I recently replaced my OEM single core aluminum radiator with the CSF 3 core copper radiator. I am having issues with it getting up to 228deg while just cruising around town and on the freeway in roughly 75deg weather. My old radiator would hover around 205-215deg no matter what I was doing. Anyone had this issue with the CSF radiator?

 

There have been reported that 3-row units, due to their thickness, restrict airflow. If you don't have heat transfer going from the radiator tubes to the air flowing through, no matter how many rows you have, it will run hotter. I found this out doing research before my upgrade.

 

Hmm, interesting...all the research that I did online showed that this one was a good replacement and had good reviews.

 

Reviews are frequently done by people who haven't even installed the product yet but think it looks awesome. Those are also prone to cracking due to the all aluminum construction. Those super thick ones seem more pointed to rock crawlers running triple electric fans. Considering most factory radiators run 12-15 years, I'm a fan of just putting in a fresh one and running another 12-15 years.

 

Yup. No need to upgrade on the average jeep

 

Mine ran hot after going to a 3 row too.. Took the thermostat out.. No change.. Nothing I did helped.. Then we rolled off a cliff. Going over 2.5 times. Ended up on our lid.. Flipped it over and ran cool from then on.. Put another 2-3000 very hard miles on it after the roll. Must have been an air pocket..

 

Seems like a terrifying fix...

 

Yeah, I have a 97 so bubbles are less common with the open cooling system...plus I burped it when I filled the radiator. I'm probably just going to try and return this one if I can and pick up one locally from NAPA. May also look into swapping out the fan clutch and putting in a ZJ one.

 

The problem with most 3-row is the coolant passages are considerably smaller compared to 1 and 2 row.

 

Ooooh! Can we make this a sticky, please!

 

The faster a fluid travels through a radiator, the less lime it has to give up it's heat.
2 Row FTW!

 

lmao.. Ran great after this: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f33/we...e-pics-142460/

 

I can almost guarantee this is a install or airflow issue. I'm running that very same radiator and can wheel comfortably with my A/C on in 80*F weather and only the aux. cooling fan (clutch fan removed).

The 4.0 is easy to get airlocks out of by removing the top heater hose and burping through there. Also, if you have looped your heater lines back together through the thermostat hosing then you'll never get it to cool down. A lot of people do that thinking its okay and don't realize they're pumping hot water back at the inlet. Plug them separately if you must bypass the heatercore.

 

I can't see how it would be an airflow issue since it is setup exactly the same as my aluminum single core radiator I had, unless there is something going on with my fan clutch that I got from Oriellys last year. Also I cleaned the AC Condenser out very well before I put this radiator in. I am going to pick up a HD fan clutch from NAPA today and see if that helps any. I drove it around last night and let it idle for a few minutes in my driveway and checked the temperature of the fan clutch with a infrared thermometer and it wasn't ever showing anything over 150DEG while the car temp was over 220DEG.

I don't believe there could be any airlocks in the system because I burped it and this is an open cooling system which is very rare to get bubbles in the system. Also I am not bypassing my heater core as I need it in the winter months.

 

I hear ya. All that I know is that the short comings I've found in the XJ cooling system stem from the fan/airflow. My single row was doing okay before I replaced it (only replacing it b/c it was disintegrating from age) and I actually didn't see much of an improvement after the CSF. During that swap, I accidentally broke my clutch fan shroud since it was so brittle and so didn't reinstall it (which is critical for a weak airfoil design). After that I saw worse air temperatures, so I removed the clutch fan entirely.

From then on, the truck has done great! In fact, I am only looking to add another aux fan for those long rock crawls. It also doesn't hurt that mine is a manual, so I do not use the transmission cooling core. If you're AW4, I suggest you go remote.