| Parts List
: |
3 Core Radiator
For late 80s Jeep Cherokee |
|
| INTRODUCTION: A 15+ year old radiator may work for you,
but it wasn't working for our 1988 Jeep Cherokee. We first
noticed that it was running hot on the trails. On the way home
the overflow bottle cracked under pressure and we overheated on the
highway. Replacing that was simple and we thought we had
our overheating issue solved until the temperature gauge pegged to
210+ degrees driving to the trails two weeks later!!! It
was time for new radiator and while we're at it, let's upgrade to a
3 core (row) unit to stay nice and cool. |
|
| Here's the
old unit in the jeep. Looks kinda beat right? We
started off by removing the electric fan (2 bolts) and the fan
shroud (2 bolts). Biggest thing at this stage is to let your
jeep cool down. DO NOT open the coolant overflow bottle, or
pull one of the two radiator hoses off, or twist the drain cock
valve!!! You'll burn yourself! Don't ask me how I
know this... |
|
| While the
jeep is cooling down you can remove the top plate over the
radiator. This is basically the only thing keeping the
radiator in place in the jeep. There are multiple pan
screws, the hood latch, and some Torx screws that need to be
removed. |
|
| Now you can
remove the top plate. In this pick you can see we
unfastened the top radiator hose after the jeep cooled
down. |
|
| On
the driver's side of the radiator there are two hoses with hard
lines that are for cooling the transmission fluid. One
unscrews easily, but the other had us perplexed so we took a cutoff
wheel and cut it off. We have a cheap fix for this
further down in the write-up. Also remove the
temperature sensor screwed into the radiator near these
lines.
You can see in the second picture what we
were confused about. How the heck do you remove this
line? We looked at it like we do most Chrysler/AMC things...
"The engineers smoked tons of crack..." |
|
 |
| The other issue to deal with is the air conditioner condenser
that is in front of the radiator. In our case, there was
no Freon in the a/c unit and we plan on converting it to an
on-board-air system so we cut off the lines going to the compressor
and the Freon canister. We chucked the condenser as
well. Might even help improve air flow now that it doesn't
restrict the radiator. Remove the radiator at this
time. NOTE: Grab those two brackets on top of the
old radiator if you didn't do so already. They will be used to
secure the new one. |
|
 |
| This is a
good opportunity to flush your coolant system. We placed a
garden hose in the overflow bottle and cranked the engine
over. We did this for 5 minutes as the water from the hose
circulated through the motor and pushed out any of the old
coolant. When you see just clear water coming out of the
bottom radiator hose, you're done. |
|
|
Here's the fix for the transmission line
we cut. We bought a 3/8th brass pipe fitting from a local auto
parts store and with some Teflon tape, screwed it into the new
radiator.
|
|
| Place the new radiator in the jeep. There are two
positioning holes with rubber grommets that the radiator must sit on
to be in the exact place. When you have it in, connect
the transmission coolant lines. Use a small hose clamp on the
bottom one to connect to the hose fitting we screwed into the new
radiator. So much easier than the Chrysler method right?
The only snag was that we had to cut off the corner of the aluminum
plate to fit the hose. This took 30 seconds..big deal.
Connect the temperature coolant
sensor. |
 |
 |
 |
| Last step is
to connect the upper and lower radiator hoses and put the top plate
back over the radiator. Install the fan shroud and the
electric fan and your done.
Fill the overflow bottle with a 50/50 mix
of coolant and distilled water. Turn the engine on and
monitor the system for leaks as well as keep your eye on the
temperature gauge in the dash. We never went over 190
degrees at idle or on the highway!! |
 |
| Questions or
comments please email me at : jadams68@verizon.net
|
|
