Hamster

Had a little overheating issue with my XJ last week. Replaced the t-stat which helped a little but, didn't eliminate the problem. Poked around, asked some questions and finally decided to replace the fan clutch and the overflow bottle & cap. I had intended to add some Purple Ice to the mix but, couldn't find any locally so I ended up using Water Wetter. I had already bought a new drive belt so, I replaced that while I was in there. I checked the water pump (which looks to have been replaced fairly recently) and it turns smoothly with no bearing play. I replaced all of the CCV system components today as well since everything I ordered finally arrived.

Buttoned her all up, cranked it up and let it idle in the driveway for about 30 minutes with the overflow cap off, to work any air bubbles out and the Water Wetter into the system.
Put the cap back on and headed down the road for a test drive. The temp stayed slightly shy of the 210 mark for most of the test drive and only reached 210 at one particularly long stop light so hopefully, my cooling woes are over.

macgyver35

Glad you had some luck! thanks for sharing your experience as it may help others.

RickBross

Yeah, hope I never have this problem! Much love brother.

cruiser54

Another nice upgrade to that system is to use a bottle cap for a Volvo. Napa 703-1396. It grabs the threads of the bottle better and has a lower profile keeping the cap further away from the hood when the bottle expands.

itsalwayssunny

Had the same situation in my 96 xj, replaced cap, bottle, waterpump, t-stat, housing and coolant sensor. The temp gauge was replaced but the harness was faulty in the fact that the gauge on the dash read higher than normal. Bought a scangaugeII to read the OBD and temp stays at 195. Glad to hear no more cooling issues!

Marcucco

Just out of curiosity, does your top hose look like this:




Or like this?




The second picture shows the proper hose for an XJ with AC.
The hose pictured at the top gets crimped at the water pump and pinched between the hood and the AC compressor which really restricts the flow.

Chrysler messed up when they first issued the parts manual.
They marked the Non-AC top hose as the w/AC hose, and vice versa.
Several suppliers never got around to fixing the error.
They'll give you the wrong hose and think your a jerk when you try and tell them it's wrong.

freegdr

bottom pic

Marcucco

I know you know, I was talking to the new guy.

itsalwayssunny

mine is definitely the top pic. 1996 cherokee classic with A/C. now that crimpage is definitely good to know

Dan91

I've got a '99 with AC, and the top pic hose. I cant see how it would get crimped in the position it's in though?

Marcucco

Look at the insolation on your hood, You'll see the marks on it from the hose guard.



Look at the top of the AC compressor, you'll see where that corugated skuff guard has worn a shiny spot on top of the aluminum case.
(sorry, no pic)

Look at the bottom side of hose where it comes off the water pump, it should be a nice even curve, not this:



Finally, should the hose really be resting on the battery?

Hamster

Ya know..................looking under the hood of one of these, especially and older model like mine, begs the question: "What were these engineers smoking when they decided on the routing for all those vacuum hoses?"

Marcucco

They were grasping at straws.
Be glad you didn't get something with an air-pump a pre-heater off the exhaust and PVC valve that needs to be changed more often then your oil.

So which hose did you have?
Apparently Dan doesn't believe me, but as you can see from the pictures, having the right style hose can really help a lot.

Dan91

Well, my XJ doesn't have the hood insulation so that's a tad extra room. Anyways, I can't check since I'm out of the country at current but I don't recall any rub marks on the compressor from the hose, also my hose doesn't rest on the battery. Here's the best pic I have, I'm gonna try to find others later on my external drive.

djb383

Must be at least 3 top rad hoses.....ours doesn't rub on the hood and looks different than either of those top hoses, the refrigerant lines on the compressor looks different also.