Cooling/Overheating Issue

[vajeeper]

I am having issues with my Jeep running hot. Some background:

A few weeks ago I leave work and see a big puddle of antifreeze on the ground under my Jeep. Awesome right? I nurse it over the the shop on Belvoir and have Kevin take a look at it. He pressure tested it and nothing leaked. We further investigated it and found that the lower hose clamp going into the engine block is loose. I did a radiator flush and tightended the clamp. We cranked it and let it run for awhile and it worked fine.

Fast forward to today. On the way to work I notice that after driving for 5 minutes that my temp gague is running up. It hits 250 and then comes down to 210 and stays there for the rest of the commute. Weird, but I don't think a lot of it.

On the way home today, I watched it race up to 250 and only came back down if I revved the engine or was driving. If I sat at a traffic light it would run high, then come down and soon as I would rev the engine a little or start driving. When I got home, I felt both hoses and both were hot so I know that coolant is flowing. I am going to check fluid levels when it cools some.

What should I be looking for to determine the problem(s)?

[miljeep]

Not an expert, but it seems like the thermostat may not be working properly. Good ol' Korisu knows all about thermostats. Maybe it is sticking and then finally comes unstuck when it hits the high mark, in turn allowing the radiator to do it's job dropping them temp again. That would be my guess. Although it is probably wrong.

[TexCJ7]

yep that's probly it you can replace it for like 4 bucks or run without it but when chris did that an error code poped up, very simple to install a new one takes like 10 mins.

[Rabies99]

I had a similar problem that turned out to be the water pump going wonky in an old Chevy. At idle it wasn't pumping enough fluid, but it worked at speed.... I guess half a pump was better than none.

[vajeeper]

Thanls for the guidance. I will check it tomorrow afternoon.

On the way home this evening it was dangerously close to overheating.

[miljeep]

I think if you make sure that the heat is on high it may help drop the temp a few degrees if needed.

[vajeeper]

Yeah, I tried that and it helped some. Luckily it is cold out so that helped too.

[korisu56]

Sounds exactly like what happened to mine. It was my thermostat through and through. Easy and cheap fix. I ran without mine all summer, kept the engine cool as a fall morning. Winter came around though and I wanted my heat back, so back in with the part.

[TexCJ7]

i live on ft. belvoir also so if you want you can buy the part and i can show you how to install if you don't know already, i'm free tomorrow sunday i have duty at fort myer

[vajeeper]

Thanks for the offer. I am actually meeting up with Korisu56 on Sunday at the Belvoir shop to put it on along with my lights if they are here in time.