to see them, I parked and let the Jeep idol since a good country song was on . All of a sudden my temperature gage light came on. I turned it off. The same thing happened tonight two days later. The light doesn't come on unless it's been sitting for 2+ minutes.

What's going on here? Anything serious? I just had the coolant changed and a new thermometer put in. The radiator fan is working.

If this is normal, will turning on the heat help the engine cool down?

 

your viscous fan clutch might be broken, or if you have an electric fan that may not be coming on

 

Whenever you have any hint of an overheat, you should review the status of every single cooling system component. The cooling system is only as good as its weakest link.

The #1 cause of temperature creeping up ONLY at idle (no overheating at speed) is the fan clutch. Often overlooked, inexpensive and easy to replace.

 

agree...make sure your fan is spinning and the electric fan is coming on

start with the basics...check level of coolant, overflow and radiator

check water pump and thermostat ...these are some what cheap and should be replaced on a every other year basis...i do a new t stat every year

i have had a similar issue on my 91...it ended up being the belt was old and stretched out, wasnt "gripping" like it should...i had everything replaced and it still did it

put a new belt on...never did it again...."its a jeep thing" rings true on many little things

 

Still have a fan shroud?

 

This.

And to answer your question: yes, putting on the heater and blower on high will help cool the engine, however, is just a kind of "get you home" modus.
You will need to address the cause(s) of the overheating.

 

Since you just had the coolant replaced, you may have air in the system.

 

When my electric fan kicks on it makes a horrible loud whining noise. Anyone had this happen and what's a fix? Its so loud it sounds like my horn is blowing. Lol.

 

Update....

I recently checked out the radiator fan at start and warm idol. I noticed that when I first started my cherokee, the radiator fan was blowing at full speed. Lots of air was blowing on the engine. When I checked it at warm idol, the radiator fan was not at a full speed. It was running at a much slower speed. This is not normal right?

I'm thinking that I will need to replace the radiator fan clutch.