Why is my jeep overheating?

55

Asked by 20jay06 Jul 31, 2012 at 04:07 PM about the 2001 Jeep Cherokee

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

the engine light on my jeep is on. Checked it out and they said it was the thermostat and the freeon. I changed both but when I changed the thermostat to the new one my truck started over heating.
I took it off to test it with out it and the truck is fine, but my engine light is now back on.

15 Answers

4,455

You really need the thermostat to be in the cooling system. Check the fan to make sure everything is good. The thermostat has to get the engine to a specified operating temp for everything to work properly. If the engine exhaust temp is out of range then you will get o2 sensor codes as well. Try putting the thermostat back in with the correct temp range or maybe a cooler one which will allow it to open at a lower temp. Make sure your radiator is clean and the system has been flushed. To check if your water pump is moving water you can remove the cap when cold and start it up and watch it. You won't see any water flowing in the radiator until the thermostat opens. The water only circulates to the radiator when the engine reaches operating temp. Another way to check is the water is moving is to feel the lower water hose coming from the radiator, water is pulled into the engine from the lower hose and returns to be cooled from the top hose.

15 people found this helpful.
55

Ok I will put the thermostat back in what do you mean when you say " With the correct temp or maybe a cooler one"? I really dont know much about cars Dynasg2009 but this has been much help and makes me want to continue what else I can do for my car.

3 people found this helpful.
4,455

You need to find what the temp of the thermostat is, might be190 degrees before it opens to allow the coolant to flow through the engine with the hot water going from the engine to the radiator and the cooler coolant going into the engine. You might want to put a 180 degree instead. This will allow the thermostat to open at a cooler temp. Go to your parts house and tell them the vehicle type, year, model and engine size and they will be able to tell you what it came with from the manufacturer. Then if they tell you 190 degree then you can tell them 180 degree and see if that helps. Remove the negative battery cable while you put the new thermostat in and then hook the cable back to the battery and if the check engine light comes back on the auto parts place can also tell you the code that had set the light on. Then you will know what to do next. Hopefully the light will stay off.

4 people found this helpful.
55

Oh great, thanks a lot for your help. I'll start working on that soon, I hope the light finally stays off.

615

you might have also bought a faulty thermostat even if its bran new they can still be faulty

1 people found this helpful.
4,455

If you're thermostat is for example a 190 degree thermostat, if you use a thermometer that you would use for deep frying and boil water in a pot and checking the temp. When the water gets boiling you can use a pair of needle nose pliers and put the thermostat the water and watch it open. Kind of a pain to do but can be done.

1 people found this helpful.
10

If its not giting hot whith out cap it could be head gaskit or cracked head jeeps are nowne for this if air bubels are constant with cap removed you have exsoust intering cooling system and moter will over heat win cap is on becouse the exsoust is traped in the system pleas exscuze spilling

1 people found this helpful.
100

I saw an answer involving a relay or sesor for a fan that I liked but cant seem to find it agauin

1 people found this helpful.
20

hi i bought 4.0 JEEP,WITH A faulty waterpump making a noise i changed the water pump put a new head gasket but whne u start the car and leave it running for sometime it overheats raising the temperature above 100 which is half,help me guys

2 people found this helpful.
30

I started the 2007 jeep liberty. It ran good all day. I came home and then went out to go to work at 10 pm. I turned off the heater and then heard what sounded like maybe a waterpumpwhistle. Saw steam and then turned off the heat and fan and it steam came out of the engine and some antifreeze ran out. What could be going on. Did It have anything to do with me using my heater and fan and it getting pretty warm.

3 people found this helpful.
20

Ok, guys let dump the green antifreeze and remove the thermostat, during the months of July thru the first week in Nov. In Nov. place a 180 thermostat for the winter and when you see the indicator light come on in the summer do it all over again. Since Jeep was a product of GM, use the straight 100% GM orange antifreeze. Somewhere the engine block is creating fictions and raising the water temperture.

2 people found this helpful.

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