Well i believe my radiator was cracked when someone backed into me earlier in the week and i was just wondering if it's an easy job to do by myself or should i just bring it to a shop?

I'm kind of short on cash so if it's not too stressful of a job i'd like to get it done myself this week sometime since i have this week off from work.

Thanks in advance

 

It's a pretty easy job for a beginner. Take the money you'd spend on labor, upgrade to a good rad (i suggest www.dpgoffroad.com) and do the work yourself.

Have a basic tool kit?

 

It is very basic. All you need is simple sockets and such.
If you have a 84-89 i highly suggest swapping to a open radiator. If you are looking for oem it should be 130 bucks lifetime at auto zone.

 

very basic hand tools......... 10mm deep socket for nuts/bolts on rad hold down. screwdriver or pliers for the hose clamps, 5/16 socket for shroud screws and about a hours time....
Spend the extra $50 and get the all metal radiator..the plastic tank ones are not as good.

 

Thanks guys. I should be doing it once this rain lets up.

 

sorry to chime in off topic: what do you need in order to get an open system i have a 90? what is the benefit of the open compared to the closed?

 

The closed system tends to have air trapped in them sometimes. I switched my 89 to open. All you need is the radiator with fill cap and the thermostat housing from a 91+ 4.0 (It has the fan sensor on it). Or just the radiator with cap and wire your aux fan to a switch, your call. Made a huge difference on mine, no more overheating for me.

 

I was hanging out with a friend the other day and my radiator came up and he told me something that sounded interesting for a temp fix.

I don't plan on doing it, but i was just wondering if it's true since he's a gear head but i've never heard of it before. He said if you take and egg shell and crush it up then put in the resuviour then it will work it's way into the radiator and plug the holes for a short period of time?

 

It's not the egg shell, it's the interior contents of a raw egg. It WILL plug up the holes for a small period of time, so it could be used as an emergency move. I wouldn't count on it to keep the holes patched up for any length of time, though. Your best bet is to just get it fixed.

 

My 86, my friends dad's 86, and my friends 85 are all open from the factory. I'm pretty sure it's only 4.0's that are closed.

 

Are you talking about the film on the inside of the shell or the egg white? I'm guessing the film since the egg white would just cook inside the engine before its even pushed into the radiator.

I don't plan on doing it, just like learning new things.

 

It's the actual contents of the egg itself. It WILL cook in the hot coolant, but that's the point; the little pieces will plug up the holes in your radiator, but like I said, it's a very temporary fix. The protein will break down fairly quickly in the high heat.

 

Also when replacing your radiator you may need a line tool it should be a 3/8 line tool no more than 10 bucks at your local auto store! You may not need one but i needed one for the lower line on driver side of radiator in my 98 xj

 

its a quick release for the return line on the transmission. if you have an auto you need the tool...its a fuel/transmission line tool.

 

You can also pick up the radiator fill neck to fit into the upper radiator hose from summit racing. You don't need to change the tstate housing. A complete write up should come up if you search for it. I have changed both my 89's using the summit racing inline radiator cap. Both work great and no need to purchase a different radiator. I had just purchased two new radiators to replace the old single core radiators with three row to assist the cooling process because I thought that some of the overheating was caused by the single core radiator. Great mod to our jeeps. I would do it again in a heart beat!

Hope this helps