chiefcherokee

My Jeep has been overheating severely lately when I am at a stop. It will run around 210 when I am driving but once i stop for more than a few seconds, the temp spikes into the red. Sure enough, my auxiliary fan is not working. I have a '98 and the fan was not kicking in even when she was overheating.

Where is the fan relay located? I think it is near the front on the driver's side, is this right? I could not find any diagrams and the Chiltons book just sucks, or I don't know how to read their diagrams lol

Any help would be great.

Thanks!

brutalxj

I bet it is just the fan. Try to jump it to the battery with a in line fuse. Then you will know if finding the relay is a wast of time. And I bet it is..

flyboy141086

sounds like the electric fan is not the problem. its mainly for the air conditioner. i would do a good once over on your entire cooling system. mine did this a few summers ago, rad and thermostat where shot. check the efan motor too, mine was not working and a new motor solved that problem. if you have air conditioning turn it on and put a volt meter on plug at the fan.

freegdr

mechanical fan cools while at idle hows the fan clutch?

freegdr

heres how you check the electric cooling fan systemhttp://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/..._Diagnosis.htm

djb383

Bingo! +10....and XJs with factory standard cooling have no efan, so the belt driven fan must have been adequate as long as the fan clutch, water pump, radiator, t-stat, rad cap, coolant level, hoses, (the entire cooling system in general) were properly maintained and in top notch condition. So, I agree, must have issues elsewhere in the cooling system.

chiefcherokee

My cooling system seems to be fine except I don't really know how to check the fan clutch. I checked the relay, which only took like five minutes. The auxiliary fan doesn't kick on at all when the A/C is on and she's overheating. How would I go about checking my fan clutch and seeing if my auxiliary fan is shot?

I am pretty mechanically stupid, as I am young and inexperienced with autos, so simple language would be appreciated lol

chiefcherokee

For some reason I have a hunch it's that water pump...

freegdr

to check the clutch fan get vechicle at operating temp 200 degrees is good shut it off spin the fan by hand just flip it with your hand should spin less than one turn and be stiff if not replace it

flyboy141086

the mechanical fan will kick on and off and pull a ton of air and be really loud when its engaged. it should be engaged when ur jeep is overheating. if its engaged, when u shut the truck off itll stop with the belt/pulleys very abruptly. if it keeps spinning its likely shot

freegdr

forget the pump running 210 when driving is normal

djb383

Do u have a hunch how old the water pump is........and how old other components may be.

chiefcherokee

I believe the water pump is as old as the vehicle (13 years) and I'm at 178,xxx mi. My thermostat housing and thermostat are brand new and when I replaced those, I took a good look at the color of my coolant and it looked to be okay.

As for the fan clutch, judging on how y'all told me to test it, I find that to be fine. It is hard to spin and stops abruptly with the engine. I will check it again in the morning just to be sure.

SeriousOffroad

Huh?....x2

The Aux Fan comes on when the Coolant Temp Sensor (CTS) detects a temp of 218 Deg. F. The Aux. fan then shuts off at 209 Deg.F.

To the OP,
Start your rig and remove the connector from the CTS at the water neck. This will tell the PCM that your coolant temp is high and it will complete the ground path for the Aux. Fan Relay.

mw6886

my 98 was doing the same thing.the e fan was burnt up so i bought a new universal fit 12" from e bay..$30 and it pulls in 1500 CFM of air..also removed the mechanical fan and cleaned the front of it..the "spring" on the front of the fan clutch had grease and gunk on it..cleaned that up and now the clutch kicks on at about 210.