Ijust picked up a 1988 Cherokee. Stock. It's running hot (verified with temp gun).

The P.O (who bought the 'rokee from me in good running order 5 years ago) says he flushed it and changed the water pump. In my explorations, I have bypassed the heater core (leaking) and checked the rad. (some cool spots)

I pulled the t-stat to try and get it running cooler longer, and get the air out of the system but it gets up to 120 very fast.

Thoughts?

I am not confident there is significant coolant flow. I wonder if it has the correct water pump, This Cherokee has a serp belt, but was there a v-belt option in this year?

Any help appreciated. needs to be safe and reliable(ish)

 

It gets to 120 or 220? And put the tstat back in.

 

Tstat out to ensure flow. flow is the issue I think. I was going to drill it actually, Temp over 120, in the red on dash. I better check to see if I'm reading it Fahrenheit or Celsius now that I think of i! lol.. boy what a maroon.... yup... Fahrenheit.. D'oh. well okay it was over heating when i brought it home. (boiled over) No signs of coolant in oil or in combustion chamber, no oil in coolant either. Doubting it's a head or gasket issue but curious about other causes. I apologize, I hung up the wrenches some time ago, so I'm a little slow getting my brain in mechanic mode.

 

Well 210 Fahrenheit is the operating temp do 120 is low. You've flushed the system?

 

Yes i realized my error on temp as soon as you mentioned it. I was thinking metric Water boils around 100 in metric (Celsius)... my bad.

P.O. flushed the system several times apparently. I ran a hose through heater lines and it was pretty rusty (no antifreeze)

Will run it again when i get home today paying closer attention to Fareneit temperatures. I realize the gauge could be off

As this model does not have a rad cap, it's difficult to see if there is flow. I have to rely on feel and temperature. All I an sure of is that it boiled over coming to my place from his.