Engine Overheating? - 9 Steps to Solve

hey guys this is Matt with bleeping jeep.com today I'd like to show you how to troubleshoot and diagnose your engine overheating issues but first please subscribe to my YouTube channel right here and check out my website bleeping jeep.com for all the best off-road videos on YouTube all right so uh what you'll need to know is that there's many uh components to your cooling system and they'll have to be working together um to cool your engine sometimes you can have one issue that'll completely shut down an overheat engine sometimes one thing will go bad and you can keep limping along and then you'll have an second thing go bad and it'll completely destroy it so you could be looking for one two or or more components that are bad Al together first thing you'll need to know is how the engine and cooling system work so let me show you all right so here's a little diagram of your engine and your cooling system it all starts right here at the water pump the water pump spins and it pushes the coolant through the engine and it all stops right here at the thermostat the thermostat stays closed until the water warms up and then it opens up lets it go through the upper radiator hose into the radiator it goes all through the radiator cools off it's cooled off by your fans you can have a clutch fan an electric fan or two electric fans and then it goes through your lower radiator hose back to your water pump as the liquid is heated it expands some of that goes into your coolant recovery system or your Reservoir and you also have um a heater core over here which you can let uh water in to heat the inside of your cab so that's basically it in a nutshell these are all the components not including your uh your fan your clutch fan your electric fan which are back here and this diagram doesn't really show but but uh if there's anything wrong it's going to be one of these components so it's not really that complicated you just have to diagnose the issue okay so the second thing you'll want to know is whether or not you have an open or close system um some of the earlier model Cherokees had what's called a closed system you'll be able to tell the difference if you don't have a radiator cap um you've got a closed system you'll have a cap over here on top of the bottle um if you've got the closed system I recommend upgrading to the open system just do a search on the internet for uh converting to the open system and it's pretty simple it's not that complicated but uh everything else pretty much similar there's a little different issues with the Clos system but you'll still be able to to diagnose the problem so the first thing I want to do is check um the easiest components first check the simplest things I'll go ahead and show you those now so the first thing you'll want to check is to make sure that your radiator is not block locked or full of debris if it is go ahead and take those things out if it's got mud in it hose it down wash the mud out step two you'll want to open your radiator cap make sure the fluid in here is nice and clean and while you're here check your cap make sure it's still got some spring to it and that the rubber is still there and everything looks good also open up your Reservoir and check to make sure that's clean as well oh if it looks anything like this go ahead and flush the system also make sure you're running a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and distilled water if you've got too much antifreeze you won't cool if you got too much water you're going to rust okay step three is pretty simple all you got to do is look for leaks if you find one go ahead and replace that component don't just put stop leak in there go ahead and fix the problem all right we're on to step four if you've recently had to replace the coolant in your car or if you've had to add fluid uh then you might have air bubble in the system and you'll need to go ahead and burp it let me show you how to do it so you want to park it on a hill but make sure it's not too steep or not too shallow you'll want it just about there okay so to burp an open system you're going to park your vehicle uphill you're going to make sure it's cold I can't stress this enough do not open this cap when it's hot make sure it's cold go ahead and open it up and you're going to fill your radiator with 50/50 antifreeze and distilled water once that's full go ahead and start your car let it get hot when it gets hot your thermostat in here is going to open up it's going to suck the fluid down through the radiator and into the engine when it does that go ahead and fill it back up do this over and over and make sure this is full you can help it along by pinching your upper radiator hose on and off and that'll dispel some of the bubbles it'll help the fluid through and help the overall situation if you do happen to have a closed system and you're not going to change it there's a little bit different process you're going to park downhill and there's a little sensor dad back here at the back of the engine you're going to take that off and that will dispel some of the air and burp system for you okay step five is you're going to check your lower radiator hose this hose comes from the water pump to the bottom of the radiator it has a spring in it sometimes when people change