Overheated in Death Valley

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ARB777

ARB777

10 Year
Joined
Dec 19, 2013
Threads
38
Messages
560
Location
Eastvale, CA 92880
On our trip to death valley to see the super bloom. I noticed my temp rising upon climbing the cajon pass. I shut off the AC then temp went back to normal. The day went well until after 7-8 hrs of continuous driving around death valley. We attempted to drive up this gravel road with moderate incline when i noticed the temp gauge rising again. Shut off the AC again but it still continued to rise. So we decided to turn around. Drove around on flat paved grounds with no problem again. Attempted another incline but this time it is paved and AC is off. Temp gauge went up again. So we decided to go home. From appx 200 below sea level to 1000 feet above sea, in an appx 2 mile stretch. My temp went up again. Returned to the nearest gas station which is 200 below sea. Checked around. No leaks found. Noticed the radiator reservoir almost full to the cap. Cooled down engine a bit. Opened radiator cap. Noticed the radiator low on water. Filled it up with water. About 500-1000ml. Removed AC belt to reduce load. Drove again from 200 below to a little past 1000 above sea. Temp went up again. This time no change in the radiator reservoir level. Cooled down the engine by pouring water above radiator while running. Temp went back to normal. Continued our way home. Reached 3000 feet above sea without a problem. Drove for 3 hours straight with no problem. Did not have a problem passing to the cajon pass either. I am just puzzled on what caused this. Any of you guys had problems below sea level? The ambient temp at death valley that day was 80-90 F. So it wasnt that hot either. Any ideas?
 
I have experienced similar symptoms as yourself. The cooling system is pretty simple but can be REALLY frustrating. To start:
  • make sure you have an OEM thermostat
  • make sure your radiator is in good working condition
  • service your fan clutch
I am sure others will chime in but the fan clutch seems to be the most obvious culprit. The reason I say this is due to reading countless threads on MUD about the fan clutch. My symptoms ONLY presented themselves after I had been driving the vehicle for several hours. It appears my clutch could not shed the temps when the motor was heat soaked. Any additional load on the motor caused the temp to rise. After a LOT of experimenting with my fan clutch it seems happy with: Blue Clutch with 30,000 fluid in it. Search and you will find a lot of threads on this.

Good luck!
 
Had about the exact same thing happen on our first summer road trip after purchasing the 80. Found out the radiator cap was trashed, got a new one from NAPA in Bishop. Better: got up Silver Canyon the second try without trouble. Later that week we were still overheating somewhat on the long, hot grades around Mammoth. Got home did the fan clutch mod and things were better for awhile. A year or so replaced the radiator, which was about 2/3s clogged and later did the modded blue fan clutch and checked/tightened the belts. All has been great for a couple of years now.
 
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Do you have a aftermarket front bumper? Winch? They can affect the cooling.

We had 5 80 and a Jeep TJ do Death Valley in the end of April several years ago. It was hotttt. Everyone's cooling systems were up to date. I ran a modded clutch and strait distilled water with water wetter. I never saw over 208* however on the way up to the pass I go into oven mode and turn on the heaters and open the windows and get a running start.

Death Valley is a very good test of a vehicle. Having a extra air filter or means of cleaning it will help.

The best one was the jeeps battery died and we had to jump it everywhere we went.

See any models out there?
 
Rwhat said:
View attachment 1219524 View attachment 1219522 View attachment 1219523 Do you have a aftermarket front bumper? Winch? They can affect the cooling.

We had 5 80 and a Jeep TJ do Death Valley in the end of April several years ago. It was hotttt. Everyone's cooling systems were up to date. I ran a modded clutch and strait distilled water with water wetter. I never saw over 208* however on the way up to the pass I go into oven mode and turn on the heaters and open the windows and get a running start.

Death Valley is a very good test of a vehicle. Having a extra air filter or means of cleaning it will help.

The best one was the jeeps battery died and we had to jump it everywhere we went.

See any models out there?
Click to expand...

No models like that.lol. It was packed with people probably because of the super bloom.

Straight distilled? no coolant?

turned on heaters when your temp was running high? Would it help ventilate the engine if the heater is on?

Its a very good test ground on summer days but the day we went it was 80-90 f on death valley.

Nice pics. My vehicle is stock. Replaced mine with new oem radiator 20k miles ago. Thanks.
 
thedoughboy said:
I have experienced similar symptoms as yourself. The cooling system is pretty simple but can be REALLY frustrating. To start:
  • make sure you have an OEM thermostat
  • make sure your radiator is in good working condition
  • service your fan clutch
I am sure others will chime in but the fan clutch seems to be the most obvious culprit. The reason I say this is due to reading countless threads on MUD about the fan clutch. My symptoms ONLY presented themselves after I had been driving the vehicle for several hours. It appears my clutch could not shed the temps when the motor was heat soaked. Any additional load on the motor caused the temp to rise. After a LOT of experimenting with my fan clutch it seems happy with: Blue Clutch with 30,000 fluid in it. Search and you will find a lot of threads on this.

