Diesel cooling options and ideas

[BearFootSam]

I still haven’t got the supplemental oil cooler in. Due to the dimensions and my bumper, I will have to cut the frame horns, make brackets and a skid plate.

I have started to pay very close attention to my throttle position % on my banks and I’ve found that over 40% raises temps into the low 230. 45% brings it right around 240 and 50%+ it quickly climbs into 250s if sustained. This is very useful for me because I can easily back off 5% on a grade and hold the same speed or feather the throttle in and out of the desired zone. I’ve only found on steep sustained grades at hwy speeds, it is better to downshift into 6th gear and keep the throttle position at a lower %.

What is this achieving for you? My 3.6 hardly ever breaks 210* and only if towing up hill or into the wind. Sounds like you chose the wrong powertrain for your use case and are throwing money away tying to out engineer Chrylser.

Sponsored

 

[maSS-hole]

Had you seen the extruded core one? They have two.

 

[maSS-hole]

What is this achieving for you? My 3.6 hardly ever breaks 210* and only if towing up hill or into the wind. Sounds like you chose the wrong powertrain for your use case and are throwing money away tying to out engineer Chrylser.

You're looking at this wrong. Your 3.6L would be making 228hp where Chief Jeep(and also I) live in Park City UT. You would be foot on the floor to hold 45 mph, an Ecodiesel would be able to pull at 65mph, but would be cooling limited.

The end result is the same. You're going 45mph.

I would way rather be able to chug along on the flats at 1800 rpm doing 70mph and have to slow down on climbs to keep the engine cool than to listen to the 3.6L spin at 4000 rpm for 6 hours straight.

 

[CrazyCooter]

Had you seen the extruded core one? They have two.

I had not seen that they have another version.

Single 41mm vs two .750" cores? The single 41mm should see increased airflow through the unit vs the dual .750's with more turbulence?

Crazy thing is that they lack any posted test data! If they could convince us that they will do the job and not leak........I'd buy one!

 

[Chief_jeep]

What is this achieving for you? My 3.6 hardly ever breaks 210* and only if towing up hill or into the wind. Sounds like you chose the wrong powertrain for your use case and are throwing money away tying to out engineer Chrylser.

it’s not achieving anything since I returned it. The 3.0 is known for running hot in the jeeps. Mine has never overheated or given me any problems but if I could fix the problem with a reasonable amount of money then I would. Overall I’m very happy with the diesel platform. The 3.6 is a gutless, boring motor especially if you’re on 40s.

 

[Jefe1018]

What is this achieving for you? My 3.6 hardly ever breaks 210* and only if towing up hill or into the wind. Sounds like you chose the wrong powertrain for your use case and are throwing money away tying to out engineer Chrylser.

I understand what you are saying… but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an oil burner in the 3.6 forum asking the guys why they are messing with dropped valves when they can just have a 3.0 that has never dropped a valve.

 

[Primer Gray]

So did the grill help or what? It does look substantially more open but I really question whether the flow through the grill was ever the issue? The frontal area on the radiator is just so small that I dont think they can ram enough air through the core to effectively cool it. My 2014 F150 has a relatively small radiator compared to a lot of trucks(even the Ranger, Tacoma, 4Runner and GX460 are bigger) and the JT is even smaller than my F150. Mishmoto lists the core as 19.5"x22.9" which is just tiny. My GX460 stock core is 25.5"x24.9", or 42% more frontal area than the Gladiator, and uses a big mechanical cooling fan.

I have been searching around the forums before making the final decision to buy one of these. It seems even the guys with the 2.0L Hurricane JL's have issues with them running hot. I'm pretty worried about being able to tow with this in Utah with any kind of warm temperatures.

I really think the only solution here is something like the Bulletproof cooler since its adding another 59 sq-in of frontal area. That brings the total up to just under what my 2014 F150 has, which also struggled with overheating in a much bigger engine bay with a much better front end shape for cooling. I also wonder if there is a way to get the cooler inline with the coolant coming out of the engine where its the hottest and would be able to offload more heat.

I can’t unequivocally say that the grill alone will dramatically improve the situation as I installed the new grill, BPD supplementary cooler, and Mish. radiator at the same time.

The combination of those three things has pretty much addressed my problems — I tow/haul at max capacity regularly up steep grades and the derate issues had me contemplating the idea of getting another vehicle.

In person, the additional open space on the 24 grill does appear substantial.

 

[Jteakus]

Seventy-three straight pages, my eyes are burning. Learned a lot though.

