Steam coming off hood
 

2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport

Earlier this week we were driving around during rush hour. It was raining lightly. We stopped at a long traffic light and we noticed steam coming off the front of the hood and the hood was dry ( even though it was raining ). All the dash gauges looked fine. The car drives fine. We did replace the radiator within the last 6 months.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Rain water evaporating on the hot hood.

Insulation gone removed from underside of hood, known issue heat buildup.


If you want to help cure this heat problem use some washers in the hinges at the rear of the hood to raise it above the weather stripping at the cowl. A lot of the heat will be removed from under the hood this way, better than installing lovers in most cased and costs less than a buck. This will also help with engine cooling.

^ this is exactly what i've done. i like the look of a stock hood.

Thanks for the idea.

Is this solution going to throw more heat on the windshield ? Today it is already steaming up quite a bit.

the windshield?

Yes. As I understand it the suggestion was to raise the rear of the hood by the height of a few washers to allow the heat to escape towards the windshield. Did I understand correctly ?

Also - I just checked the underside of the hood. It shows no signs of ever having any insulation - just nice clean metal.

i haven't noticed any extra heat against the windshield personally. but i don't really drive it in the winter either to notice if it melts the snow more than usual.

Mine never had insulation. I have owned it since it was new.

The steam off the hood is not a problem. A lot of cars do this. It's just the water evaporating when it hits the hot hood. If you're not having any other heat issues, the steam by itself is not really a reason to modify it.

won't this allow water the enter the back of engine bay and run down the firewall? there is a lot of stuff mounted on the firewall..

No it doesn't come in normally at all.

so you're saying while my jeep is sitting at work in a downpour that no water is going to get in the engine bay? I can see this being a huge problem.

Yes - we are the only owners of our 2001 - I wish we had bought two instead of that crappy Volvo S60 I drove for years.

We drove the Jeep for 12+ years in South Florida (where it can get pretty warm, and where it rains alot). I never remember seeing the steam off the hood the way I do now (and we live in a much cooler place). But - we really aren't having any problems - just an observation.

I thought someone ws going to tell me I needed a new thermostat or something.

Might be replacing it again.

FWIW, lifting the rear of the hood dumps hot air into the cowl and:
1. defeats the purpose of having a CAI mounted in the cowl.
2. dumps that super heated air through the cowl, then the climate control system and finally right into your face.

Can you elaborate on that ?