SubieHo

Hi All,

First post here. I'm helping out a friend who's having overheating issues with his 97 XJ Sport. At this point, I concluded that it's most likely a clogged radiator or perhaps a stuck t-stat.

History:
Last year: After flushing the the cooling system, I replaced the five freeze plugs on the left side of the block, water pump, t-stat, and t-stat housing.

He bought the car used, and the cooling jacket had some heavy corrosion when I had things apart. The freeze plugs had actually rusted through.

Question:
Do you have any suggestions for aftermarket radiators? I see that Rockauto has one sold by Spectra for $80 and another sold by Sherman for $85. I also see some all aluminum radiators on ebay.

superj

wow, its cheap for an aftermarket radiator for cherokees!!!!! i come from bmws, by the way

4x4utahcherokee

In my opinion I'd spend the extra money on all aluminum and I'd get at least a two row. If he does towing or anything a 3 row would help out alot. Alot of people have cooling problems with their jeeps so as far as i'm concerned I wouldn't go the cheap route in cooling but to each their own. I'm getting a 3 row CSF radiator next week from the radiator barn for around 180. Tell ur friend he'd be wise not to skimp on the radiator unless thats all he can afford.

djb383

And tell your friend to do a little preventative maintenance......obviously the DAPO didn't.......rusted freeze plugs, unbelievable.

SubieHo

That's the great thing about these cars. They went relatively unchanged for so many years.

European cars...you're looking at mucho dinero for anything...

4x4utahcherokee

Yeah brand new 3 row all aluminum radiator 180 bucks. Stock radiator for my old 95 audi 90 465 bucks. I'd say mucho dinero! Jeebus!

4x4utahcherokee

The only car I love more than my jeep was my 05 subaru legacy gt. Economy hit me hard and had to get rid of it

milmat1

I just went thru this on mine, Found a replacement rad for like $90.00 online. But It's still the stock 1 row radiator with plastic tanks. I went to Radiatorbarn.com and bought a two row aluminum radiator for a little more money,($150.00 Delivered next day!) But Got the added volume and ALUMINUM not plastic..

milmat1

Good Advice !!

These engines run hot and the cooling system verily works to start with.

4x4utahcherokee

Thanks man I learned the hard way from my old jeep. Had to replace the whole cooling system. I like your signatures! Thats the way I am too.

SubieHo

Thanks for the helpful responses, fellas.

The car had probably been weeping coolant for a long, long time, and probably sucked air into the system, which only accelerated the oxidation process. And then who knows what else the PO did (e.g., hard water, no coolant, etc....)

It was a bad decision to buy the thing. I've done a ton of other work on this thing.

Milmat1 and 4X4UtahCherokee, I'll have to talk to him to see what he wants to do, but I imagine he'll want to go the least expensive route, which might be ok as his rig is bone stock and sees no offroading.

As for the Legacy GT, a different animal altogether -- so you're missing the pep of the turbo huh? I really like Subarus, too: the Flat Four and the way the AWD works. But I really love my old 91 XJ Laredo -- cast iron block and head (no head gasket headaches), solid axles, and it's even easier to wrench on than the Subaru.

00jeepXJ

O'Reilly's auto parts sells heavy duty copper and aluminum 2 row. Don't know if you would be interested.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...kee&vi=1180415
Hope this helps.

4x4utahcherokee

Yeah that car was my baby! Bought it brand new feb. of 05 with 8 miles on it. Lowered 1.5" with tein springs, sittin on 18's, strut bars front and rear, intake blow off valve headers up pipe 3"turbo back exhaust with external wastgate and dual stage boost control. Whats sad is my computer crashed and now I only have like 3 pics of it! Economy hit, lost my job traveling making the big bucks and couldn't afford the 530 a month car payment and 270 for insurance so I had to sell it Saddest day ever! But I used to own a cherokee back in the day and loved it so I went back to old faithful xj's. I'm still keepin an eye out for my next subie though! jeep and subie all he way. They're the best vehicles I've owned by far!

SubieHo

Thanks for the link. I'll pose the different options to my buddy.

4X4Utach: Bummer about the GT.

SubieHo

Well, my friend is really short of cash, and he mentioned that the problem was intermittent. Hence I suggested that he reverse flush the system and run some more Radiator Cleaner to the system. I had already installed a flushing T on the heater inlet hose last year.

So far so good. There was still an amazing amount gunk that came out of the system. It might be this way for the next couple of years with this car.

Thanks to all for the input.