Cooling fan trick

[Red Mojave]

I have searched for a similar subject but could not find one, so I thought I would post it.
i was always annoyed the radiator cooling fan did not come on until 225 degrees, stopped in traffic. I think that’s awfully hot.
I was going to buy a Tazor tuner and adjust the cooling fan to come on sooner as others recommended.
Then I thought of my air conditioner operation. The fan comes on whenever the air conditioner is turned on and at or slightly above 192 Degrees.
So now when the cooling temperature starts to climb above what I think is a little high, I just turn my a/c on, the fan comes on and cools the engine cooling down. This also cools automatic transmission and oil temps.
If the weather is not cool enough for a/c, I adjust temperature setting to a temperature I think is comfortable. The fan continues to run and keeps transmission, cooling and oil temps low.
JFYI

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[Gvsukids]

225 degrees, stopped in traffic. I think that’s awfully hot.

Compared to what?

 

[Stan H]

I have searched for a similar subject but could not find one, so I thought I would post it.
i was always annoyed the radiator cooling fan did not come on until 225 degrees, stopped in traffic. I think that’s awfully hot.
I was going to buy a Tazor tuner and adjust the cooling fan to come on sooner as others recommended.
Then I thought of my air conditioner operation. The fan comes on whenever the air conditioner is turned on and at or slightly above 192 Degrees.
So now when the cooling temperature starts to climb above what I think is a little high, I just turn my a/c on, the fan comes on and cools the engine cooling down. This also cools automatic transmission and oil temps.
If the weather is not cool enough for a/c, I adjust temperature setting to a temperature I think is comfortable. The fan continues to run and keeps transmission, cooling and oil temps low.
JFYI

These motors have a 230degree thermostat. On the fan

 

[NC_Overland]

Mine stays on auto and the AC is on most of the time. I had to do that trick on my old XJ years ago. It always ran hot in traffic and the AC cooling fan cooled it down. I replaced that entire cooling system and was never able to fix it but that always helped.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

i was always annoyed the radiator cooling fan did not come on until 225 degrees, stopped in traffic. I think that’s awfully hot.

Solution looking for a problem.

It's not awfully hot at all. in fact, for many engines, the thermostat isn't even fully open until that point. I believe on these it isn't fully open until about 220.

Too many people freak out over the numbers. I wish Jeep would get smart and go back to the plain green/red gauge and stop showing people the real numbers.

That's not hot, don't sweat it. Not even close to "too hot".

I was going to buy a Tazor tuner and adjust the cooling fan to come on sooner as others recommended.

Tazer doesn't "adjust" it, but you can turn the fan on with tazer. Tazer isn't a "tuner".

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Compared to what?

Exactly.
People see the numbers and don't realize - engines have been running in that range for decades. Hot is a bit over 260 degrees when even the pressure cap and coolant mix can't prevent boiling.
My 4.0 used to run 215 all the time - normal. (the gauge was a simply indicator with no numbers at all so I installed an after-market gauge since I worked it really hard in that Comanche)

 

[GeneralMaximus]

I dont have a lead foot driving my Jeep, but according to Porsche, 190 degrees is the minimum temp, before i can let ‘er rip. At 225, she is warmed up and happy.

 

[IamPro2A]

Compared to what?

Compared to engines 40-50 years ago, when most cars were considered about ready for the scrapyard or at least a new/rebuilt engine by the time they reached 100,000 miles?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Compared to engines 40-50 years ago, when most cars were considered about ready for the scrapyard or at least a new/rebuilt engine by the time they reached 100,000 miles?

Tell that to my first car-parked at 220,000 miles all original engine, or my second-sold to my brother at 120,000 which he then sold to a collector when it had over 150,000 with only new timing chain, or my Eagle's original engine that started to show slightly low oil pressure at 164,000 hard abusive miles........


