Today I discovered a crack in the passenger-side of the plastic radiator housing. So re-filling the radiator is a no-go. It's a good thing I have a new one on the way. The crack is right about here:



I also removed the Durango alternator and finally put the Cherokee pulley onto it so it's a proper 6-rib pulley instead of the Durango 7-rib pulley. This pic is before I did it:



It'll be about 2 weeks before all the parts arrive. I went online for everything because I wanted specific brands that none of my local stores carry. So I'm gonna be stuck at home for a while. (Self-employment for the win?)

One positive thing is that since the ATF exploded all over the engine compartment, the detergents cleaned everything. So it looks like a new Jeep under there. I hosed it all down yesterday and I'm letting it dry now.

In the mean time, I'll keep looking for other types of damage. So far, the pulleys are all nice and tight and none of them need to be replaced. I believe that the tranny oil might be the cause of the belt slipping off, since the flat pulleys have little traction for the belt.

 

I got the radiator out today and put the alternator back in. Here is the crack up close; it's pretty big:

 

YYYYYUUUUP! That's a bad bad thing right there.

 

Still waiting waiting waiting on my parts to come.

It sucks not being able to drive anywhere :/

 

The CSF two-row all-metal radiator came today:



It looks nice and stout:

 

Another upgrade I'll be doing while everything is taken out is a ZJ clutch fan, which offers significantly more lockup than a stock XJ clutch fan. The XJ one offers 60-70% lockup, while the ZJ one offers 80-90%. NAPA part number 272310. It's the same length, just fatter:

 

ever think about a taurus/volvo fan?

 

I did, but I'm an old-fashioned guy. In the event of electrical failure, I can always rely on the mechanical fan as a backup.

I'm not overheating, but I thought since I just put the tranny cooler there, it wouldn't hurt to push more air in that specific spot.

 

Replaced water pump, radiator/cap, thermostat, serpentine belt, and tranny cooler hoses:

 

Also just finished installing the tranny cooler with my home-made brackets:

 

It runs!

Just a small sputtering problem and I think it's related to my heater hoses leaking on the distributor.

 

Now with new heater hoses no more sputtering!

 

At 3100+ RPM, the over-sized ZJ clutch fan would eat into the bottom left of the radiator fan shroud just a bit, so I ground off about 1/4 inch of plastic from it, and so far, no more grinding.

At the junk yard today, I picked up an additional fan shroud, just in case I notice any other problems with it and decide to go back to stock, but so far, so good.

I am planning my 4:56 re-gear here soon. Time to give this Jeep some oomph.

 

I have heard of this clutch doing similar. Could be attributed to motor/transmission mounts. I have been running it for 3 years now without issue. The other benefit I found is the AC seems to function better (10 F at vents)and I can let jeep idle for 10 minutes with AC on and have zero heat creep.
I would guess that the re-gear will also help because the driveline will be under less torque load.

 

That is the cooler to have, plate & fin. I run the same one (7"x11") mounted in front of mechanical HD fan. I eliminated the stock heat exchanger, which was a big help in keeping coolant temps steady in adverse driving conditions.
Installed a temp sender in hot line to keep tabs on AW4 and can shoot the pan with IR temp gun for comparison.
Runs 140-150 F on highway
160 F around town
160 - 190 off road.
Only time it topped 200 is when I was trying to run 50mph down the beach after a 6 hour offroad adventure.

I also have the e-fan override and use that fan most all the time while offroad. Also use it for a minute or two after shutting down engine.