gunhand

No mat under my hood

nolanbalzarini

I have louvers and I can controll the Efan manually.
on my 98
-do at your own risk, you tamper with the computer- I dont know what years this may work on, i assume 97-01.

Locate pin c2 on the pcm. its in the grey connector. C2 controls the rad fan relay, when its grounded the fan comes on. splice into c2 and run the wire through a switch and to ground. no power
also, pin a12 on the pcm controls extra idle, same thing. ground it through a switch. A is the black plug on the pcm. you may have to remove the airbox to make room.
only do this if you are comfortable cutting into your wiring harness.

SirCyber

that's a BEAST of a louver setup!!

TECM has a VERY good point here... The cutout template doesn't cut out very much at all in terms of hood to hood louver coverage

SFNM94XJ

[QUOTE=SirCyber;3440185]that's a BEAST of a louver setup!!

I pretty much used up all the real estate on the hood. lol

In my experience, if you have high temp gauge issues; the real solution lies within the cooling system itself & its performance.

That said, I agree with OP; I was never happy with how hot the hood & front fenders on my XJ got after I started engine mods. Intuitively, it makes sense that opening the relatively enclosed XJ engine compartment would help with engine cooling. I'm guessing I got about a 5 -10 degree cooling drop with the louvers.

Plus, all the rubber and plastics under the hood are better off with lower temps.

craigjacob1

If you have electric fans make sure they are all functional.

If your main fan is on the motor look into replacing the fan clutch. You should also have a secondary electric fan on the drivers' side. Make sure it is functioning.

Make sure you have a fan shroud on the back of your radiator. It helps tremendously with directing the airflow.

Also troubleshoot your thermostat

If your coolant is discolored you should properly clean and flush the system. I had to do mine 3 or 4 times before it started to make a difference. My hvac heater control valve was corroding and getting junk in the cooling system. If you have a problem with yours you can eliminate it, or replace it.

Your water pump could be worn out. If you hear a screeching noise when you start your car it could be the water pump impellers rubbing the housing and shearing off metal into your cooling system. I usually wait until it breaks to replace it, rather than taking it off just to check the condition.

I would not recommend removing the shield from the underside of the hood. Over time the temperature fluctuations will cause the clear coat to oxidize and peel off the hood. The xj is already prone to peeling clear coat as it is.

Hood vents will help evacuate some of the heat. If you are standing still the motor bay on the xj is pretty much just a big box that traps the heat inside.

Bugout4x4

I have often wondered how a cowl on the hood with a switched fan blowing cool air down and out the bottom would work?

SirCyber

Bugout, I would go opposite... Force air up and out through a vent rather than pushing air down. Either way I suppose would work though >

Bugout4x4

I always wondered about this, because it seems it would be more efficient to pull the additional colder air from outside and force it down through it's normal pathway than to be pulling hot air out through the top. We may be "Working against the grain" per say... Especially if we are trying to prevent heat soak with this concept in the first place.

I'm thinking it would probably help greatly to cool the intake and exhaust from the top down rather than up? And the floor boards are going to get hot no matter what anyways, but it might even help with this too if the air forced through the whole engine compartment down and back is cooler over all?

It was just an out of the box thought...

SirCyber

Lol they probably both would work... Anything really would help the steam box that is the xj engine bay! If, however, the problem is just how hot the hood is, just truck liner it... The rubber makes it seem not that hot anymore, trust me ��

Bugout4x4

Didn't notice, was that the original complaint? lol Then don't try to put your girl friend up there then, your wife (or ex-wife) already caught on to those hood temps years ago.

Seriously... Hoods get hot by nature! lol Keeping the intake cool is what would be important here I would think?

SirCyber

Amen brother... Agreed on all parts!

Bugout4x4

Here's one... If it just a hot hood being the problem, then just glue a big aluminum heat sink radiator on it like a CPU.

Kymasabe

Cooling system is fine, I was just concerned that all that trapped heat can't be good for hoses and wiring and plastics, and the hood gets damn hot !! Was just trying to find a way to let some heat out. I'm thinking of possibly using hood vents from a Grand Cherokee, I think I saw there was a year or two with bigger v8 that had factory hood vents. If I can find a pair of those online or in a boneyard, might consider those.

Ralph77

'98 5.9 Magnum Grand Cherokee. Pricey when they do come up for sale on Ebay. I do not have any underhood temp, or heat soak, problems in my '00 but just loved the look. Since I had to have my body guy deal with some surface rust issues on the roof and hood found some to buy and let him install them.

gunhand

No insulation mat when I bought the Jeep.