hey everyone. i just bought a 1987 jeep comanche with a 4.0 that sat for 6 years. i got it home and got it running and after about five minutes of idling the temperature light comes on.(it has idiot lights, no temp guage). it runs and idles just fine. i replaced the thremostat and the coolant. i just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas as to what it is. it just seems a little odd that it says its overheating within just a few minutes of it idling. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Is the coolant actually boiling over or are you going based solely on the idiot light? Overheating can be caused by a number of things

 

its just the light. it shows no signs of overheating. i was thinking its just the switch for the idiot light but i just figured id ask before i went any further.

 

Well definitely look into the switch that triggers the idiot light before replacing components of the cooling system, that switch may be faulty, which it sounds like since there are no signs of overheating. I had a bad temperature sending unit in my 96 xj (it was covered in oil and other gunk), which is the part that sends the temperature to my gauge and gives me a reading. I was getting an inaccurate reading until I replaced it and now everything is good!

 

il go pick one up tomorrow and see what happens. thanks for a quick response

 

No problem. Try to get one under warranty so that if it doesn't fix your problem, you can take it back!