People can see the actual temperature numbers now instead of just dashes on a scale and the freak out.
Thermostats aren't even fully open until about 220 or above, depending on the engine and vehicle.
Too cool is BAD for an engine. But of course everyone is an engineer

 

[biplaneguy]

Turning on the AC may run the fan, but it also dumps more heat into the condenser (heat exchanger).

 

[IamPro2A]

Too cool is BAD for an engine. But of course everyone is an engineer

That is where I was going with the first comment. Back then engines ran cooler by design than they do now. While sure, plenty of well maintained engines did go over 100k, plenty of engines also failed or had major problems too. I worked as an automotive machinist in the 80s. I remember for awhile it was common to get those late 70's pontiac 301 V8s needing a top end rebuild by 75-80K because the oil in the top end had turned to sludge. You couldn't even see the valve springs or pushrods.
They were nasty.

 

[In3briatedPanda]

i wish my lexus guests would watch the gauge, so many 'my car just turned off and wont restart' but not a single one says 'my temp gauge went to hot and my car shut off'

pulls codes '500+ degrees last recorded reading'. tech states: vehicle needs engine assembly.

edit: 280 degrees is probably the highest ive seen, i was being sarcastic and just wanted to note it before the engineers come for me.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That is where I was going with the first comment. Back then engines ran cooler by design than they do now. While sure, plenty of well maintained engines did go over 100k, plenty of engines also failed or had major problems too. I worked as an automotive machinist in the 80s. I remember for awhile it was common to get those late 70's pontiac 301 V8s needing a top end rebuild by 75-80K because the oil in the top end had turned to sludge. You couldn't even see the valve springs or pushrods.
They were nasty.

Worst one I did was a Ford owned by a woman who only made short drives - 10 to 15 miles at a time, tops. Never got the engine warmed up.
Pulled the valve covers and the sludge and rock-hard coke was in the shape of the inside of the valve cover. I had to dig to find the valves and springs. Rocker arms barely had room to move.
Took a long time to dig all of that out and of course about 3 engine flushes because of the stuff getting into the return channels of the heads, down to the pan.
Some people made things even worse by believing anything around or over 200 was "too hot" and put colder thermostats in, or, they had cooling system problems and tried to "fix" it by using a cooler stat - that only made problems worse.
Colder thermostats are made because people want to buy them, not because they are needed.

 

[In3briatedPanda]

Worst one I did was a Ford owned by a woman who only made short drives - 10 to 15 miles at a time, tops. Never got the engine warmed up.
Pulled the valve covers and the sludge and rock-hard coke was in the shape of the inside of the valve cover. I had to dig to find the valves and springs. Rocker arms barely had room to move.
Took a long time to dig all of that out and of course about 3 engine flushes because of the stuff getting into the return channels of the heads, down to the pan.
Some people made things even worse by believing anything around or over 200 was "too hot" and put colder thermostats in, or, they had cooling system problems and tried to "fix" it by using a cooler stat - that only made problems worse.
Colder thermostats are made because people want to buy them, not because they are needed.

funny you say this. My transmission does not get to operating temperatures on my drive to or from work. 8 miles about 20 minutes, in town driving. we are a city but not Atlanta style city.

I called jeep to see if it was an issue and they 100% told me, "just take a longer route to work to get to temp."

Are they right? absolutely. Did it piss me off? absolutely.

Im only at 26k miles, i hope no glitter is in that fluid at 30k. lmao im flushing mine at 30k along with diffs and transfer case. Id rather catch it sooner than later wtih my limited mileage.

 

[Figmo]

Good rule of thumb: look at the Offroad Pages app to gauge what is considered "too much". (pun intended)

In this case, you'll see that 230 degrees is just a little over half way up on the temp gauge. No where near the "too much" end of the gauge.

This logic also applies to "how much is too much" oil temp, trans temp, oil pressure, alternator voltage, etc. Each is calibrated to the minimum and maximum acceptable values for that particular metric.

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