4.0l XJ overheating? Start here - the basics!

[94xjeep]

Well that's what they said to me and I said I bet you a radiator you don't find a thing apart from the leaking rad and a low concentration of coolant due to the top ups I have to do every week. 2 litres a week.

They tested for stray current, thermostat operation, water pump flow, condenser condition, drive belt routing, air flow, head gasket, idle speed, fuel mixtures, carbon build up with camera on a stick down the plug holes, correct spark plugs, and so on and they found nothing but an old jeep looking back at them leaking coolant. Radiator mounts, engine mounts checked to for alignment and correct fitting.

They gave me another radiator under warranty. this new one last a day and I cracked it big time. Don't tell me its' the car because I have now changed out the engine with a factory built engine with only 211,000km's on the clock and the radiator still let go. The radiator repairer has 37 years of building cores from scratch for earthmoving equipment to old honey comb cores from the ground up so I am sure the man can solder a radiator(new). The repairs would last a day to 2 days tops. I was going but wing nuts on the radiator for quick removal. I can pull the rad out of my XJ in 20 mins with hand tools.

[anthonygubbin]

I have an adrad ally rad and its "ok". But it leaks every now and then. I find the seals on my ally one are not great due to the design of the way the tanks are crimped on using ally tabs. So far I haven't bothered with a new one as I have to cut back somewhere and if it ain't well and truly broke it aint getting fixed on my old lemon.... Looking at the design of the copper brass ones with the plastic tanks to me it looks far better than what I have.

Regards A

[Roler]

I have a copper core one, put in about 4 yrs ago in the time I didn't do my own maintenance yet. Incredibly disappointed.Cost me $460 (yes, 460) and started leaking within 3 yrs (and far less then 40 K). And still is. No use having it fixed, because it will most likely start to leak somewhere else.

When I have time, will swap it for an allu core one for $180. If that one lasts 4 years, everything beyond that is a bonus.

[junglejuice]

Originally Posted by 94xjeep

Well that's …...

So the guy you use knows his stuff but the radiator only lasts a day and you don't think you have a problem????
I will not use an alloy radiator if I can get a copper unit as the copper is more efficient especially when they run close to the limit cooling wise as it is.
My original radiator was copper cored but obviously had plastic tanks, it lasted 14yrs....

[carvesdodo]

Originally Posted by junglejuice

A month from a radiator! You have a problem....

Yep ... thats my thoughts,

or maybe ... the supplied radiators came from a bad batch.


Personally ... I would contact Adrad head office ... and ask them, why their rads only last up to a month.


I fitted the current radiator in Nov 2009, got a bit weepy around the stupid tranny oil heat exchanger fitting in 2011 ... resoldered that, and has been good ever since.

Solder joins can let go on a copper/brass rad ... its a fact of life ... especially with lots of corrugated road use.

... but any mug with a gas axe and a lump of solder can fix 'em ... unlike the cheaper to produce aluminium ones.

[werd]

Well, have I got a story for you.
Out and about yesterday doing some good old fashioned bush bashing and the radiator boiled.

The track wasn't that tough, I didn't need to use 4wd but we were pushing down scrub to get through.

There were no indications of any problems. It was about 6 pm, the outside air temp was 15°c. I had to stop the car to shift some branches. The moment I turned it off I could hear the radiator boiling. As I have only recently purchased the jeep I was unfamiliar with the overheating issues. Besides, we weren't working hard.

Anyway I jumped back in to start the car, which it did, and then died. After that it just wouldn't start. So then I started to think there was something else wrong. The first thing I checked was if the was any spark at the plugs. Nothing. Then I checked the coil. Nothing. Then I went to the uhf radio and called for help. Oh well.
After I had calmed down while waiting for the support team to arrive, I realized that the electric fan wasn't running.

Also the temperature guage was sitting just under 100°c.

So, where does one start?

And just to make the mystery even more mysterious, I had the other vehicle go back up hill, find a spot to turn around and reverse back down the hill so we could tow the jeep back up so the support team wouldn't have as far to go. So after hooking up the tow straps I jumped into the jeep and thought I would try and start the motor, and you probably guessed it, it started!

So a quick fix was to cut the wires to the electric fan and connect it directly to the battery so it was running constantly on the way back home. Which wouldn't have been a problem in the day. By now it was 9 pm and 8°c.

Even with the internal heater turned on full the air was cold. And still the temperature guage hovered around just under the 100 mark until we got closer to home and it got a bit cooler, it stayed just above 85°c.

So what's the source of the problem?

[junglejuice]

Pretty common, it's one of the CPS's, either the cam or crank....