Electric fan hard wiring. does jeep run too hot?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

my jeep has a continuous fan and an electric fan. the electric fan is not working, and has not worked.
it seems to be wired into the harness, but the radiator was taken from a newer Cherokee so im not sure.
my son believes that it is the temp sensor that is screwed into the radiator that has failed.
if that is not the case, would it be ok to wire it so that it came on when the car started and ran continuously? my jeep runs at a fairly high temp but does not overheat. it gets to about 210-215 then the t stat opens and it runs at 180- 190 or so.
at 210-215 the needle is about straight up, or halfway. my red line is at about 240. its hard to tell because the gauge has 4 sections like a gas gauge but the numbers don’t line up in a evenly divided manner.
all the way left is 100.
str. up, or halfway is 210.
all the way right is 260.
the red line starts at a little past the 3/4 mark

is this too hot?

2

The electric fan is there when the AC is turned on.

As long as the temp gauge doesn’t go into the red zone, the engine isn’t overheating.

Tester

3

ah, that makes sense. my ac does not work, but I wonder if the fan would come on if I turn it on?
I need to check that. I was told it needed a recharge when I bought it but never bothered to check. I m not a fan of ac unless its over 92-93 F

4

I m used to my fords where the temp stays below 1/4 of the gauges range

5

The early 90s Cherokees often ran marginally hot when idling in hot (90*+) weather. If there was a long delay such as waiting for a long train I made it a habit to shift to neutral and race the engine to 1500rpm. That kept the gauge left of center and the AC blowing cool. The radiator is about 3 feet wide but only 1 foot tall with a minimal core depth. I have seen them heat up in heavy traffic and blow a tank off.

6

if im not mistaken, there is a temp sensor from the fan to the radiator.

the temp is fairly consistent even in hot weather. but I don t run the ac, as it does not work anyway

7

i guess my fan would spin faster at higher idle rod, that s a good tip.

8

i should clean my fins to remove oxidation. when i did heating and air work after high school we could get 8 degree cooler air from window units simply by acid washing the aluminium fins

9

by the way, the coolant leak seems to have miraculously disappeared…

10

“I m used to my fords where the temp stays below 1/4 of the gauges range”

Sounds like those Fords might have a stuck open thermostat

Here’s something funny . . .

A guy a work with . . . not a mechanic, by the way . . . recently had a check engine light come on, due to P0128. His thermostat was stuck open.

After replacing it, he was concerned, because the needle was now at about the 1/2 mark, and before it had been at around the 1/4 mark.

I explained that his old thermostat was stuck open, and that his engine was now getting up to normal operating temperature, unlike before. But he was unhappy that the needles was at the 1/2 mark.

11

i don t think so db. that seemed to be how the gauge was set up. i had three cougars a 87, 88 and a 97, two 75 supercabs and two mustangs, 79 and 80.

all of them operated in that range

12

the gauges had no numbers just an L and an H, on either end of the scale

13

all of the oil pressure gauges were the same and ran at 1/4 of the scale when operating normally

14

if i remember correctly, i am a big gauge watcher

15

these were all V6 V8 OR str6 motors