I have a 96 with 4.0. Last year my wife was pulling a small trailer, and overheated it and blew the head gasket. After repairs I’m still overheats when a pull a small trailer or use the A/C, and don’t think I’m losing coolant. My only thought is the A/T is getting old and producing more heat for the radiator to cool? Any ideas?
I’ve-
· Had the head resurfaced and check for cracks.
· New head gasket and bolts.
· New 160 thermostat and both sensors.
· New clutch fan and shrouds are good.
· Radiator, cap, hoses and water pump replaced three years ago.
· Put an aftermarket relay on the elec fan so it’s on all the time.
· New 50/50 coolant.

 

Did you verify those temperatures with an infrared temperature gun? You want to make sure your gauge isn't out of whack.

 

Do you have a tranny cooler beside what's in the rad? Did you flush the cooling system? Did you check your fan clutch? How about the water pump? Do you have any debris blocking airflow through the radiator? Are your fins all bent up? Have you actually tested the coolant with a gauge (one of those little eye-dropper looking things with the little ***** in it)? Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.

 

I haven’t tried to verify the temp, I did flush the engine and radiator with a garden house after I put the head back on, the water pump is only three years old so I haven't replaced that recently but I did replaced the fan clutch and all the fan blades and shrouds are in good shape.

 

Well when you "overheat", is the coolant actually boiling over? Or are you going off of the gauge?

One thing to check is if either of your tranny cooler hard lines are pinched. That'll make it so the flow of transmission fluid is restricted and not cool as it is supposed to. That would cause the coolant inside the radiator to get hotter than it should.

Is your XJ stock? Oversized tires?

 

Im going off the gauge, not losing any water so I dont think its boiling. I'll barrow a temp gun and check it. The only other thing I can think of is to pull the radiator and clean the tranny and A/C cooler fins, maybe there clogged and just adding heat to the radiator?

 

If you're towing anything, you should probably add an aftermarket transmission cooler.