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over heating yj

787 views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  sentinal02 
#1 ·
I am having some strange over heating problems, I live in Boston and drive around the city and no over heating occurs, but whenever I drive home to Maine (3 hour drive) or any other long distance for that matter, as soon as I get off the highway the thing over heats. when I turn it off but keep the power on to read teh gauges the temp sky rockets.

Does that sound like the clutch in the cooling fan not working correctly?
 
#2 ·
Mine does the same thing but its because I put a 160 degree thermostat in it. So there is something to start with, bad thermostat, well another really easy thing to try is the fan clutch. when the engine is cold you should be able to turn the fan by hand very easily. If it is hard to turn then its shot. You're supposed to change those every so many thousand miles anyway. Give it a shot and let us know.
 
#3 ·
it seems that it spins the same hot or cold.... it won't make a full revolution hot or cold.
 
#4 ·
I would suspect the fan clutch. Replace that, and at the same time flush your cooling system and put in a new thermostat. The deal with the temp guage climbing when you shut off the engine is normal. The water is not being circulated, but it's still absorbing heat from the engine.
 
#5 ·
Already ordered the clutch from a J&W Jeep. I have never dealt with replacing a thermastat, is that difficult?

I saw that you were from Thousand Oaks, Do you know the Mary and Sean Kenney? I have a bunch of Family in So. Cal.
 
#6 ·
for your thermostat , follow the hose off of the top of the radiator to your engine block. It will lead to a little housing with 2 bolts. unbolt them and your thermostat is inside there. make sure you don't snap the bolts on it cause your head might be aluminum, and it is a pain to free the broken bolt out.
 
#7 ·
also when putting it back together make sure you torque the bolts properly. if you overtighten, you'll break the aluminum t-stat housing.
 
#8 ·
so the cooling fan clutch came the other day, threw it in and that baby ran way cool. even after a 4 hour road trip to the logging trails in northern maine.... yeah baby! thanks all, for your help!
 
#9 ·
On the same note, my temp gauge isnt working at all. I checked the sensor and all the wires are there and plugged in. Is there other things that i can check. DO you think its a faulty sensor?
 
#11 ·
No i never checked the gauge itself. How do i go about doing that? Would it be easier to get a new sensor and see if thats the problem?
 
#12 ·
oh and how do i go about adding a pic to my name?
 
#13 ·
I am not sure, if you can find what the sending unit sends up to teh gauge and can replicate something similar with a battery then that would work, OR just get a new gauge.... I bet the gauge is cheaper then the sending unit??? But I really don't know you would have to look that up.

you can set the picture in your user prefrences under the avatar section at the bottom, its pretty simple
 
#14 ·
i'm not sure but i think the guages might all be one piece. when i bought my 88 the guy i got it from said that he had tried to replace the oil pressure guage and that it was all part of the same cluster. i've only had it a few months though so i have yet to look into it myself though. i have heard of taking the guages out and cleaning up the contacts behind them to fix the guages. if you have a loose connection the guage won't work. also, try twisting the male contact slightly with a pair of pliers to give the two pieces a better chance of staying connected. just becareful not to go too far or you could snap it off or have a hard time getting them back together. getting the guages out is easy though. maybe a dozen screws from inside the cab and they'll come right out.
 
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