Better Engine Cooling Question

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 4:45 am

On May 10th. I was running in a mud bog and having lots of fun. The temps were in the 93 to 95 range and the poor little Jeep was working real hard. I over heated twice. I wasn't the only one, a lot of people were having trouble. QUESTION: is there a reasonable, cost wise, way to make the cooling system better?

1. Better fan blade?
2. Better water pump?
3. Better radiator?
4. Better coolant?

Terry

USPLibby · **Joined:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:29 am **Posts:** 377

You got to keep the radiator clear for it to work. It's probably not a good idea to block the front intake area.

Most people that I've seen run mud bogs all the time put the radiator inside or behind the cab for just this reason.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 7:25 am

This isn't something I will be doing very often. I prefer trails. The radiator didn't get muddy at all, that was the first thing I checked. I think it was just a combination of the ambient temperature and that I was running pretty hard. There are high performance radiators out there but I haven't seen of them listed for the KJ or the 3.7L. They are for racing.

I saw 2 blown radiators in trucks with the radiator in the bed. Two wranglers also over heated. It was a hot day.

Terry

SpankyKJ · **Joined:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:20 am **Posts:** 83

I know you thought of this: may need to measure and have one built. two core w/ push+pull set up?

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 8:55 am

[quote="SpankyKJ"]I know you thought of this: may need to measure and have one built. two core w/ push+pull set up?[/quote]

What is that, the bolded part?

Terry

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 9:10 am

Fulltimer wrote:

SpankyKJ wrote:

I know you thought of this: may need to measure and have one built. two core w/ push+pull set up?[/quote]

What is that, the bolded part?

Terry

2 cooling fans,one on each side of the radiator,one pushing air and one pulling air,kinda pointless though.The KJ already has a 2 core radiator,you could look into getting a custom made all aluminum 3 core radiator and a higher CFM rated puller fan(inside the engine bay fan).

The best advice is to keep the raditor clean,when I mud draged raced I had a 5 gallon water tank and pump set-up that had about 6 nozzles pointed directly at the radiator to help keep it clean and to help aid in cooling(2 nozzles hit directly on the side tanks which helped with cooling the best,the others juts to keep the radiator clean).

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 11:58 am

tjkj2002
I thought about a spray/mister for the radiator. A friend of mine has a converted commercial bus that is now his home on wheels. It has an older Detroit Diesel in it that over heated all the time on hills. He rigged up a sprayer and that took care of the problem.

Terry

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 12:27 pm

Fulltimer wrote:

On May 10th. I was running in a mud bog and having lots of fun. The temps were in the 93 to 95 range and the poor little Jeep was working real hard. I over heated twice. I wasn't the only one, a lot of people were having trouble. QUESTION: is there a reasonable, cost wise, way to make the cooling system better?

1. Better fan blade?
2. Better water pump?
3. Better radiator?
4. Better coolant?

Terry

Do you already have the factory heavy duty cooling w/ the big shroud and clutch fan? If not you could get those parts for a factory style upgrade. We wheel in the 90-100+ temps all the time and rarely have we seen anyone overheat and only once on a KJ. (knock on wood)

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 2:26 pm

Yes, I already have the heavy duty cooling. Maybe all I need is a good flushing. The radiators are all clean, at least on the outside! All 3 of them.

Terry

Inc · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 5:43 pm

Would hood louvers help at all? Wouldn't they let some of the heat escape the engine compartment?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 6:54 pm

incubusmike wrote:

Would hood louvers help at all? Wouldn't they let some of the heat escape the engine compartment?

Yes and they have lowered my temps a few degrees.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 7:20 pm

The hood louvers is something I though of a while ago. Even have a thread on here somewhere about it. About what price range are they running?

Terry

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 7:59 pm

Fulltimer wrote:

The hood louvers is something I though of a while ago. Even have a thread on here somewhere about it. About what price range are they running?

Terry

The Pontiac GTP ones are about $100 or so for the set,the RaceAce ones I have ran me $180,they have different sizes and finishes.

http://www.raceace.com/index.html

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 8:43 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

Fulltimer wrote:

The hood louvers is something I though of a while ago. Even have a thread on here somewhere about it. About what price range are they running?

Terry

The Pontiac GTP ones are about $100 or so for the set,the RaceAce ones I have ran me $180,they have different sizes and finishes.

http://www.raceace.com/index.html

Yet another thing to smack my wallet!
:lol:

Terry

jason thompson · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 9:25 pm

For hood louvers check out Gen-Right Offroad
That is where I got the ones for the TJ and it makes difference

also as far as cooling better the only way is more air and more water
increase air flow or get more of it and you can cool the water you have better
get more water and it will take longer for it to go from the top of the radiator to the bottom thus making it cooler

I am not a huge fan of engine driven or belt driven fans they are limited by engine RPM
a good electric fan will out blow the engine fan under normal conditions any day ,trail riding when your RPM never gets above 2,000
Also keep in mind that your transmission is putting heat into your radiator so a better tranny cooler will also help
even running in first gear will help ,it will not shift and thus it will not build up heat

I would start with hood louvers in your case
at Gen-Right you can get them for ~$50 or so

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 9:32 pm

Search your local pick a part style junk yard and you will find many variations of hood scoops that will work and can uauslly get them cheap. Popular ones that the XJ guys use are from Turbo Lebarons and you can find them at wrecking yards for about $20 a set all the time. I have seen manny other versions that would work and would be super cheap to buy.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sun May 18, 2008 10:29 pm

Check to make sure both fans are working properly. Kinda hard to believe you have the HD cooling package and it was still over heating. :shock:

Check to make sure there is no mud between the condenser and the radiator. I really like the set-up that the dodge ram uses. I know the liberty isnt wide enough to do this but having the condenser beside of the radiator is pretty neat. Makes for cleaning them easy and the rad gets plenty of cool air.

Inc · **Posted:** Mon May 19, 2008 1:03 am

Jason, do you have any pics o the ones you put on your tj?

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Mon May 19, 2008 4:49 am

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Check to make sure both fans are working properly. Kinda hard to believe you have the HD cooling package and it was still over heating. :shock:

Check to make sure there is no mud between the condenser and the radiator. I really like the set-up that the dodge ram uses. I know the liberty isnt wide enough to do this but having the condenser beside of the radiator is pretty neat. Makes for cleaning them easy and the rad gets plenty of cool air.

I checked and they are all clean. Your right, it shouldn't have over heated. I have to get this solved before I take my cross country trip. I think I'll start with a cooling system flush.

Terry

jason thompson · **Posted:** Mon May 19, 2008 7:45 am

incubusmike wrote:

Jason, do you have any pics o the ones you put on your tj?

yes
this is the short 3 piece set from Gen-Right I think it was $75+shipping even comes with rivets
cut the hood with a jigsaw
the thing I dont care for is the one in the front throws mud and water right on the windshield from the fan

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