In reply to Curmudgeon:
I have done all of that flushing procedure except raising the rear end. I am not sure I really want to pull the new pump off again. I am pretty sure I got the right one. Remember that this got better after the pump and better yet after the fan.
I found a rad shop via ye ole inter webs and may try to at least call.
On one hand, a hg, head bolts and a radiator are like $200 but on the other hand she doesn't have that and it's a days work.
Also, I am fairly sure it's really overheating because:
The thermostat opening point is easily observed.
The coolant is boiling out of the system when it overheats.
Plus, I don't have an it camera. I do maybe have access to a thermal imaging camera though.
Sounds like you got it pretty well covered. I completely understand the 'don't have $200' thing but unfortunately it looks like there's no getting around it.
Will the clutch fan from a v-6 Liberty (KJ) fit the 4.0 ? I have an almost new one. When I saw two fans, I figured that was redundant, so I removed it and left cooling to the electric.
tuna55 wrote: Well in this case the impeller was indeed eroded to nothing. Wouldn't a head gasket have a more major effect and a more immediate effect? anyway to check between those two without money?
Yes, if one or more of the plugs ceramic looks near new(white) when pulled out, rather than a tan color, you've got a bad HG. You can also put a borescope down the hole, the cylinders taking water will look steam cleaned.
One thing I did in my jeep. Same 4.0, and it wasn't getting as hot, but it would creep up to 220 if I let it. After a couple of straight water flushes and detergent flushes from the parts store did nothing, I drained the whole system and filled it with vinegar. Drove it like that for a couple of weeks, then drained / flushed again. It was astounding the toxic waste that came pouring out of that thing. But it worked. Never goes above 210 now.
Wow. Bet that hot vinegar smelled GREAT. 
In reply to DILYSI Dave:
Citric acid will do the same thing.
In reply to Kenny_McCormic:
That works great if coolant is getting into the chamber, but that's not the only failure mode, and it would seem that I should see steam in the exhaust if it were that severe, right?
In reply to DILYSI Dave:
Not a bad plan. Did you put anything in there to lube the pump?
In reply to tuna55:
Probably, but it would be very, very obvious if you were getting that much water in the oil, or an external coolant leak.
I am going to try the vinegar thing. I thought about a possible side benefit: If the coolant is indeed leaking into the chamber, vinegar will make a ton of white smoke as compared to water.
I just ran straight vinegar from Kroger.
I test drove it yesterday to get a better idea of what's going on, even though I won't have time to dump vinegar into it until Thursday night.
Or so I thought.
It ended up taking more than 1/2 hour to get it over 210. The only way I got the needle to climb further was to stall the converter in the driveway. There is absolutely no outward symptom of a head gasket. No bubbling coolant, no milky oil, no white smoke at all. I'll try the vinegar thing and report back.
DILYSI Dave wrote: I just ran straight vinegar from Kroger.
A six pack of Coca Cola will work also.
tuna55 wrote:captdownshift wrote: It got the cash for clunkers seize treatment and since it's an XJ it just keeping fighting through it refusing to die.This thing truly is the /6 for our generation. She ran it out of oil once, she's massively overheated it at least twice. When I first got to it, its oil has nearing a decade old. The transmission fluid was OEM when I got to it. blah blah, the thing is amazing.
You are a better man than me...but then most men are. I refuse to work on cars with owners that care no more about them that this owner.
spitfirebill wrote:tuna55 wrote:You are a better man than me...but then most men are. I refuse to work on cars with owners that care no more about them that this owner.captdownshift wrote: It got the cash for clunkers seize treatment and since it's an XJ it just keeping fighting through it refusing to die.This thing truly is the /6 for our generation. She ran it out of oil once, she's massively overheated it at least twice. When I first got to it, its oil has nearing a decade old. The transmission fluid was OEM when I got to it. blah blah, the thing is amazing.
She's a 60 something lady who has made some bad choices financially, and is now trying to rectify them. She needs someone who can take care of her car for a while. She does babysit in return (we met her because she originally was hired as out nanny before we made the call to keep Tunawife home with the kids) even though we don't have the scratch to actually go anywhere.
10-4.
Is this the cooling system with the pressurized plastic tank?
If yes then I had a pressure leak in the tank that I just couldn't track down until is just popped and coolant went everywhere!!! The car would overheat off and on and I wasn't the primary driver so I didn't have a lot of feel for it before the burst.
The thing was soo dirty that I never noticed new coolant drying on it. Clean it up and see if there is any residue after the next overheat.
Advan046 wrote: Is this the cooling system with the pressurized plastic tank? If yes then I had a pressure leak in the tank that I just couldn't track down until is just popped and coolant went everywhere!!! The car would overheat off and on and I wasn't the primary driver so I didn't have a lot of feel for it before the burst. The thing was soo dirty that I never noticed new coolant drying on it. Clean it up and see if there is any residue after the next overheat.
The tank is not pressurized.
Unfortunately, there is residue everywhere because when the thing first massively overheated it was filled with 50% Dexcool, 50% green stuff, and 100% sludge. Now that that's nearly gone, the overheating isn't as dramatic. I could get it to boil over but I'd have to really try.
Sodium carbonate powder is what cleaned mine up. All the flushes in the world did nothing to the engine goop, but running it for an hour with water and the sodium carbonate powder cleaned it up very nicely. That motor also had the "river rocks" coming out of it, especially after the chemical flush.
Now, I did do this just before replacing the water pump, thermostat, radiator hoses, and radiator, but all of those parts appeared to be in good condition when pulled. The engine ran on the cool side of 210, even with the AC on in 95 degree weather, beating on it in the woods.
In reply to Derick Freese:
You can buy sodium carbonate as " arm and hammer super washing soda" in the laundry isle.
Just mix the sodium carbonate with vinegar.
Great for cleaning drains.
Yesterday I went over and let a gallon out of the system to replace with vinegar.
.
.
.
.
.
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It was red. Dexcool is still in there. Let's hope the vinegar is magical.
Just to add, my baby was my '96 XJ. It would always run hot if I had to sit very long in a drive-thru.
Having the radiator cleaned by a radiator shop was a complete waste.
The ultimate solution (in my case) was an upgraded radiator. I forget the specifics but I believe the stock one is a single row, while the upgraded one was a two-row. But it certainly wasn't some fancy all aluminum $500 deal. It was hands down the best money I ever spent on the Jeep. Never over heated again. It could idle and crawl off-road in low-range all day with no issue.
Keep in mind, rust in the system can my the fluid look red too. (Not saying you don't still have dex-cool in there)
In the end, after 12 yrs of ownership and 238k miles, a teenager slammed into the back of me at a red light. Folded the hitch down 90*. Didn't even break a tail light and I drove it home from the accident. Insurance of course totaled it out. Bought it back, and sold it as-is with a salvage title for essentially the same price the insurance company said was "market value" before the accident. Had people beating my door down on CL to buy it too. Man I miss that Jeep. I'm not ashamed to say I actually cried when the buyer drove it out of my driveway.
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