WJCO's Build Thread, 1999 WJ

[WJCO]

Clutch gap was in spec, so that was good. Took the clutch off. All looks good. A little worn but not too bad. Nothing concerning. Cleaned it up and re-installed. I won't replace it unless it acts up again. I also thought it was making a rattling/buzzing noise, turns out that was the PCV valve right next to it. Cleaned that up too and noise is gone.

 

[WJCO]

Changed belt tensioner today. I noticed while working on the ac last week that these pullies were noisy. Part has been updated like five times so I went to the dealer to be safe. The new one has a smaller idler on it which concerned me at first, but it fit fine with proper belt tension.

 

[BobNH]

Nice, and good idea to do that. I heard that noise once with my TJ, then it stopped, and very shortly after, my belt melted through because of the seized pulley.

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[notnalc68]

Glad you found the issue


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[WJCO]

Cooling system issue not fixed. :grayno:

Hot day today. Sitting in traffic, temps climbing again. Fan working on high speed, so I know it's not an airflow issue. Paper towel sticks to outside of condenser so I know it's sucking air. If I rev up engine to just 1500rpm, temps return to normal. So I'm thinking water pump. It's only a year old though.

The only other thing I can think of is internally plugged radiator, but looking at the coolant I drained recently, I doubt it.

 

[wayoflife]

Cooling system issue not fixed. :grayno:

Hot day today. Sitting in traffic, temps climbing again. Fan working on high speed, so I know it's not an airflow issue. Paper towel sticks to outside of condenser so I know it's sucking air. If I rev up engine to just 1500rpm, temps return to normal. So I'm thinking water pump. It's only a year old though.

The only other thing I can think of is internally plugged radiator, but looking at the coolant I drained recently, I doubt it.

Was the water pump you installed Mopar or just a generic OE replacement? If the later, I've seen plenty go bad in a short amount of time.

 

[WJCO]

Was the water pump you installed Mopar or just a generic OE replacement? If the later, I've seen plenty go bad in a short amount of time.

I am not sure. I had it it the shop for a bunch of work and it had been leaking so I told them to just replace it while they had the jeep. I'll know when I get it out. A part of me is hoping that it did fail, so I can be done with this.

 

[Andy5160]

I am not sure. I had it it the shop for a bunch of work and it had been leaking so I told them to just replace it while they had the jeep. I'll know when I get it out. A part of me is hoping that it did fail, so I can be done with this.

Time to break some balls did you put your trust in the hands of a shop??????

 

[WJCO]

Time to break some balls did you put your trust in the hands of a shop??????

This particular shop has fucked up a lot of shit on my jeep. With that being said, if water pump is failed, it's likely a parts issue.

 

[HighwayTrout]

Dang man. This is a bummer.
Pulling for you to finally be done with this.

 

[Andy5160]

This particular shop has fucked up a lot of shit on my jeep. With that being said, if water pump is failed, it's likely a parts issue.

It sounds like parts issue. I got Napa break pads and front rotors installed few weeks ago and it squicks and makes all kind of shity noises which I can't tolerate, for that reason pro grips are coming

 

[WJCO]

Old water pump seems fine. I doubt that fixed it. I will recheck tomorrow with a good test drive. One good thing though, the timing cover was in great shape. And at least the water pump is out of the equation.



I was worried because someone online has had the same symptoms as me and posted some nasty pictures of his corroded timing cover online. I was scared that I would have this:





Old pump:



Also a trick an old friend showed me when swapping water pumps, the bolts are nearly always different lengths, so pull the bolts in order, place them in the new pump off to the side, then when old pump is off, transfer the bolts to the old pump while it's off to the side. That way no mistakes are made. Sadly, I've seen bolts that were too long installed in a short note and breach a coolant passage before.

 

[Ddays]

Ugh, sucks that you're still chasing this issue. Hope that fixes it.

 

[cozdude]

Hope the new pump fixes it and I'm sure it will. With it cooling down with the RPMS up makes it seem like the pump. Also just for shits and giggles I would still check the rad fins and make sure they are clean and no debris is sitting in between the condenser and rad. If it is it may not be getting enough air to cool off as much as it prob needs to as I'm sure you know

 

[BobNH]

Sucks bad, sorry to hear. I assume but didn't review the thread in entirety, but t-stat has been replaced? It seems if it was stuck full or mostly open, it could react similarly. Just a thought out loud though. Hope you get this sorted.

