megannelson58

A few months ago i put a 258 AMC stroker in my 92 jeep cherokee. it only has about a thousand miles on it... and i am having issues with it overheating!! i put a 160 degree thermostat in it.. hoping a cooler one would do the trick. no change. the water pump is working just fine.. and i have three electrical fans in front of the radiator.. so i cant figure out for the life of me what could be causing it to over heat. i thought maybe my ac was going out.. but it doesn't make a difference whether the ac is on or off. it still overheats. thought maybe there was an air pocket in the system.. but that's not the case. when cold water from the hose is sprayed on the radiator it almost instantly cools down.. so the coolant is obviously flowing through the system. anyone know what the problem could be?? i am out of ideas!!!

THE_CHIEF

Does is have the proper amount of coolant in it?

EDIT: You could have also gotten a bad thermostat. They're very cheaply built.

JerrytheJeep

They're designed to fail in the open position. OP, how are you measuring temp? Have you verified that your guage is working? Also what temp do you consider "overheating"?

RSWiser

You said you had three fans in front of The radiator. Are they pushing or pulling air. In front should be pushing.

megannelson58

I'm considering 250 260 overheating. My gage may be off.. But it gets hot enough that radiator fluid will boil out.. I want to get an accurate gage and I probably will do that next.. But regardless it's overheating! I considered even taking the thermostat out.. What would you think about trying that?

megannelson58

Sorry.. The fans are behind the radiator! Between the radiator and the engine. And they are pulling air from the radiator. I've been told to try taking the electric fans out and going back to the original system. At this point that's the only other thing I can think to try.

What do you think

XJwonders

Try replacing the serpentine belt. My xj overheated constantly until I replaced the belt then it ran normal

xjheep92

Is there any shroud around the fans ?

JerrytheJeep

Boils out of the radiator? Be careful with that, you'll get some serious burns. Water boils at 212° Fahrenheit (100° C) at sea level. The system is under pressure so it will stay a liquid as the vehicle runs, but when you release that pressure, suddenly you've got steam, which can get infinitley hotter.

So what that means is, don't touch your radiator cap after running your vehicle until it cools for a while.

I wouldn't do anything till you verify exactly what temperature your engine is running at.

THE_CHIEF

I've added distilled water in mine before because water cools faster than the coolant fluid.

megannelson58

so i worked on my jeep all day... and still having issues. at this point it has a new thermostat. the water pump is working just fine. The AC is not the issue.. i have taken the electric fans out and put the mechanical one back in. when that didn't work i added an electrical fan to the other side so that i would have an electric and mechanic fan going at the same time and it is still over heating. the engine only has about 1000 miles on it and should be in prime condition. the last thing i can think to do is put a new radiator in. (i replaced the OEM radiator a while back and put a bigger one in it but it sat for a year while the engine was rebuilt.) anyone have anything to say about putting a new radiator in? do you think the radiator has some corrosion from sitting for a year so it is just not very efficient??

if anyone could help me out that would be great!

JerrytheJeep

What temp is your engine running at?