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I met David Bricker yesterday on the side of the road while he was transporting his XJ out of Vegas. Just thought I would stop in and say hi and see what you guys are all about. It was nice meeting you David!

Hi there Scott;

Thanks so much for stopping!! That was really nice of you, and thanks for the water.

We made it over the hill without an additional stop, but we did stop in Pahrump and get a bottle of Water Wetter. It did seem to help, maybe 15 degrees. We stopped a couple of times going over Towne Pass to let things cool, but made it to PSR safe and sound by 8pm.

For everyone else's info, Taz stopped when we had the hood up on the XJ, letting it cool off when climbing the hill just outside of Vegas, to see if we were all right. He graciously gave us several bottles of water, in case we needed it for the radiator. He drives a very nice Rubi.

Thanks for posting, and come back to the board and hang out with us!

David Bricker / SYR

David, is your electric auxilliary fan working? Graham C., the guy driving the silver Tacoma like mine last year on the Hunter Mountain/Lippincott tour, has a similar problem with his '91 XJ. He doesn't drive it off road at all, it stays cool enough on the road, but get it on a trail and the temp gauge goes to the hot zone pronto. It doesn't actually overheat, but the gauge is well into the upper half of the gauge. If I remember right, it was the auxilliary fan not kicking in. It was a common problem, if I recall. He's never done anything about it because he drives his XJ seldom and like I say it does fine on the highway for the short trips to town and back. I can inquire for you to get the full explanation if you still experience heating issues.

D.A. Wright wrote:David, is your electric auxilliary fan working?

Yep, the fans are working fine. I think I am just a bit under radiated. Not sure what I 'm going to go about it, but I'll think of something. May be that I'll see if I can get a 3 row radiator core from the same folks I got this radiator.

David Bricker / SYR

David is there anything I could bring with me on Wed?
Extra fan, thermostat, coolant?
Kelly

Duct tape, Zipties and Flatbed Trailer for after Cummins Cut Off???

David_Bricker wrote:

D.A. Wright wrote:David, is your electric auxilliary fan working?

Yep, the fans are working fine. I think I am just a bit under radiated. Not sure what I 'm going to go about it, but I'll think of something. May be that I'll see if I can get a 3 row radiator core from the same folks I got this radiator.

David Bricker / SYR

Maybe the fans are going the wrong way... Just a thought...

LarryW wrote: Maybe the fans are going the wrong way... Just a thought...

Worthwhile idea, but they are going the right direction.

David Bricker / SYR

One time I had an issue with the water pump and radiator. After I changed them out I kept running hot so I changed the thermostat, still the same problem. I took it into a radiator shop and they flushed it and all was well after it. I guess there was some air trapped or something kind of clogging things up. Anyway there are self flush kits which I have used that worked pretty good or you could get it flushed at a shop and see what happens. It may be that you radiator is under sized, but I would try other things before I spent money on another one.

(hi taz, welcome)



David.
From your other post, I didnt realise you were having such a problem.
If I can make it up Ill bring a thing or two to help diagnose it. Ive seen stock radiators cool those engines in horrible conditions.

Youve got something else going on...

k.

Yesterday, I went through your postings on your Cherokee repairs.
When I saw the radiator and fans you installed, I immediately thought about a guy on NAXJA who, this winter, bought the same radiator and fans. He had overheating problems right from the start.
A couple of problems with the set up are the small fans, when compared to the stock fans, and the lack of a fan shrouds.

The stock mechanical fan produces around 4000 CFM when the clutch is fully locked up plus the electric aux fan produces between 1200 and 1500 CFM, depending on which model it is. This is plenty as long as the engine and radiator are in good shape. My 2001 XJ has the stock system and it does not over heat in the summer.
BTW, all XJs normally run at a sizzling 210 degrees. This is what the computer wants to see so do not be tempted to use a lower temperature thermostat.

Your triple fan set up should have a shroud that pulls air through the entire radiator, not just the area covered by the fans.
Probably the easiest and quickest solution is to convert it back to the stock arrangement.
You might want to check around and see if a stock mechanical fan, shroud and aux electric fan are available from an auto salvage yard. I hope you didn’t cut the fan bearing support off when you installed the electric fans.

The one electric fan setup that seems to work well is the Ford Taurus 2-speed fan. It pulls more than 4000 CFM. It draws around 35-amps when running in the high-speed mode, over twice of what the triple fans draws. Moving large amounts of air uses a lot of power.
http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoTaurusFanInstall1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's a major job to install.

Good luck!

Lazy xj wrote:Yesterday, I went through your postings on your Cherokee repairs.
When I saw the radiator and fans you installed, I immediately thought about a guy on NAXJA who, this winter, bought the same radiator and fans. He had overheating problems right from the start.
A couple of problems with the set up are the small fans, when compared to the stock fans, and the lack of a fan shrouds.

The stock mechanical fan produces around 4000 CFM when the clutch is fully locked up plus the electric aux fan produces between 1200 and 1500 CFM, depending on which model it is. This is plenty as long as the engine and radiator are in good shape. My 2001 XJ has the stock system and it does not over heat in the summer.
BTW, all XJs normally run at a sizzling 210 degrees. This is what the computer wants to see so do not be tempted to use a lower temperature thermostat.

Your triple fan set up should have a shroud that pulls air through the entire radiator, not just the area covered by the fans.
Probably the easiest and quickest solution is to convert it back to the stock arrangement.
You might want to check around and see if a stock mechanical fan, shroud and aux electric fan are available from an auto salvage yard. I hope you didn’t cut the fan bearing support off when you installed the electric fans.

The one electric fan setup that seems to work well is the Ford Taurus 2-speed fan. It pulls more than 4000 CFM. It draws around 35-amps when running in the high-speed mode, over twice of what the triple fans draws. Moving large amounts of air uses a lot of power.
http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoTaurusFanInstall1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's a major job to install.

Good luck!

I read the post from the guy on NAXJA. He ran hot, but never actually boiled over. It is the same situation I am facing. I'm still trying to do problem determination, but I would lean towards going back to complete stock. Makes things simplier, easier to find replacemant parts,

I am resetting this from the previous owner. He had dual aftermarket electric fans in it, but the clearance to the drive pulleys was unacceptable (1/8"). So, I thought this would fix multiple issues.
Not quite ready to give up on this yet.

David Bricker / SYR

David_Bricker wrote: Not quite ready to give up on this yet.

David Bricker / SYR

I suspect a major part of the problem is the lack of a shroud.
I cannot think of any modern engine that does not have one. A shroud has a major effect on the efficiency of the fans.
Why the package doesn't have one is a mystery to me except that it is an expensive part to manufacture.
Fabbing one would be a major project but doable. It could be made from light aluminum sheet metal and extruded aluminum angle. The pieces could be pieced together with a tig welder or pop-riveted. I would mock it up out of foam board before cutting any metal to get the right fit.
This is not beyond the possibility of a talented home mechanic. Too bad your XJ is so far from home.

Let us know it works out.