this hose they forget to put the spring back in so just feel it and I can feel that that spring is in there you can also start the car and rev it up and see if this hose is collapsing if it does then you don't have a spring and you've got a problem okay step number six is to check your electric fan go ahead and turn the car on turn the air condition on if the fan comes on you know the fan is working working but you're not done go ahead and let the car get hot when the car gets hot the fan should also come on with the AC off if it doesn't you'll need to replace the electric fan relay also make sure that your fan doesn't have a wobble um make sure that your wires aren't crossed cuz if you do get your wires crossed it could be pushing instead of pulling the air through and make sure that it doesn't have excessive noise make sure that it's not shorted out if it's shorted out um it could still be working but uh not working to its prime and causing problems with your alternator and your batteries okay step number six is to check your thermostat your thermostat is in here in this housing but there's several ways to check it uh when the engine is hot you can feel this hose the upper radiator hose and it should be consistently hot all the way across going into the radiator when the engine is hot and the thermostat is open open letting the fluid flow through if it's stuck shut then uh you won't have hot water coming all the way through this thing you can also check it when the engine is cold over here to check your thermostat when the engine is cool go ahead and open your radiator cap start the car and let it warm up if the thermostat is working properly there should be a noticeable drop in the fluid level right here when it opens to let the water through you can also check your thermost by taking it out of here and putting it in boiling water since the thermostat opens at about 195° when the water boils you should see the thermostat fully open um if you're going to do this though I'd recommend just putting in a new one cuz they're only about 5 or 10 bucks for a new thermostat and you're going to have it open anyway why not go ahead and replace it one other point to note is make sure that you use the recommended thermostat a lot of people say put in a 180 that's not not going to help trust me go ahead and put the 195 or whatever the book recommends all right step number eight we're almost there Step number eight is to check your water pump your water pump is right down here do this while the engine is running check to see if the pulley is wobbling if it is the bearings might be going out listen to it make sure it's not making an awful noise you can also check your fluid here if your fluid has little metal shavings in it like your mining for silver um then your water pump is probably bad sometimes what will happen is the little blades on the water pump will get cocked at an angle and they'll start shaving off the aluminum and it'll all start coming up in here you can also go ahead and um rev the engine when you rev the engine real hard this water should suck down that'll tell you your water pump is working well but make sure you don't take this off when the engine is hot can't stress said enough okay you've made it to step nine Step n is to go ahead and check your manual clutch fan what this is is a fan that has a clutch on it a thermostatic clutch that um changes the speed depending on the temperature you should be able to rotate this by hand when the engine is off also what you want to do is have somebody start the car watch the fan and then have them cut cut the car off if the fan spins for more than two seconds after the car is off then you need to go ahead and replace it um it's very very hard to diagnose one of these almost impossible so you might just want to go ahead and replace it just because also make sure that you have a fan shroud on it's very necessary okay you've completed all nine steps if you haven't solved your problem I think you've missed something go back and check it out if you think I've missed something please leave it in the comments below keep in mind that if you have an automatic transmission like I do then your transmission fluid also runs through your radiator so don't confuse a hot transmission with the overheat and cooling system and if you're having problems only when you come to traffic and you're staying cool on the highway then you probably have airflow problem check your manual clutch fan and your fan and your shroud and that kind of thing okay thanks for watching please subscribe to my channel bleep and Jeep if you have any questions or comments leave those below and check out my website leap and jeep.com for all the best off-road videos on YouTube thanks so much

Channel: BleepinJeep

Views: 2,083,593

Keywords: symptoms, how to diagnose overheating, jeep grand cherokee, wrangler, jeep wrangler, bleepinjeep, overheating engine, overheating car, radiator, cherokee, fan, head gasket, thermostat, grand cherokee, why is my car running hot, xj, troubleshoot, car overheating problems, steps, engine overheating, car overheating, overheating, jeep, 4x4, why does my car overheat, diagnose, jeep cherokee, wrangler jeep, car cooling system, cooling system, offroad

Id: MrBI1hRTgx4

Length: 10min 35sec (635 seconds)

Published: Wed May 16 2012