Hi guys,
New to the forum after years over at jeep forum with a zj. Just bought a Cherokee 2.5crd over here in England or liberty as it's known in America. Forgive the question but new to the kj!
My temp gauge sits at a quarter of the way up not vertical/right in the middle as all my other cars have been. Happy that the thermostat may need replacing BUT why the price? Do you need to replace the whole thermostat housing? Why not just the thermostat for less than a tenner? On another note when I hitch up the camper the gauge does creep up to almost vertical with the extra pull on the engine, thermostat still goosed? All the manual tells me is anywhere between blue and red on the gauge is normal?
Cheers for the help in advance chaps!

It sounds like you need a new 'stat, but I am not sure about your gauge; we don't have blue and red limit indications. For us, the gauge should read one tick left of straight up. Temperature will, on a normally functioning thermostat, rise due to conditions like pulling a trailer or long hills etc.

Usual failing conditions have the 'stat at 1/4 of the gauge (for us). This once again, can rise to indicate a normal temperature if loaded but returns to 1/4 at idle.

It is expensive because it is an entire unit.
You can see the guts of it here:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=50940&hilit=thermostat

Complete unit! Typical, over engineering to the max. Checked out the link and it's basically a bog standard thermostat.....sealed!
Cheers for the reply, looks like I,ll have to get it changed.

Yes i know bro,im a mechanic,the thermostat job isnt hard,i was talking about the housing mod you send a link about,changing the oem stat for an oem one is nothing beleive me,ive seen worst

Fern30 welcome to the forum. You might want to check out Sir Sams NOOB guide as there is a link to some manuals that are applicable to the export market 2.5L CRD that you might find helpful. Also there is an in line tstat modification that seems to work which you might want to consider. See viewtopic.php?f=5&t=63264

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

Cheers guys. Going to swap in a new unit, just got to find the cheapest now!
heres a pic of 'between the blue and red' as the manual says anything in between is ok?
Mine rests about a quarter of the way up, first big mark.

Based on the 2002 FSM from Sir Sams NOOB site the calibration on your temp gauge is:

Engine Temperature Normal up to about 110° C (230° F) fordiesel engines
Engine Temperature High about 112° C (233° F) for diesel engines], the gauge needle is moved into the center of the red warning zone on the gauge scale.
Engine Temperature Critical above about 115° C (239° F) for diesel engines], the gauge needle is moved to the high end of the red warning zone on the gauge scale.

If you can lay your hands on an infrared thermometer, possibly at a local mechanic, you can take actual readings at the tstat housing. Absent that based on looking at http://www.greendieselengineering.com/f ... st/19.page and the above information it sounds like your temperature gauge is calibrated like the unflashed 2005 CRD gauge (e.g. the second picture which shows a 2005 CRD gauge calibrated for the gas engine). I say that based on the position of the degrees associated with engine temp high and critical. Going a bit further it appears the upper end of your operating range is 230F which is quite close to the GDE post that fuel reduction to prevent overheating starts at 235F.

All this is a rather long winded way of saying that assuming your engine's tstat is supposed to be fully open ca. 176F (probably true) like ours then the normal gauge position once the engine is fully warmed up should be 1 needle width or 1 tick left of dead center. If you are down about 1/4 you are running ca. 130F which is way too cool under any circumstances.

The manual comment that anything between dead cold and hot is ok is quite true but totally meaningless or at least it conveys ZERO useful information, not unusual for any factory manual. Why the manual cannot provide the useful information of where the needle should sit at normal operating temp escapes me.

_________________
Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs