The fan and the shroud tangled. The shroud is broken at the bottom left corner. Went to 2 junk yards looking for a replacement. Out of 11 XJ's, none had a good shroud. 3 were either V6 or 4 Cyl. The rest were missing the shroud or they were broken worse than mine.

I am thinking of cutting the shroud so that only the top guard remains. Any problems with this idea? What is the experience in the field with no shroud, or modified shroud?

Also, the fan may be a bit tweeked. Sounds a little different. Is there an upgraded replacement available?

I had recently replaced the fan clutch. But that was not involved in this current issue. Have not yet encountered a hot enough driving day for it to engage.

 

From my reading the shroud should remain intact.

 

The shroud will keep your xj cooler while in traffic/krawling.

 

The shrouds are around $20 online. Look for them.

Shrouds make a big difference. They would not be there otherwise.

 

Yep. Shroud is not optional.

I just did a quick search and found a '96 shroud for 30 bucks on eBay, 40 bucks on partstrain.com. First two links. Didn't bother to look any farther, but there might have been some better deals.


For me, it would not have been worth the time spent on trips to the junkyard to look when I can have a new one delivered to me for that price.

 

http://www.partsgeek.com/8fcbycn-jee...rash+CH3110104

 

The fan clutch is always engaged.....more or less. Depending on the air temp being sensed, the clutch will engage more (freewheel less) or engage less (freewheel more). Lots of folks think a clutch fan constantly places a heavy load on the motor......it does not. A properly functioning fan clutch and a fan clutch designed for the specific application, will place very little load on the motor (with a properly functioning cooling system) because it's mostly free wheeling (but not totally), most of the time. The beauty of a clutch fan vs a efan(s) is that the clutch fan system constantly pulls SOME air thru the rad thus providing much more steady/consistent coolant temps under most driving conditions, most of the time.

When an efan engages, it places a heavy electrical load on the alternator (alternator becomes much harder to turn) thus placing extra load on the motor. Coolant temps are not as steady/consistent with an efan(s) due to the controller having a 10-15 degree difference in on/off temps.

Absolutely, positively must have a complete fan shroud in place.

 

Thanks for all the advice on the shroud. I guess the XJ is a little different than my 49 Plymouth with no shroud, no fan clutch, and a two blade fan. But it did have a radiator the size of a packing shed.

I will put a new shroud on the XJ. The broken one is wired together at the broken corner and will work for now.

Regarding clutch operation, the one on the Dakota seems to engage all at once and roar loudly. But maybe that's just the supplemental efan that is down there too. Although the roar seems to change with engine speed. A lot of the Dakota guys remove the belt fan and clutch altogether and claim all is good. I would not think so on an XJ.

 

It was kind of a waste of time, except that it was not out of the way from some other stuff I had to do. And I did find a Pioneer with a brush guard bumper and super awesome stainless grill. Some sort of early era aftermarket item. Looked really cool. I didn't need the stuff, but a buddy did, so I passed on the word.

And I did pick up some other small stuff I needed for the XJ. So fortunately the trip was not a loss. But the lack of usefull shrouds did surprise me. On close inspection, the material is very poor. Not the same as the plastic around the AC radiator fan.

 

General consensus here seems to be if you don't know how old the clutch is replace it. They do wear out gradually.

 

The bottom line is, thermal fan clutches sense air temp and that air temp determines how much/little engagement is needed. The difference between one fan clutch and another depends on the different clutch manufacturer's design.

Clutch fans will move major CFM of air at just above idle speed when sensing high air temps. Efans r fine and do have some advantages over belt fans however, one really needs to do their homework/research when converting a belt driven clutch fan over to all efan(s). Determining the CFM rating of a clutch fan can next to impossible so installing efan(s) or any other fan(s) with less CFM rating than OE stock could be a big mistake.

I've said this many times, the OE stock rad fans r not the weak link in the XJ cooling system......the weak link is the dinky radiator (square inches frontal surface area to motor cubic inch displacement). A 2 row or even a 3 row aftermarket rad COULD have less heat dissipation performance than the OE 1 row rad. Again, gotta do homework/research when changing OE stock cooling system design.

 

This is the best advise you will get. Find yourself a new shroud. If you do want to go with an e-fan make sure that it puts out a least what the mechanical fan puts out. Most of the aftermarket e-fan don't put out enough CFM's to keep it running cool unless you get a good high quality and high dollar fan.

 

Not really thinking of doing an efan. But was wondering if some of those new fangled flex belt fans are any better than OE.

 

I know what you mean - I think you could cool the space shuttle's exhaust with some of those old radiators. They don't build them like that anymore. We had a 48 Chev when I was a kid. Got rear-ended by a brand new pickup (mid 60s). Totaled the pickup. Bent the license plate on the '48.


As for the junkyard.... Well, I just wish I had one near me. Just one. Nearest pick-your-part type place is about 90 minutes from where I live.

 

IMHO, a flex fan on a XJ would be iffy at best......I guess it could be a cheap enough experiment but I wouldn't experiment with the XJ cooling system AND rely on the "rigged" factory dash temp gauge to verify results. U need a reliable aftermarket temp gauge to see what is really going on when experimenting with the cooling system.