Hi everyone, straight to the point. I replaced the radiator a while ago because the old one blew, I flushed all the coolant, replaced the 195 thermostat and fan clutch. The jeep is running all the time at 210 or maybe a little less. A few days ago I noticed that when I turn the air conditioning on full blast the jeep starts to get hotter. If I turn it off and accelerate the car the temperature will go back down to normal. I didn't use the air conditioning only on occasions when my girlfriend asked for it, I'm more of a doorless driver, but now it's too hot in FL I'm selling this jeep and obviously I don't want to sell it with any problems. Note, the radiator is not original, when I replaced it the original had a crazy price of 450 dollars that I didn't have at the time and I decided to get an aftermarket one, I have searched the forum and other jeep forums and many people have had the same problem but they never finish the thread on the forum or say that it solved their problem. I hope someone can help me solve this.
The engine gets hot when turning on the A/C
- Thread starter 4.0TJOwner
- Start date
CR_IN_UT
New Member
Many people talk about the radiator needing to be OEM and keeping it simple. I am not sure if true or not when it comes to radiators but other parts it seems to ring true. I had a similar issue a few years ago with overheating and it wound up being the fan clutch. Haven't had a problem since we changed it.
How hot is hotter? I believe a couple folks have mentioned temperatures 10-20 over the regular 210 running AC.
-Mac
-Mac
I didn't let it get into the red zone, but that needle was pointing to 0 of 210
I understand, but I couldn't afford $450 back then and it's weird since without air conditioning the jeep stays pretty cold.
I think that's perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about.
Carry on!
-Mac
CR_IN_UT
New Member
I can't remember exactly but I think it started overheating only with the AC on and then it progressively got worse and would overheat more often. After the fan clutch replacement it runs solid. The only time I see the needle move is with AC on and going uphill on the highway at like 70+. Like Mac said, it only moves 10-20 max. It's 110+ here and I can run AC all day now. Your radiator may be fine.
Mine has been replaced with a Hayden and I imagine it's fine because when it shows that temperature you can hear that fan blowing at full blast and you can feel the air if you stand next to it. I think I'll consider cleaning the condenser to try to improve it a bit.
I also thought it was something normal, but I'm very confused when I see that several people report that it's not normal to run at 230 but also many people say that I shouldn't worry, that's why I created this post to see if anyone had the same problem and just keeps running at 230 and hasn't died lol. I also plan to monitor it the next few days to see how much it gets hot, if it really keeps heating up or stops around 230
CR_IN_UT
New Member
I also did the DEI wrap and vented the hood with Genright hood vent. That may have helped too. 230 is hot IMHO. Mine runs just below 210 at probably 200 always. It then may creep up to just over straight up and down at 70+ uphill in 110 degree weather with the AC on. I am guessing thats about 220. I usually go with about 4 other TJ's and nobody's needles move past 220 and thats in the desert. Good Luck with the sale.
I will continue to investigate this problem and will postpone this sale or warn about it, I do not think it is something complicated to solve either, as I said before I will aim for the AC condenser and if I solve it I will put the answer here in this thread in case it can be useful to someone.
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