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The original PLASTIC radiator on my '96 lasted ~160K miles. They aren't as fragile as most think. If the plastic replacement on mine lasts half as long I'll be satisfied. As far as air flow goes the only OEM piece on mine that controls it is the fan shroud. Air dam,fender liners,front part of outer fenders,and front bumper are gone.
Man this info is just disappointing. 50/50 mix once tried 70water30coolant but scared me when ran at 225 or so. Pushing the threshold of boil points. Would hate to go back to stock being plastic end caps are scary for off-road applications. Wonder if the bronze oem toe/haul radiators are the best or just a Napa one again. Now trans is out of rad there’s no risk blowing internals up restricting water flow like before. Holes in hood don’t do crap btw. And taking underside skid plate off front bumper lessens vacuum to radiator on backside it seems. Air just goes everywhere and I think that was the first step in wrong direction. Need to make a new plate for bottom making air flow out bottom backside of engine as jeep intended.
Plastic end caps are far less fragile than people make them out to be. Unless you are using your radiator as a skid plate to cause a plastic one to break you have larger problems. The tow package radiators were plastic capped as well just has a thicker core. 2 row in earlier XJs 1 thick single row in later models. Aluminum is REALLY good at transfering heat vs bronze. The only radiator material that beats aluminum at heat transfer is straight copper. Bronze is the worst.
I know it's shi!!y news but it kinda just is what it is. It only cost me like $150 for a OEM radiator and water pump with lifetime warranty. Oh and I also installed a ZJ clutch on the fan.
I installed the NAPA 272310 clutch fan when I first got the vehicle after determining that the original was shot. But IMHO I believe a direct OEM replacement would have been fine AFTER the rest of the cooling system was replaced.
So it looks like I’ve got to change the water pump and/or radiator. Rad seems legit and cools 40degrees when out of gas going down hill after crest. So radiator works well but wonder if that pump is too much and cavitates or swirls water in head making hot spots vs a smooth easy flow across it. Zj clutch was neat because the harder I drove it the cooler it ran but the hp loss was a wash. Foot to the floor in 3rd gear too often. But now I think I’ll do oem water pump and test then radiator if doesn’t work. Btw no play when turn crank and watch distributor and rocker arms. So chain should be good still. Or so I even dare say that
Nah I’m in Gilbert. I’d prob only use oem pump since I’ve seen autozone pumps overheat right out of box. Btw cat wasn’t plugged so can’t be an overheating issue. Have to start going back to stock I guess.
update: cat want clogged and put straight pipe in for now until I get high flow cat. Engine runs good without it but I can smell exhaust now. Runs hot still stopped going fast slow any speed. Going to try stock water pump first then radiator second. Have lifetime warranty on rad so just be time spent. By the end of this I’ll know what to do and not to do with these cherokees and will write it up so no one has to deal with it anymore.
Note found 250$ variable speed water pumps online everywhere. Be kinda cool to try it and just cut off water pump impeller so belt stays same and flow adjustments will be made manually via riostat for pump. Has anyone tried this?
Last edited by Brad distler; 06-14-2019 at 09:44 PM.
06-13-2019, 12:28 PM
