Free Jeep

Here is some background to help. I have a 1995 Cherokee 4.0, 5 spd, 2 door, with 133,000 miles. I got this Jeep from my dad who didn't drive it much and when I got it I had to add a full gallon of coolant because it use to have a leak from the bottom radiator hose and had been sitting for like a year. Before he got it from a friend they replaced the water pump and it may have been 30,000 miles ago, but probably has been 10 years. Nothing else has really been done to it. I got it and did a tune up, changed all fluids, 3" lift, and 33's.

Took it wheeling for a weekend and it did pretty well, but the oil light came on and it stalled out a few times. On the way home from the 2 hour trip and half way home the dummy light came on and it overheated. I pulled over let it cool down after the coolant was boiling over and added close to a gallon. Put the heat on and drove it home ok. I have since replaced the ignition coil( had cracks and think that is why it stalled), thermostat (195 degree), 2 row all metall CSF radiator(old one was missing some fins and look crappy), thermostat housing, put e-fan on a switch, new radiator cap, temp sensor at thermostat housing, and a gauge cluster from the junk yard so now I have real gauges along with the 2 nessasary senors. The clutch fan hardly spins when I do it by hand so I assume that is good. I drive it or even just let it idle out front and it will get to the mark before the red( I haven't let it go above that to see if it truely overheats). The e-fan does not come on by itself unless I use the switch I put in and that helps but does not seem to get it to 210 very fast. It also does not come on with the a/c, but that is not charged and doesn't blow cold. I do notice that when Idling and the heat on after a while the coolant gets rusty looking and I assume that is coming from the heater core since the coolant usually looks good.

I am really getting frustrated, tired of dealing with this, and don't really want to dump a ton of money into this. I have read and done searches in hear and don't really know what else to do, so I am hoping since I gave my specific back ground that some of you guys/girls can help.

Thanks,
John

AndyADD

did you "bleed" the coolant? (getting the air bubbles out of the coolant)

XxXJ99xX

^ I agree. Check for an airlock, my jeep almost overheated in my drive way due to that same problem.

phillyxj570

check your oil to see if it is milky. If so I'm sorry to say it but its a head gasket.

1992jeeper

If system is not operating correctly, 30,000miles can put a lot of wear and tear on a water pump! Grab your top radiator hose and see if its getting hot. Also, squeeze it closed then let off it and see if you can feel a surge of fluid running through it. if so, your water pump is fine. there is also in addition to the thermostat, a heat sensor that reads to your computer. have you checked this??? let me know what you find out.

Free Jeep

I have flushed the system myself and run it with the radiator cap off. I squeeze the hoses, give it gas, and have the heat on to try to get the air out. I don't know what else to go to try to get air out, if there is any.

The oil does not look milky and I did change it after it overheated to make sure it looked ok.

The hoses do get hot and at first the coolant looks nice and green and then will get a little rusty color after running a while, so it seems to be cycling through.

I did change the sensor on the rear of the head when I put the new cluster in and just replace the sensor in the thermostat housing.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

cherokeeon49s

when i had cooling problems i swapped my old mechanical fan for an e fan, replaced the thermostat and housing and flushed it really good and bled the air. maybe you have a clog somewhere? its just weird to me that after you flushed it you get rusty water..if i was you i would:
get one of those t-fittins that screw into a hose and put it on the heater line that DOES NOT go to the coolant overflow tank.
open the coolant overflow tank
drain all the fluid by disconnecting the bottom radiator hose and radiator drain plug
(your supposed to take out the coolant drain plug but it has some unknown square head thats not a 3/8s ratchet)
then take a shop vac to the lower radiator hose and suck out all that old rusty coolant
flush it out real good with the engine runnin(let the theromostat open) and the lower radiator hose disconnected and engine turned on. also have the heater on.
put the radiator draincock back on when the water coming out looks clear.
then put the lower radiator hose back on.

then drain it out again and tighten everything back up. add some coolant cleaner solution and follow the directions on the bottle usually you dive it for 6 hours then flush it out again.

once you drive it as much as the directions say drain it again and flush it out same as before and let it drain. fill it with 4 gallons of coolant/water mixture.

This is what i did to solve my cooling problems and i also changed the thermostat since it was a cheap ting to do and i figured it needed to be done.

hope this helps i learned all this by hours of messing around and overheating. I am not a mechanic this is just how i did it and now my jeep works perfectly

freegdr

you dont make it clear when is it over heating while driving or sitting at idle

Free Jeep

It will do it both sitting at idle and driving.

freegdr

are the rad hoses new old hoses can suck shut also you daid you changed the sensor did you put the one in for the new gauge cluste

Free Jeep

The top and bottom rad hoses are old, but I have not seen them collapse in any way. They are not brittle either and don't seem to be a potential problem area. I did change the temp and oil sensors for the new cluster as well as the temp sensor at the thermostat housing.

freegdr

did you open the hood and look at them when xjs running if they do suck shut by the time you shut it off and open the hood and look the ywill open back up youve gon this far dont give up this may sound stupid but the rad was new right

Free Jeep

Yes, I have ran it many times with the hood open will turning the throttle on the engine and have never seen the hoses collapse. The rad is a brand new 2 row all metal CSF.

I am also not sure what to do about the e-fan not coming on as it should. I have changed the relay and checked fuses, but the only way it will come on is with the switch that I installed. I am not sure if having that fan work like it should by coming on around 215-219 degrees would fix this overheating issue alone. It seems to me that if that were the only problem it would not get to the point of almost overheating.

I have thought about taking it to a shop to get the coolant professionally flushed since I don't know if I have gotten all of the air out. Eventhough I cannot get anymore air out that doesn't mean that some is not still trapped.

Thanks

freegdr

do you now any body with a radiator pressure tester if you do put it on the radiator and run vechicle pressure should not go above 16 lbs or so if it goes real high you migh have a cracked head compression could be geetin in to radiator causin temp to go up hate to find out its that but these heads are known for that after being over heated this would really suck and about the fans they only cool when at idle when driving the are just for looks the air from movement cools the radiato also when shes warm touch the radiator in as many places as you can reac to make sure your gettin circulation thru it

Free Jeep

I am sure that I can find someone with a pressure tester, so I will try that. I figured that the fan not working properly would cause this.