Cooling system upgrades.

[89 MJ]

My truck has left me on the side of the road three times due to cooling system fails (water pump, coolant pressure tank, and now what we assume to be the radiator in the way to PA). Needless to say I am fed up with the closed loop system (even though it wasn’t at fault the first time). I am going to convert the truck to open loop, but I am interested in hearing about upgrades along the way. What are the thoughts on high flow water pumps, different fans (electric or different mechanical fans), and upgraded radiators. The Mishimoto looks nice, but no $425 nice. 

[ghetdjc320]

I’ve been through all these options before. Here is the combo that just works: oem water pump, oem tstat, oem hoses with the spring in the lower hose, oem tstat housing, oem 10 blade mech fan, oem shroud, Napa 2.5l fan clutch, oem late XJ e fan, mishimoto or novak radiator. There are certain situations where other options are better but for a stock or near stock rig nothing will cool it better than the above recipe. 
 

FYI mishimoto is on Amazon

[eaglescout526]

6 minutes ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Napa 2.5l fan clutch,

On a 4.0L? Doesnt the 4.0L mech fan rotate a different way than the 2.5L? Or is this an HO fan?

[Jeep Driver]

1 hour ago, 89 MJ said:

interested in hearing

Just remember- If you do what you did, you'll get what you got. 

 

Rethink and come up with your own solution. 

 

I know what I'm going to do and I see what others are doing. Look around. 

 

Lastly, for the price of three you could have bought once. And no I'm not referring to Mishimoto. 

Quality ain't cheap, neither is quantity. 

[ghetdjc320]

5 minutes ago, Jeep Driver said:

Lastly, for the price of three you could have bought once. And no I'm not referring to Mishimoto. 

Quality ain't cheap, neither is quantity.

 

the old Griffin jeepspeed radiator was probably the best production unit available but isn’t around anymore. Very pricey though

[tugboat95]

I just got a new radiator for an open system from Amazon. Spectre model for about 100 bucks. I replaced all hoses and the water pump from Rock Auto. Pulled the bottle and that valve and just routed hoses into the heater with hose adapters. A new electric aux fan operated by a switch by me.

Honestly the best thing was that new radiator. No matter who made it. Old one was full of 32 years of crud. And I flushed the engine

89 Comanche
Eliminator
2wd
4.0L
5 speed PukeGoat
Factory Original

[PCO6]

9 hours ago, 89 MJ said:

My truck has left me on the side of the road three times due to cooling system fails (water pump, coolant pressure tank, and now what we assume to be the radiator in the way to PA). Needless to say I am fed up with the closed loop system (even though it wasn’t at fault the first time). I am going to convert the truck to open loop, but I am interested in hearing about upgrades along the way. What are the thoughts on high flow water pumps, different fans (electric or different mechanical fans), and upgraded radiators. The Mishimoto looks nice, but no $425 nice. 

 

I'm converting mine from closed to open right now.   It was running fine with the closed system and the only serious problem I've had since I got it was when the block heater fell out!   That was a new one for me.

 

Lately, it developed a slow leak in the area of the pressure tank.  The port on the bottom of the after market tank broke with the hose.   The tank is otherwise fine and I'm converting it into an overflow tank.   If anyone thinks this is a bad idea please let me know.

 

I'm going with pretty much stock parts from NAPA.   No problems so far.   

 

Re Mishimoto rads ... they get absolutely slammed on the TJ forums where it's MOPAR or nothing.   The discussions sometimes get ugly and I'm not sure I get it.   They seem to get generally good reviews on other forums (racing, hot rods, rice rockets, etc.).  I've seen good XJ & MJ reviews too.   I have a new one for my LJ but I have not installed it yet.   The quality seems good and I might do it just to just to prove the TJ/LJ guys wrong ... I hope.  

 

 

[89 MJ]

8 hours ago, Jeep Driver said:

Rethink and come up with your own solution.

