You might also want to do this at some point. See post #26:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/tem...2/#post3228367

 

Another old school flush is done with white vinegar it works wonders.

 

I was thinking about installing an inline coolant filter, but I realized the factory already put one in.

Only they call it something different. In the Cherokee they call it the Heater Core ...

 

I have one installed in top hose keeps crap from clogging rad but their costly....http://www.ganofilters.com/...

 

GOOD to see you keeping a sense of humor in all this.

 

Until you discover the source of your overheating issue, all a filter will do is provide another location for that brown, sludgy precipitate from the boiling coolant to accumulate and restrict flow in the system.

 

Siphon some coolant out of the radiator. You dont need the engine at full operating temp to perform this test with accuracy. If your upper radiator hose is warming up you can start pulling gas through your calorimery tester. Take the radiator cap off before starting the vehicle. Set up the tester then start the engine. Pull some radiator gases through the fluid and note the color. Periodically pull some more gas through as it warms up. Fill the tester only to the marked line.

 

Nice. I wasn't aware of these. Perhaps I should install one before I have issues.

 

The one in the pics goes in the heater core hose, but I haven't seen that exact one anywhere. Amazon has the one that freedgr has but those go in the top radiator hose and my problem with that is if it gets clogged up it will make things worse and potentially stop the flow of coolant and cause the engine to overheat. Another problem with them in my opinion is that if they crack and leak and all your coolant leaks while driving down the road your engine will overheat.

So I'm just going to continue using the heat core as the coolant filter, lol, yes it's funny but it's fairly functional too as it's pretty easy to flush out.

Maybe the top benefit of these coolant filters is that you can keep the heater core from getting clogged and if you install valves before and after the filter, you can change out the filter without loosing any coolant.

Will they prevent the radiator from filling with crud? Maybe, I don't know, my understanding is that the heater core will get full of crud first and when that get's clogged and coolant no longer flows through it, the crud will start to collect in the radiator. This is what I believe may have happened to me, as my heater core was clogged when I bought the Jeep about half a year ago. I wish I cut open the old radiator before throwing it away to see what was inside.....

 

All filters are cleanable there see thru so they can be moniteried.

 

You can also occasionally clean out the overflow bottle. I just did this and collected a lot of sediment from the bottom of the bottle.

 

The Ve-LABS filter you back flush to clean.

 

A coolant filter is a band aid on a shotgun wound. The crud you're seeing in your system is from coolant boiling locally in your system. When water boils out of coolant, the coolant itself precipitates out particles that show up in the radiator cap as reddish brown mud. People usually think that's rust, but it isn't. It works the same way as distilling water; when you boil the water, it leaves all its contaminants behind when it turns into water vapor. This boiling is leaving behind mud.

Incidentally, a similar thing happens chemically when you mix red and green coolant. The two react somehow and cause the coolant to precipitate out of the solution into the system as mud. It amuses me that people are perfectly willing to accept that explanation for a reason not to mix coolant types, yet will be 100% convinced that crud in their boiling system is either rust or stop leak that "some prior owner" put in.

Until you fix your cooling system/engine issue, the filter is not going to help anything.

 

In short..... Repeat the block test.

 

Agreed filter are preventatives not cures.