Dauntless V6 Overheating

I've read a lot of posts about this and I can't find a solution to my problem so seeking help. I posted a picture of my setup. That's an Autozone quality 800 cfm 12 inch pusher fan with a flex fan and shroud and it's moving air so-so but using paper as a test it's definitely working. pulls the paper firmly to front of fan and blows it away under hood. I do a lot of steep climbing around my home in the desert and as summer approaches I can't keep the temp from shooting up. Down the road it's fine. I have a TH350 and a trans cooler. I tucked the electric fan in the best I could given limited space. Auto trans normally run around 200 which is normal but I'm sure that heat is going right into the radiator. I just installed the fan and it did very little to nothing. It's not even that hot yet and I'm sick of parking it in the summer. In the winter it's fine but ambient has to be around 50's or lower.

I'm thinking not enough circulation. This thing crawls up some nutty stuff, lockers the whole deal and I have it setup so it almost idles most of the time but RPM must be around 400 doing this. The water pump/fan pulley is about as small as I can get it. Belt not slipping and purged air high point on intake. Radiator is a Champion 3 core.

This has drove me nuts for so long. I'm good with wrenching and mechanical but this one has me stumped.

Thanks!

 

Champion 3 core should provide plenty of cooling. I’d start by moving the trans cooler, as it seems to be blocking a good portion of your radiator.

 

So what is the temp reading when you say it's shooting up ?

 

As odd as it sounds, it wouldn't hurt to check your timing. Overly retarded timing can make an engine run hot.

 

A couple of questions.....
How hot is hot?
Have you verified your temp with an IR gun?
Is the aux fan actually running?

If you are overheating,
is the lower radiator hose collapsing?
Thermostat in backwards? Sticking?

 

My YJ crawling rig (TF999) used to act as you state 53A1. It had a transmission cooler built into the bottom of the radiator and I had an extra one added. I bought a remote cooler with a built in fan and took the tranny completely off the radiator. Problem solved. Theory is the tranny was elevating everything else to it's temperature so when engine load increased up the engine temp went.

 

Thanks for the quick responses and ideas. Thermostat is new and checked it before install. Both fans are working and temp goes past 200 but did not confirm this with ir gun but it starts to ping so it's hot. I'm not sure about lower radiator hose and not sure how to check. Can I throttle it and see it collapsing?

I'm going to temporarily move the trans cooler and see if this helps.

 

I would think squeezing it is enough. The hose makers used to supply a wire coil to hold the hose open, but today they claim it's not needed. The flex hoses include a coil in the rubber (at least they used to) - you could try substituting one of those for the lower hose.

 

I was suspect of this also. I have gauges for everything and the tranny runs above 200 when crawling. I'm going to temporarily move it and test. Any ideas on where to relocate the trans cooler?

 

Hose is very stiff and I recall the wire inside now. I have so many vehicles and bikes I lose track sometimes. Lol. I have to keep records of everything I've done on them or I'd probably under or over maintain.

 

So much has been upgraded on this jeep it's hard to say if it's stock. If anyone has the fan/water pump pulley dia I'll check it. I'll try a search also.

 

It runs 180 down the road all year. Summer slow/crawling it can't keep up when ambient temp gets into the upper 80s. It will go above 200 and keep climbing until it pings but I don't try to get it to that point so I'll let it cool or just crawl in the winter. Even the tranny gets above 200 in the summer which is a little high. I have gauges to monitor everything so I don't push it. I want to be able to drive anywhere any time because I can't handle not being in the desert for too long. I ride dirt bikes a lot also but my knee is shot as well as my arm so I have to rest them for a few days jeeping.

 

This pic…



Are those fins crushed? Or is it an illusion? Maybe the air isn’t flowing through as it should be?

 

I'm guessing a 5 blade fan.
I run factory 7 blade.

 

Yep, they're crushed. I'll clean them up. Thanks for noticing that. I didn't really notice at the angle I work at. I should have put something over it but I got lazy.

 

The stock fan was a pos. It was 5 blade, solid steel. This flex fan is sweet. You can see the pitch chance when you ramp it up and it moves air. Sharp af wouldn't want to have my finger in there....

 

Which is where my comment was going next......
Ain't doing anything for you at constant/sustained RPM.