Overheating problem...NEED YOUR ADVICE!!!

[rainman]

After chewing this thread over for the last couple of days.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that in the xj's the torque converter will not lock in first gear. so if he is running in soft sand in high 4 he is going to be smashing the tranny oil, which could explain the heat in the radiator .
if this is correct, what colour is your tranny oil, red or brown? smell burnt? if I'm on the right track it should be well cooked by now.
low range on soft sand. When the torque converter locks = a massive reduction in the heating of the tranny oil.

[oshen]

Well seems i have the day off tommorow, so the plan will be to head down the beach, drop tyre pressures to 15psi and put her in low range and just cruise up the beach slowly and see what happens. I thought about it, and it certainly cant help that i just hit the beach with 20psi, high range and basically gun it. I presume i must be doing somewhere from 30-50kmh, and to be honest, the beach is really really soft. I will be interested to see what happens in lowrange just idling along, i will report back.

Ratio's would be stock. Its just got a 2 or 3inch lift and 31 mud terrains. Was a mates car for years, i picked it up off him cheap $2500 - only having a car, i thought it was a bargain and couldnt help myself. To be honest, i dont do alot of beach work, but it would be nice to know it will do it without overheating. Apart from that, it goes damn hard. My old boy came down to visit and i took him for a thrash. Ended up on an extreme 4wd track and the jeep just ate it. I got stuck behind a 4wding club and we waited as they tackled a nasty rutted rock climb in the track. After watching one guy drop his cruiser in a rutt and ding his door, i then had to wait for a late model navara with lift and big tyres struggle for 10 mins and multiple attempts to make it through, eventually crabwalking along the edge. I could see all these club members now looking at me in the jeep. Straight up the guts of it, right foot down, straight to the top in seconds. They all looked pretty suprised, and one guy said to me, "damn....aint nothing wrong with the old jeep is there?" Apart from the odd overheat....no.
Its been a bloody good bus over the years, and it still goes strong. If i can get this beach thing sorted, i will be a happy man.

[Antiferret]

did you check the ratchet adjustment "kick down" cable? if this cable is too loose you will have the problems as described. (been there...)

see the gojeep website, adjustment takes 15 seconds.

i used my jeep to move a 1900kg trailer away for a bloke on fraser who was bogged (silly toyota drivers) in soft sand. after 10 minutes of this and snatching hom out, temp was only 105 deg (26 ambient).

if your car is OK at a standstill in hot traffic, your tranny heat is the culprit.
before you do an extra tranny cooler, make sure your system is as Jeep intended it.

[oshen]

Well, i went down the beach today, tyres down to 15psi and lowrange.........and i was amazed. It was a totally different animal. Instead of pulling in between 2000-3000 revs, i was sitting between 1500-2000. Temp gauge barely moved above half! Put it in high range for a while, and it only took minutes before the temp gauge was up near 3/4. Back into lowrange, and temp drops back to half. Thermo was on but it was nice to not have to drive with the heaters on full bore. I am a happy man.

Obviously the added strain on the motor and gearbox was all that it was. I felt kinda stupid kinda makes sense really, though i really didnt think dropping pressures by another 5psi and using low-range would solve my problem, but it did. I guess i am just used to fanging around dirt tracks, and the jeep loves it. But obviously on the beach, a different approach is need.
Cant say enough thanks to the person who suggested trying lowrange. I'd say you just saved me $600. No, you cant have the $600, but if you were in my neck of the woods, i would definately shout you a couple down the local.
Thanks for all the help.

[Cypher]

Great result, good to hear it all worked out! I'll have to try lower pressures too, when I was out I was at about 20-22psi in low range in quite soft and it overheated fairly easily, but my engine fan was doing next to nothing...

[rainman]

fantastic result.
consider changing your trany oil, sooner rather than later, cause you have smashed it.
regards,