How important is the fan shroud as far as cooling is concerned?
I dont have one and the main reason I want one is for safety but my XJ seems to get a little hotter than it should, has a distinct overheating smell.

Radiator is new, new water pump and all hoses have been replaced. I have not looked at the thermostat yet but I did buy a new one and the temp sender does not work but I also have a new one, just need to find time to work on the XJ.

the shroud is important, it helps with pulling the air through the core for better cooling. Keeps the air centered on the engine rather than blowing all over the place.

I found them pretty inexpensive on ebay and rock auto. I just need to get one and find the time to install it.

Thanks.

Go to a junk yard, u can get email really cheap there. Or look on Craigslist for a jeep partout

Em, not email lol

I never had one on my 87, and it didn't have an electric fan either, and it never ran hot until something broke. It somehow ran cooler than the 90 did with a shroud on the mechanical fan and an electric fan, I don't know how.

If you have one, the fan pulls air through the radiator. That's what you want.

If you don't have one, the fan pulls some air through the radiator, but it also recirculates some hot air from under the hood. The amount of air being pulled through the radiator is reduced because some of the capacity of the fan is being wasted on that hot air recirculation that does absolutely nothing for cooling. The lack of a shroud by itself is not a guarantee of overheating, but it can contribute to it.

You can get one out of the junk yard, but new ones are cheap enough from Rock Auto that you would only save a few bucks, and you might have trouble finding one in the junk yard that isn't broken.