I fixed my AC and it blows nice and cold now. The extra load on the engine during hot weather AC use has made my temp guage go higher than before. It goes at least a full notch past the 210 mark. how hot is that on the '98 and is it ok?

 

well as long as its not in the red

 

If your worried you could always install a 180° thermostat.I THINK they cone stock with a 190° or even a 195°. My brother just did and it worked for him.

 

x2 on the thermostat swap... what condition is your tranny fluid in? you can always install one of those B&M coolers. they allow you to run the tranny fluid thru a separate radiator (a smaller one mounted in front of the existing radiator)

 

I have a '98 4.0 I6 185,000 Org.. (I got it less than 30 days ago)

60* - 75* ish / runs at/ >210*
70* - 80* ish / runs at/little less than 210*
80* - 95* ish / runs at/little more than 210*

I dont like it be at 210* theres not a problem with I just dont like to be..

Im looking to do vents to help with cool down after I park it for a bit, and do a flush and flush the coolant out.


So what does a new thermostat do?

 

How hot is too hot?..........ECU turns efan on at 218F so my guess is that's where the engineers wanted things to start cooling down. If coolant temps are actually north of 222.5, a 180 t-stat would have no advantage over a 195 t-stat.....they're both wide open at 220+ and a properly functioning t-stat only controls MINIMUM coolant temp.

How old are cooling system components? The XJ rad is really dinky, everything must be in top notch condition.

 

ill warn about older trannys and fluid swaps... i have heard of failures after the new fluid is in. i did mine at about 90k and after about a year, its still good to go. idk, just a heads up.

 

Do not go swapping in a "colder" t-stat. You will gain NOTHING. You have a 195 degree t-stat in there now, is your engine running at 195 degrees? No. You will run at the same temp with a 180 degree t-stat as you do now.

 

I beg to differ....first hand experience. My brothers 93 wrangler ran bout 225°(highway) and the ONLY thing he did was swap tstats and it runs bout 215(highway)...and he changef it between two 100°+ days.have you actually tried it or are you going off what you were told or read.

 

Maybe the other one was broken, and the new one gave him his "actual" temp?

Ive gotten a new stat and my temps have gone down, but im like 99.9% thats because the other one wasnt working right..just an idea

 

Here's the test results.....place a 160, a 180 and a 195 t-stats in a pot of water on the stove with a cooking thermometer. When the cooking thermometer reads +/-210 water temp, all 3 t-stats will be wide open and all three will be open the same amount. U won't be able to tell which is what. A properly functioning t-stat does one thing and one thing only.....control MINIMUM coolant temp.

Ambient temps, driving conditions and all of the various cooling system component's condition together, make up the many variables that effect MAXIMUM coolant temps. The XJ rad is really dinky, everything has to be in top notch condition to keep things cool this time of year running a/c.

 

If you are that concerned, you can save yourself some money by not buying the vents and just spacing the hood out

 

I priced mine out at less than $20 bucks.
I'm doing this cause I think it looks cool. And i have the problem with heat transfer..whatever its called. haha

http://www.cherokeetalk.com/forum/f6...ood-vent-6783/


And correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure the hood spacing isn't safe, because that's a crinkle point for the hood in an accident.

 

I thought only '00/'01 models had a possible heat soak issue, due to the extreme heat rising off the 2 mini-cats just under the intake, no? Even with hood vents, make sure all cooling system components are in top condition.

 

All I know if after a good amount of driving and stop and go get some food or something, after i start it up ill miss again and my light'll come on