jeepinxj

ok my roommate has a 88 xj it is over heating, the water pump was bad so here is the list of what we have done to try and repair this issue

1.replace thermostate and seal
2.replace head gasket it was blown out and water jets were stoped up so unstoped them
3.replace exhust manifold seal
4.replace valve cover gasket
5.replace water pump and seal
6.replace thermostate sending unit in rear of head
7. took off cat and gutted it due to the fact it was stoped up and shooting honeycombs out the rear

fired it back up and still over heating im outa ideas does anyone else have anything i can try

djb383

Radiator?????????????? Bet it's plugged up just as bad as the head.

jeepinxj

forgot to put that the raditor is new when he bought the jeep

djb383

Is that what the PO said? I'd pull it and have it checked by a radiator shop. If water passages in the head/block are plugged, that crap can break loose and clog a new rad.

jeepinxj

thats what they said and it looks new and can they check the raditor on them they dont have a cap

djb383

My guess is no. Rad has to come out and end tanks removed.

BuckB91XJ

Your 88 XJ has the old closed style cooling system. I bet you have a huge air bubble in the cooling system somewhere. They are really hard to get all of the air burped out of. You have to run the Jeep with the cap off the overflow tank and keep adding water to it until the T-stat opens all the way and the coolant in the system is fully circulating and you have to turn the heater on so water is circulating through the heater core, too. Once the jeep is at normal operating temp. let it run for another 3-5 minutes. Fill the overflow tank to the Hot line and put the cap on. Go for a test drive.

jeepinxj

my 89 has the same set up we did that when we put it togather and still cant get it to stop.... can we pull the raditor and run a garden hose through it to see if it was stoped up

Zab243

i added an alumnium radiator to my jeep works great

djb383

You can, but if you pull the rad out, why not take it to a shop and have it roded out to be absolutely certain it is clean.

redrunner

convernt that baby over to an open system for a few bucks and save all the head aches! I have done that to both of my 89s and it is a much better system. Summit racing has the inline radiator cap you put in the upper radiator hose. A few write ups on the total conversion have been posted here in the past so a search for them and it gives you all the steps plus what is needed to fix the problem for once and all.