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[WJCO]

Ugh, sucks that you're still chasing this issue. Hope that fixes it.

I hope so too, but I doubt it.

Hope the new pump fixes it and I'm sure it will. With it cooling down with the RPMS up makes it seem like the pump. Also just for shits and giggles I would still check the rad fins and make sure they are clean and no debris is sitting in between the condenser and rad. If it is it may not be getting enough air to cool off as much as it prob needs to as I'm sure you know

I've cleaned radiator and condensor twice now. No luck. I posted earlier about a copper pipe sprayer I made so I didn't have to remove anything to spray the fins. I'm getting really good air flow through both cores. That was my gut feeling to begin with as this all happened after a trail with several water crossings.

Sucks bad, sorry to hear. I assume but didn't review the thread in entirety, but t-stat has been replaced? It seems if it was stuck full or mostly open, it could react similarly. Just a thought out loud though. Hope you get this sorted.

Replaced last year because I had a cracked housing. Replaced again a month or so ago just to eliminate it. No luck.

 

[JeepJeep75]

Here's another stab-in-the-dark... does the cooling system build pressure. When it's hot, is there suitable pressure in the system? Might be worth making up something temporary to get a gauge into the system. It needs more than just a pound or two, more like 8-12ish pounds of pressure.


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[Ddays]

Here's another stab-in-the-dark... does the cooling system build pressure. When it's hot, is there suitable pressure in the system? Might be worth making up something temporary to get a gauge into the system. It needs more than just a pound or two, more like 8-12ish pounds of pressure.


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That's a great point. I had a pinhole in my t-stat housing/inlet last year and I had the same symptoms as WJCO's having. Low speed the temp would jump up. Out on the highway or revving the motor would lower it. You could see where the fluid was leaking and it was really an insignificant amount but the pinhole in the housing wouldn't let the system build pressure. If there's no evidence of an external leak could you possibly have an internal issue?

 

[WJCO]

Here's another stab-in-the-dark... does the cooling system build pressure. When it's hot, is there suitable pressure in the system? Might be worth making up something temporary to get a gauge into the system. It needs more than just a pound or two, more like 8-12ish pounds of pressure.


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That's a great point. I had a pinhole in my t-stat housing/inlet last year and I had the same symptoms as WJCO's having. Low speed the temp would jump up. Out on the highway or revving the motor would lower it. You could see where the fluid was leaking and it was really an insignificant amount but the pinhole in the housing wouldn't let the system build pressure. If there's no evidence of an external leak could you possibly have an internal issue?

Pressure is good for sure. I can't even squeeze the upper radiator hose after tstat opens, hard as a rock. And when I let it cool down, then vent the radiator cap to recheck things, coolant sprays out of cap pretty good.

As far as a pinhole leak. Last year prior to replacing the water pump, it was slowly leaking. This idle symptom didn't occur at all. Also last year, I had a fairly active heater core leak, coolant on the floor. If I cleaned up the coolant, it would reappear in about 3 days. Coolant level only dropped after about a month so I left it alone. Again, no issues with temps rising last year even with this leak. THIS YEAR, I haven't noticed any coolant on the passenger floor and coolant level isn't dropping. With that being said, I'm assuming the leak plugged itself, I have no signs of a heater core leak anymore and heater works great. Both heater hoses are about the same temperature, so at least I know there is decent flow there.

If it acts up again today, I think I'm going to do a chemical radiator flush.

Also, another thing. I replaced that fan relay not that long ago. Since I have, I noticed fan not coming on as often. So I tested that a couple days ago and the relay was bad, wtf? I literally bypassed the relay and fan work. I originally only replaced it as a stab in the dark when I did it anyways. So, a couple days ago, I put the old relay back in and fan working normal again. So that new MOPAR relay was bad! What a pain in the ass. Regardless, even with high speed fan coming on normally, temps still rise at idle :grayno:

 

[Ddays]

10 of em