Thank you. I think I do like the route of just doing the radiator. If I were to do a higher flow water pump, my concern would be it flowing too quickly with an OEM type radiator and it wouldn’t be able to cool quick enough. Even if I did a higher flower pump with an upgraded radiator, I don’t think the truck would get up into the operating temperature quick enough. 

[89 MJ]

8 hours ago, tugboat95 said:

I just got a new radiator for an open system from Amazon. Spectre model for about 100 bucks. I replaced all hoses and the water pump from Rock Auto. Pulled the bottle and that valve and just routed hoses into the heater with hose adapters. A new electric aux fan operated by a switch by me.

I was looking (briefly) at some of the Aluminium ones on Amazon. The reviews seem pretty good and they are a lot cheaper than I have found the Mishimoto. The irritating part is that all of my hoses are already new.

[89 MJ]

9 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

oem late XJ e fan

When you say this, are you talking about a 97-01 e fan?

[tugboat95]

So were my hoses by about 6 months

89 Comanche
Eliminator
2wd
4.0L
5 speed PukeGoat
Factory Original

[coolwind57]

I kept the early Renix closed style radiator and went with an upper hose aluminum filler neck.  Pulled a recovery bottle from an junkyard XJ (and along with my bumper-mounted vacuum bottle), located it on the right-side firewall.   There's a small temp sensor or water neck hurdle up front when converting from closed to open system--I can't recall off the top of my head without going out in the parking lot and looking, but anyway I avoided having to deal with that by retaining the early closed radiator.  Save a lot of money too.

 

To each his own, but I thought I'd share my method of converting.  I've had no issues with my system.  

 

 

 

[cruiser54]

Simple and easy. NR2801 radiator from Napa. Heater hoses from a 97 to 01 Cherokee or just splice them. Factory thermostat. Throw the heater valve away and use a universal recovery tank as pictured above. I live in Arizona....

[Jesse J]

3 minutes ago, cruiser54 said:

I live in Arizona..

everyone on this forum seems too

[89 MJ]

12 minutes ago, coolwind57 said:

I kept the early Renix closed style radiator and went with an upper hose aluminum filler neck.  Pulled a recovery bottle from an junkyard XJ (and along with my bumper-mounted vacuum bottle), located it on the right-side firewall.   There's a small temp sensor or water neck hurdle up front when converting from closed to open system--I can't recall off the top of my head without going out in the parking lot and looking, but anyway I avoided having to deal with that by retaining the early closed radiator.  Save a lot of money too.

 

To each his own, but I thought I'd share my method of converting.  I've had no issues with my system.  

 

 

 

Interesting take, but I believe my radiator to have caused the issue. 

[89 MJ]

10 minutes ago, cruiser54 said:

Simple and easy. NR2801 radiator from Napa. Heater hoses from a 97 to 01 Cherokee or just splice them. Factory thermostat. Throw the heater valve away and use a universal recovery tank as pictured above. I live in Arizona....

Thank you. 

[Strokermjcomanche]

Here goes nothing lol. I've had  plenty of jeeps with the closed cooling system. I have never had an issue, this issue  is caused by buying cheap expansion tanks / and or filling the tank too far . I understand if you're dead set on the open system, but if you aren't I would buy the macs expansion tank  or a quality OEM Mopar one. 

 

 I've also ran the spectra and or Murphy radiators that come from AutoZone etc., most of mine have at least six years on with zero issues and a lifetime warranty , and others have been sold.

 

Also have a CSF aluminum radiator in my black truck, installed in 2013 with zero issues as well. The seller I purchased it from Gave a lifetime warranty as well, i'd have to go back through my records to see who it was if that something you're interested in.

[omega_rugal]

2 hours ago, coolwind57 said:

I kept the early Renix closed style radiator and went with an upper hose aluminum filler neck.  Pulled a recovery bottle from an junkyard XJ (and along with my bumper-mounted vacuum bottle), located it on the right-side firewall.   There's a small temp sensor or water neck hurdle up front when converting from closed to open system--I can't recall off the top of my head without going out in the parking lot and looking, but anyway I avoided having to deal with that by retaining the early closed radiator.  Save a lot of money too.

