My '91 XJ was topping out at around 230 after about twenty minutes of running it. I decided to replace some parts. I wanted to solve the problem for good so I put in a flowkooler water pump, new coolant sensor, new 195 thermostat, new upper and lower hoses, heavy duty three row radiator from radiator barn, new fan, and new coolant bottle. It heats up slower now, but it still is getting to 230. The fans are coming on and everything. It has also been stalling on me for a while, could this have to do with my heat problem? What can I do to fix this?

 

Sounds like you need to do a block test for exhaust gasses as in a leaking head gasket or cracked head...

 

x2 Sounds like you cover almost everything else

 

try throwing in a lower temp thermostat, like a 180 or so. I put in a 195(autozone said it was the O.E. temp) and my temp is now 210-230. So I'm gonna put a 180 in there and see if it lowers it down a little

 

make sure that you have properly burped the system too to make sure that all the air is out of there, and would def check head gasket

 

I've had a similar issue ('01 XJ that may have a slight "imperfection" between the 2/3 cylinders which is apparently not an unusual issue due to the spark rail replacing the distributor). It blew 2 gaskets and I'm thinking It's time to drop in a rebuilt (if you knew the story behind what happened to this engine, you'd understand), on the other hand the most recent gasket replacement has been a winner, it's some heavy duty fel-pro gasket for problematic heads.

From that experience, though, I would DEFINITELY say you've got a gasket ready to blow on you. I replaced my old gasket with a heavy duty one and the overheating issue is history.

 

I agree with the head gasket. Some thing happened to my XJ.

 

FlowKooler makes custom radiators for off road applications. You should call them

 

if you really replaced everything then the next thing to look at it head gasket. sounds like yours in blown

 

head gasket bc I had the same problem..I thought I was going to kill myself trying to figure out what it was

 

lowering the thermostat will not make the engine run cooler. it may take longer to heat up but once up to temp it will open to soon and not keep the water in the radiator long enough to properly cool.

 

I have burped the system and I also did a compression test. Everything checked out ok. I think my gauge in my cluster might be off and my XJ really isn't overheating. Any thoughts?

 

get a laser pyromter use it to verfiy gauge is right. have test done where they put the dye in the radiator and it changes color if combustion gasses are seeping into the coolant

 

That is very possible. Test with aanother gauge that screws into head somewhere or something like that

 

I had the same problem of the engine running hot and overheating at idle. Do not use those Chinese thermostats. The guy from Autozone told me to get a Stant from Napa and that solved most of my problem. He also refunded my money on their Chinese thermostats.
The other problem I had is the electric cooling fan will run in either direction and mine was hooked up backwards causing the hot air from the engine to be blown thru the radiator. The air should be sucked thru the radiator to cool the coolant.
My 2 centavos....