OVER HEATING

[familyofjeeps]

all my 88 Cherokee does is over heat, The rad. is 1 yrs old and all the hoses are new, the reservoir is new and the heater switch is new the only thing that is not is the heater core but I can never smell the antifreeze can any one help me or give me some tips?

thanks, family of Jeeps

[Jeepgirl]

When I bought my YJ it was over heating as well. We changed the water pump to see if that made a difference and ended up having to change the head as well. That then solved all the problems. Mine didn't smell like antifreeze either.
Good Luck

[JENSSEN]

Check your voltage on the fuel pump, there is a ballast resisitor on the front drivers side fender, when it starts to fail it drops the voltage off and you run hugly lean. Does it cough and sputter when it gets hot by chance?

[barmanjay]

T-stat stuck? that would definitely cause overheating issues

[cLAY]

Is the electric fan kicking in? Is the clutch on the mechanical fan working?

[Gearhead]

As Clay mentioned , the fan clutch must be working properly ,    additionally , the rad cap needs to be capable of holding it's rated pressure and the system must hold pressure when checked with a pressure tester.

I use an infra red thermometer to check the temperature drop across the radiator core.

[familyofjeeps]

I checked the fans they all are working and the rad cap is good, I changed the water pump and it help for about a day, then it started doing it again a mechanic that I go to school with told me the same thing so I think it might be the head is their any way of checking or do I just pull it apart and look at the gasket ? thank all !! helped a lot

[JENSSEN]

Are you loosing coolant? If you have a leak you should be going down,... a leak must lead somewhere. If your coolant isnt depleating I would look somewhere other than the HG.

Or sell it to a guy like me for cheap!

LOL

[Jeepgirl]

We just took everything apart and had to actually replace the head because it was warped or cracked (don't know which) Good luck. :'(

[shibby]

Could have an air blockage in the system if you had it drained at any point... I also agree with the thermostat being a possible culprit. It's amazing how much damage a $5 part can do when it fails closed, seen more than one blown head gasket from a malfunctioning thermostat.

[mudninja]

mine stoped over heating when i tokk the preasure sprayer to the rad and blasted all the mud out so the air could flow. it when from red line to half again. now i bring a super soker in the woods with me. works great.

[Tinkerer]

I can vouch that I've had the same problem as mudninja, had to soak out the rad to get rid of gunk, even if I didn't get into any really hairy stuff,  just the muddy water.  OTOH, I also went electric fan because my fan clutch had seized, which *should* not have caused a cooling prolblem, but it did at highway speeds.

Good luck with this.