TJ Hood Vents and Cowl Induction

**StvDiego** · 08-07-2007, 01:18 PM

Last weekend I drove from San Diego to Los Angeles with a friend in his TJ (I-6 with a winch, A/C on and just over 90 degrees outside) and it overheated about halfway up. Stopped, let it cool and pulled the cover off the winch, seemed to help and made the rest of the trip up and back with no probs. And yeah, flushed the system and re-filled when we got back, it was pretty nasty which was likely the cause.

But anyway, that got us started talking about hood vents on TJ's. I've seen a couple with vents on top and on the side of the hood, even a fancy, and likely expensive, cowl induction hood, but I don't see that many.

Most of my wheelin is in the desert and last month out in the high desert area it was 117 degress, so it can be pretty warm at times and water really isn't much of an issue for me, well, except for that Vallecito Creek thing I really don't want to talk about.

So after all that, the questions are; who has vents or inductions on their hoods, what kind and what do you think? Was it worth the effort? Are the rumors about increased mileage true (hard for me to believe)? Any issues with dust and water getting under the hood? Does it really have an impact on low/high pressure areas? And any other thought you might have.

Just curious to get folks opinions. Wish I had a wind tunnel, maybe when I win the lotto.

Unscathed · 08-07-2007, 01:40 PM

Genright.com offers some vents for the hood.

I also suggest using the search button as this has been talked about before.

**65thTJ** · 08-07-2007, 01:46 PM

Airflow is a tricky thing. Air should enter the front and exit through the sides and down through the engine bay. That should be enough. The problem might have been the winch itself blocking the airflow into the radiator. Louvers, vents, whatever you want to call them might help, but they won't help unless you provide a way for the air to enter the engine bay first. Maybe an aftermarket fan that puts a bit more airflow through might do the trick or even a different radiator.

Unscathed · 08-07-2007, 01:51 PM

he's right.. if your not getting enough airflow in front of the radiator, you might want to look into a Flex-a-lite fan.. but louvers would also create a vacume as well pulling cold air into and out of the engine bay quicker.. You just may need to do both if you keep having the problem.

Hood louvers are cheaper if you want to start there.... $50-60
Someone on this forum added them and I believe he seen a 12 degree drop in temperature..

Then add a good electric fan - cost you about $200-250

and stay away from the ford taurus fan mod... it pulls 100 amps from your setup.. not worth it

Unscathed · 08-07-2007, 02:01 PM

summit racing sells louvers cheap

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?Ntk=KeywordSearch&DDS=1&Ntt=LOUVERS& x=0&y=0&N=+115&searchinresults=false

Here are the ones from Genright...

http://genright.com/category.aspx?categoryID=117

opiv · 08-07-2007, 02:10 PM

I took a road trip last weekend and noticed my Jeep was also running hot on a very hot weekend. I was also thinking of adding hood vents to the sides of my hood. I was even thinking of someway to add fans with a switch near the vents to circulate the air even more. It seems doable and it would be interesting to see if it made a noticable difference in engine temps.

HumanWaffleIron · 08-07-2007, 02:10 PM

Here is a write up with testing and everything...you might be interested.

Unscathed · 08-07-2007, 02:22 PM

here's another good shot of vents installed..

Crashnburn80 · 08-07-2007, 02:47 PM

Check this out, read post #11:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f46/reduce-under-hood-temp-20-degrees-under-20-a-291117/

**StvDiego** · 08-10-2007, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unscathed

here's another good shot of vents installed..

That is a lot of vents. Nice pic coming through The Squeeze, that's where I almost took off my right rear flare, Wranglers don't quite fit with extended flares. Great trail though, a lot of fun

afguy · 08-10-2007, 01:59 AM

Im liking the white one.

afguy · 08-10-2007, 02:42 AM

Just found this on Oman4x4's site.

34ford · 08-10-2007, 10:10 AM

Why not mount them on sides of hood, air can escape less h2o w/ rain?

Rubi22 · 08-10-2007, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by afguy

Just found this on Oman4x4's site.

Those look great.

**Thunderstrike** · 08-10-2007, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 65thTJ

Airflow is a tricky thing. Air should enter the front and exit through the sides and down through the engine bay. That should be enough. The problem might have been the winch itself blocking the airflow into the radiator. Louvers, vents, whatever you want to call them might help, but they won't help unless you provide a way for the air to enter the engine bay first. Maybe an aftermarket fan that puts a bit more airflow through might do the trick or even a different radiator.

I built & installed a pair of ram-air ducts to direct more airflow. I drove from Montgomery/AL to Ouray/CO with it, and took it off on my return trip. I did not see much difference on the temp gauge.

I did replace perfectly working OEM 1-row aluminum radiator with a 3-row metal from Radiator Barn. I would say the 3-row kept about 5' cooler.

08-10-2007, 10:10 AM	#13
34ford Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: mt dora fl Posts: 102 Profile Gallery Classifieds My Jeeps	Why not mount them on sides of hood, air can escape less h2o w/ rain?