Just put a new cylinder head in my Jeep (had a piece snap off, wasn't cracked from overheating) Saturday. Along with it a new thermostat and the rear sensor for the temp gauge. Took it for it's first real test drive tonight and no CEL issues, knocks, ticks, ect. I don't see any leaks anywhere either.

Within 5 minutes or so the temp gauge was right on the line before it would go into the red. If I flip the heat on it drops right back down to 210 within a few seconds and stays there. If I shut it off it goes back to being just before the line into where it's too hot but it never overheated or went past that line.

Now my aux fan doesn't work and is removed at the moment. Is that temp normal for not having the fan or is it still running hotter than it should be. I don't recall that fan working on my last XJ either and that one ran at 210 even in the summer.

Radiator is in good shape and there's no issues with the water pump as far as I can tell.

It's been so long since I've messed with the Jeep I forgot this is what lead to the new head in the first place.

About 2 months ago the hood release cable wrapped itself around the rad cap and once it got hot it pissed coolant all over the place out of the cap and overflow. It's been heating up like this ever since.

Replaced the cap and the tstat (that's where part of the head broke off and why it got a new head) and obviously the issue is still present.

Went and rewired the aux fan to work off of a toggle switch. Drove the same area (neighborhood and service road behind my house 15-45 mph) and it's running exactly the same as when the aux fan wasn't working.