 

To each his own, but I thought I'd share my method of converting.  I've had no issues with my system.  

 

 

 

 

 

a plug in solution. also if you live in hell like me, you can take the thermostat out so coolant can flow at all times, anyway when you have overheating issues i think you can take running rich a little longer in the morning

[70barracuda]

In my xj I have a cold case full aluminum radiator. I think it's pretty new because I had never seen that brand for our jeeps before. But I tried it out. They have great reviews for other vehicles. So far it's been great. I also have the dirt bound off-road 3 electric fan shroud and 3 spal fans. Factory water pump and 195 t stat. I have the fans tied in to the factory fan wiring so it runs exactly as it would (correctly with relays of course) been running it that way for 4 ish years and even in dead summer it never gets above 217, even with a/c. 

[ghetdjc320]

I haven’t gone a drop over 210 pulling my jet ski through the mountain passes in Guam with my AC on… the mishimoto radiator or novak is where it’s at. I’ve tried others, oem, csf, spectra. Nothing cools like the mishimoto has. Plus a threaded magnetic drain plug, 19psi cap, perfect welds, and (2) decent size cores with a higher fins per inch count than most. Oh, and lifetime warranty. Cold Case if you want to save a bit more coin. Novak if you only ever want to but once. 

[89 MJ]

11 hours ago, Strokermjcomanche said:

Here goes nothing lol. I've had  plenty of jeeps with the closed cooling system. I have never had an issue, this issue  is caused by buying cheap expansion tanks / and or filling the tank too far . I understand if you're dead set on the open system, but if you aren't I would buy the macs expansion tank  or a quality OEM Mopar one. 

 

 I've also ran the spectra and or Murphy radiators that come from AutoZone etc., most of mine have at least six years on with zero issues and a lifetime warranty , and others have been sold.

 

Also have a CSF aluminum radiator in my black truck, installed in 2013 with zero issues as well. The seller I purchased it from Gave a lifetime warranty as well, i'd have to go back through my records to see who it was if that something you're interested in.

I get this, and wanted to keep the closed loop with my engine swap, but with 2 major fails this year, it’s time for it to go. 

 

10 hours ago, 70barracuda said:

In my xj I have a cold case full aluminum radiator. I think it's pretty new because I had never seen that brand for our jeeps before. But I tried it out. They have great reviews for other vehicles. So far it's been great. I also have the dirt bound off-road 3 electric fan shroud and 3 spal fans. Factory water pump and 195 t stat. I have the fans tied in to the factory fan wiring so it runs exactly as it would (correctly with relays of course) been running it that way for 4 ish years and even in dead summer it never gets above 217, even with a/c. 

 

5 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

I haven’t gone a drop over 210 pulling my jet ski through the mountain passes in Guam with my AC on… the mishimoto radiator or novak is where it’s at. I’ve tried others, oem, csf, spectra. Nothing cools like the mishimoto has. Plus a threaded magnetic drain plug, 19psi cap, perfect welds, and (2) decent size cores with a higher fins per inch count than most. Oh, and lifetime warranty. Cold Case if you want to save a bit more coin. Novak if you only ever want to but once. 

Time to look into Cold Case! Thanks!

[Jeep Driver]

Welcome to the world of 'Jeep'.........LOL

 

 

 

[omega_rugal]

weird that he didnt notice that the cap was not locking in place

[Manche757]

The 3 most important things are: new radiator, new radiator and new radiator.

[Jeep Driver]

30 minutes ago, Manche757 said:

The 3 most important things are: new radiator, new radiator and new radiator.

What new radiator?

 

Threads like this reoccur over and over again. Why?

 

The problem solvers are going to V8 radiators. 

Better quality and more options. 

 

I alluded to this in my first post when I said to 'look around'. 

Yeah, more work, some ingenuity.