[drewhoo]

(edited out my dumb story)

The jim is heating up on the beach, and its getting worse. Used to only heat up when I ran it hard, now heats on lesser uphills and have to baby it these days. For the first time ever it o'heated on the highway yesterday. Its characterised by the engine cutting out with a pop or two, and the tacho wildly moving. I always let it rest before coolant bubbles out the overflow, but it gets close.

I've been reading around on the forums and it seems that a cheap, easy fix would be to get a new radiator. Havent been able to find any jimny-specific replacements. Rang natrad, of course they dont do any. Was thinking an alloy dual/triple core or something, does anybody know some replacements that would bolt straight in, or close to it?

I am going to also take the rad out and clean it, i cant see any mud between it though, I think the radiator might just be getting too old, and it looks like the alloy/core advancements in the last 10 years (jim is 99 model) might be worth taking advantage of for ~$200... any suggestions?

Heres whats i've seen and read as solutions on this forum, and my thoughts.. I'm an electrical guy and dont know much about rads so feel free to contradict me.

Thermo fan on manual switch (the thermo does seem to kick in very late, but seems like a bandaid fix)
Clutch fan (they lose silicon fluid or something, no idea what to fix here, it seems to spin fine and shroud is tight?)
professional flush and rodded radiator (~100 vs ~200 for a new radiator, seems not worth it?)
Clean radiator. Flush/replace coolant (did this 5000km ago)
check thermo or water pump (havent looked into doing this.. rad full of fluid so assume its working)
New alloy multiple core

Cheers

[Scales]

so your temp guage is reading high? or are you just going by the hot engine bay? because its been discussed before how hot it gets in there.

im not near my beasty so i cant look but i would be taking some measurements and go down to a wrecker and see if you can have a walk around the yard and find some little buzz box with a similar size and then take that info to natrad for a new one.

have you done a pressure test on the cooling system?

id also be taking the water pump off to check the impellor to see if its not totally shagged. hate to see you change a radiator for no gain.

oh and of course checking/replacing the thermostat.

I know thats some pretty basic info and probably not what your after. but best to check the simple shit first before going down the pain in the ass of getting a different radiator.

[31zook]

It took me 2hrs from turning the keys off to turning them on again, to pull the fan clutch off and refill it with jelly, and put it back in.

I was having exactly the same problems, but fixing the fan clutch fixed it.

[BAZZOOK]

I think you won't get a new rad for under $315.00. Yours probably has scale blocking the core. Take it to a radiator shop and see if it can be cleaned.

[woo603]

Just a random thought but how much mud have you been through ( prior to the sand) I cleaned mine and it dropped down heaps. Just a thought

[drewhoo]

hot as in temp gauge maxed out, coolant boiling inside radiator/overflow hot :s I realise it's normal jimny for the bonnet to be scaldingly hot, at least i dont need to pack the stove :p

ok, i think i underestimated the cost of a radiator, i'll run through all the threads again and make sure i've eliminated everything but the radiator, and reply back. its reassuring to hear some jimny owners have fixed the problem

if there are definitely zero leaks, can i skip the pressure test? or have i missed a basic here?

[royce]

31zook wrote:

It took me 2hrs from turning the keys off to turning them on again, to pull the fan clutch off and refill it with jelly, and put it back in.

I was having exactly the same problems, but fixing the fan clutch fixed it.

This, cant be co-incedence to have come up a few times as a fix to the same thing

Ill assume jimnys might be a bit like Sierras and jsut cant push enough air through themselves and need the fan to help it along

[31zook]

royce wrote:

31zook wrote:

It took me 2hrs from turning the keys off to turning them on again, to pull the fan clutch off and refill it with jelly, and put it back in.

I was having exactly the same problems, but fixing the fan clutch fixed it.

This, cant be co-incedence to have come up a few times as a fix to the same thing

Ill assume jimnys might be a bit like Sierras and jsut cant push enough air through themselves and need the fan to help it along

For sure!

If you look at a jimny's bonnet/grill it is pretty restrictive in regards to air flow.

Even if te jimny was brand-new it wouldn't suck/push enough air without a fan....

[missmyljdaze]

Like the previous fellas said- most likely the goop in the fan isnt doing its job anymore.
To help out you could also lower the cut-in temp for the thermo fan- or have a manual bypass switch for crawltime.

An old school cheap fix
Jack up the rear of the bonnet a little to allow heat to escape from the engine bay easier
Mr Plod tends to take a dim view of this nowdays, but as long as you dont lift the bonnet massively its not too obvious, and if you have a rubber seal at the back of the bonnet that can be removed (without damaging it) this can be taken off to improve airflow out of the engine bay.
I would do this only as a temporary "test" measure to see if it helps much.
If it works and you dont mind cutting holes in your bonnet- fit aftermarket vents.

It would be interesting to measure temps both inside and outside the engine bay when in its original- and ventilated to see the difference it makes.

Stephen.

[Scales]

what is this jelly you speak of?

[atari4x4]

silicone oil from toyota

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=28644&hilit=fan+clutch

[jonno_racing]

mine isn't overheating, however I am going to change the jelly anyways might save me in future!

[atari4x4]

not a bad idea phil, it's cheap insurance IMO

[drewhoo]

This it, looks like the same part number..?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Landcruiser- ... 1862wt_905

edit: yes, according to good tech thread. looks like i get to check thermo at the same time, kill two birds with one stoner

[Scales]

hmmm i think i might have a look at mine when i get home. cheap insurance as you say. i imagine it would be same procedure for all cars?

btw my local toyota has it for 13.60 p/n 08816-10001
so quicker and cheaper to buy in real life for once.