Hello all. My wranglers radiator sprung a leak about two months ago. I swapped it out and changer the thermostat. Everything worked fine after that. Now my engine is overheating. When I let it idle it sits just past the 1/2 mark on the temp gauge. I can drive about one mile before it starts over heating. My way of thinking is that it's only overheating when driving so it must be the water pump since the pump is belt driven. Changed the water pump this afternoon and the issue is still there. The fan comes on and I can't find ms leaks... Has anyone experienced this?

 

Have you had any dirty water go in through the grill?

 

Other than some Nast rain nothing major.

 

Any chance the wrong coolant was used to refill rad? Other than that I would check for a restricted line, something might be blocked,pinched,collapsed.

 

Have you checked the fluid level? Is the thermostat facing the right direction(not sure it matters but I replaced mine in a VW and placed the dimple on thermostat on the bottom thinking it didn't matter, it did) if all that checks out I would just recommend I flush to see if something is blocking it up.

 

when your fan comes on note the airflow,

if you have your hood open idling and notice low airflow but extremely Hot air (from top to bottom of the radiator)than you have an air restriction issue

if the air is only only hot at Part of the radiator or is not hot at all then you have a coolant issue (Level, flow, etc)..

if airflow is the issue you may have dirt between the Air-conditioner condensor and the radiator.. this happens if you wheel in mud or mucky conditions a lot.. (but sounds like your rad is new so you should have all that area cleaned out unless you have wheeled since)..

-Christopher

 

dear Gentleman,
sorry my ignorance but what happens if water gets through the grill, regarding the overheat ??
whats the relationship between both....
thank you very much for sharing your knowledge/......
have a great day...

 

Muddy or dirty water going into the grill will leave the A/C condenser and radiator fins packed with debris. Flushing from the front and from the engine bay may not clean the fins between the condenser and the radiator, which will result in diminished cooling capacity.

 

I changed the water pump... Which turned out not to be the issue... Even though the thermostat was only three months old I changed it again. And now everything's back to normal. Go figure. Thanks for the help guys.