WEn changing the thermostat do you have to drain fluids again? And to remove thermostat n not put a new one as a temp fix is that possible? Can you clamp or bend hoses to the fluid wnt come out?

 

you might be able to clamp the hose, but you won't easily be able to stop the fluid coming out of the block. It ain't hard to fill it up again

 

You're going to loose some fluid no matter how you do it. Best bet
is to drain some in a bucket, so it can be reused.

 

So once the level goes down enough ill be good? And wats thoughts on removing tstat as a quick fix till i get one

 

When u loosen the bolts on the t-stat cover, u'll basically lose the coolant that's in the head, majority of coolant is in the block and rad. Won't hurt anything to run a bit without a t-stat......just have to drain twice.

 

Well i changed the water pump and wired my electric fan to stay on it still overheats with the ac on or running on the beach in 4 wheel could the tstat n housing be the problem if it went bad?

 

Running in 4 low on the beach will help the temp a little bit but wont fix your overheating problems. What is the condition of the fan clutch and radiator?

 

Whens the last time you flushed the system? Is coolant topped off after making changes? My understanding of xj cooling systems is that they are under designed and overheating is a common result. Make sure system is clean and full. The tstat elimination will only solve the problem for a few minutes but the coolantmwillmstillmget up to the same temp as you are getting now unless it was truley stuck shut.