Good luck![/QUOTE

Its most likely the fan clutch. My dad said something about that too. I'll check my thermostat too. My radiator is new oem. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
 
surfpig said:
Had about the exact same thing happen on our first summer road trip after purchasing the 80. Found out the radiator cap was trashed, got a new one from NAPA in Bishop. Better: got up Silver Canyon the second try without trouble. Later that week we were still overheating somewhat on the long, hot grades around Mammoth. Got home did the fan clutch mod and things were better for awhile. A year or so replaced the radiator, which was about 2/3s clogged and later did the modded blue fan clutch and checked/tightened the belts. All has been great for a couple of years now.
Click to expand...

I'll probably do the fan clutch mod. Thanks for the help.
 
I usually turn my heater on when I know it's going to get hot. Also with 4.88's it runs a bit hotter in the summer in the freeway doing 75mph.

If you don't have passengers in the back. Turning on the rear heater helps a long with the front heater.

I have played with at least 4-5 fan clutches with temp mods.

I ran distilled water and water wetter. Seemed to work good. Dropped my temps by at least 10-13* at peak. However I run zerex go5 and might have run a bit more more then the 50/50 mix since I buy it in concentrate.
 
Thermostat.........also you are lucky you didn't crack your radiator pouring cool water over it while it was hot.
 
I too am a big fan of water wetter. Way back, my 40 had a marginal radiator and so the rig would tend to run hot. I was young and broke, so I tried some wetter. Made a world of difference. Gave me time to save my pennies for a new radiator. Now I add it to all my rigs just as a matter of course.
 
Interesting that the expansion tank was full but not the radiator? Is your radiator cap working OK? Assuming your rad and engine is full of coolant, as the temps rise the radiator opens one valve and blows excess coolant into the expansion tank, as the engine cools it should open the other valve and draw the coolant back in. As this did not happen on your car, when you restarted your radiator level/cooling capacity was already compromised by air, this would have a considerable affect on the cooling capability. At a guess your cooling system holds perhaps 5 litres? If you put in 1 litre, then your system was minus 20%? A cap seems a cheap place to start and of course go OEM.

Also, I noted 'you' turned off the AC, if the engine was actually getting too hot it would have done this itself as the protection is built in AFAIK, was your temperature gauge lying to you?


regards

Dave
 
Years ago I used to DD and drag a V12 Jaguar, it is common knowledge that due to the confinement of the engine bay 'anything' not quite right and it would overheat. I tried the water wetter products that were around then (back 12 years) and they made no difference then, so have they improved since then?

The 80 cooling system in good order with the typical 50/50 mix takes some beating when it comes to cooling the 80 motor no matter what the temps. Given the temperature/conditions (90F) the OP was using his car in there has to be something wrong. I run around last summer in 44+ C (111F) here in Spain with NO fan when on the move, climbing steep hills and when off roading (low speed/high revs) would bring on the slow speed of my electric fan, the VC and fan in the bin forever.

I am not saying the electric fan is the panacea to cure all overheating issues, I think there is something amiss on the OP's cooling system.

regards

Dave
 
ARB777 said:
I'll probably do the fan clutch mod. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

Interested to know your solution and how it worked out. Please post an update when appropriate. Thanks
 
I'd check/replace the cap too. Cheapest and easiest cooling system insurance.
 
Water wetter has seemed to work good for a lot of people. The cooling system actually cools better with straight water. If you don't live in a climate where it freezes you can run a lower ratio of coolant and getter better efficiency.

If you run 100% undiluted coolant compared to 100% water, the water will cool a lot better. If you run 50/50 mix compared to 100% water. The water will still cool better.

By just adding water wetter to your exhisting system will most likely not make a difference. Water wetter is a additive that protects your cooling systems if running straight water and contains no glycols. You could run 100% water however you would have rust water overnight.

There's some good reading about this on the net.
 
Time to do PM on your cooling system, in 90 degree weather the 80 should not overheat. Last summer we got plenty of 100+ weather and the 80 did just fine even in heavy traffic and full AC.
 
Heres the update. I have been running 100% tap water since my engine rebuild 2 yrs ago. Could be why i overheated too doh. I have a brand new radiator and cap with the rebuild. PHH was replaced then. Thermostat was up to specs then. I have stock temp gauge, so it could be lying. But the needle almost hit red when i bailed on the incline.

Corrective action done so far:
Drained radiator, filled with prestone concentrate, diluted 50/50 with distilled h20. I was expecting around 15 quarts to fill but mine stopped at around 7-8 quarts. The truck performed better IMO, just by adding the coolant. It responded better. I was gonna go for water wetter but the prestone was conveniently available. So we'll see how this goes first.

Next (hopefully tomorrow):
Already have 10k cst fluid. Will open fan clutch. Drain. Measure output. Add same amt of 10k.
Im just wondering too. Lets say my fan clutch is stock from 1997. Would it be black or considered blue? Its color dark gray to me. Because i would have different approach on how to mod it if it is black or blue right?
 
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