 

[Sweetums]

We really need a TL;DR for this one. ?

What is this achieving for you? My 3.6 hardly ever breaks 210* and only if towing up hill or into the wind. Sounds like you chose the wrong powertrain for your use case and are throwing money away tying to out engineer Chrylser.

A diesel engine runs significantly hotter and with more compression than a gas engine; comparing the two is less than irrelevant. Our diesels are also turbocharged, so the hot exhaust gasses are not immediately exiting to the tailpipe, they get routed through the turbo and EGR system, holding a massive amount of thermal energy in the engine bay.

So why get the diesel? 442 ft lb. That's why.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

We really need a TL;DR for this one. ?


A diesel engine runs significantly hotter and with more compression than a gas engine; comparing the two is less than irrelevant. Our diesels are also turbocharged, so the hot exhaust gasses are not immediately exiting to the tailpipe, they get routed through the turbo and EGR system, holding a massive amount of thermal energy in the engine bay.

So why get the diesel? 442 ft lb. That's why.

And this is why, although I've had diesel equipment in the past, I mostly observe and ask questions - such as - how much does the turbo increase the intake air temperature on these, just in general?

I know it's not a direct comparison by any stretch, but the turbo on our little 2.0 is surrounded by a massive amount of heat shielding............. wow.

 

[Sweetums]

A little inline-4 2.0L gas engine takes up way less space than a 3.0 V6 and makes significantly less heat. So we have more heat being pumped out with less space for it to radiate out.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

A little inline-4 2.0L gas engine takes up way less space than a 3.0 V6 and makes significantly less heat. So we have more heat being pumped out with less space for it to radiate out.

Yeah, totally get that and you really supported my point that the little I4 2.0 is packed in there with enough insulation to do my garage walls, and then you have the larger, heavier, more massive 3.0 diesel packed in like sardines in a can and no air flow around the engine.........

 

[Sweetums]

Fortunately it's not an air cooled engine, removing the insulation, opening the hood vents, even swapping thermostats for a lower temp opening are all ways to manage heat.

Modern engines have righter engine bays, it's just the way it is now. Managing heat is not unioto the diesel or gladiator platform.

 

[Chief_jeep]

Quick update for everyone... I pulled the trigger on the Insane Diesel bypass filter and auxiliary oil cooler. So far it is substantially better, however, I don't know if it's the end all solution. Insane Diesel hand delivered the bypass filter to my shop because they forgot to mail it and then went over the install with them. My shop said it was very straight forward but time consuming. I didn't ask a whole lot more but the install is clean.

First of all, I don't have a good apples to apples comparison yet. I went from a 40" tire to a 42" tire. I will be putting my 40" winter/daily driving tires back on in a week or so after I get back from my off-roading trip and can update then.

Anyways, my shops initial testing went well. 80mph down the hwy for a sustained period. Oil temps bounced around 218-220 and went to 222 once. Very happy with that but the real test is my commute back from the shop to my house.

My initial hwy drive is on a sustained mild grade, I held 73-78mph and saw 218-221 oil temps. Typically I would've seen about 235-240 oil temps in the same stretch of road with the same driving style. Huge improvement. Next up is the nearly 3k ft canyon road which is about 13 minutes from bottom to top. This stretch of hwy is where I consistently see my highest oil temps. In the past I'd really baby it and go 65mph and occassianally even slower up the steepest parts. If I made it up the canyon with anything under 250 oil temp that was a surprise and I'd typically push 255. For this trip, I drove it fairly normal, not pushing it hard but stayed at a consistent 65-70mph. It was in the 222-232 range for the majority of the drive until the very last section, which is the steepest. Here I got up to 239 oil temp and 219 coolant.

So while it's not a complete victory, it is a huge improvement especially when you factor in the 42 vs 40.

Now this leads me to my next question: Has anyone installed the Mishimoto radiator or the Cold Case Extruded radiator?

I'm content with the current cooling with no concerns of derating but I would like to get to a point where I can drive it hard without constantly monitoring and worrying about my oil temps.

 

[steelponycowboy]

The diesel in the JT and JL was a failure according to well placed sources at Jeep. That is why it is no longer available in the US but still available in Europe and elsewhere. Not due to emissions but due to how we treat, drive and mod our Jeeps here. I've given up after 13 times in the shop for 4 to 10 days and over 35K in warranty repairs. I'll be selling it this fall and looking for a high mileage Wrangler for a Hemi install.

Sponsored