Alright, I'm intentionally placing this in the CSC forum and NOT in the general 80s tech forum. I have read the countless a very thorough discussions there about engine cooling issues/solutions with FZJ80s and frankly, there's one dude who is a blathering bundle of confusion and I'm intentionally trying to avoid his input (no, it's not you, Kevin 
). Anyhow...
I took the cruiser on its first real stress-test this weekend -- the trip up to Flagstaff and back. As you guys know, the hill climbs both ways are great for exposing any weakness your cooling system may have, and I tried it with the AC running full blast and OD off just see how it would hold up. About 1/2 way up the climb out of Black Canyon I noticed the neddle started to creep upward and immediately kicked the OD back on and allowed the RPMs to drop. AC was still on and never shut off. It stabilized until the last stretch up and out of the climb and onto the plateau when it started climbing again, but not much.
Pulling the major hills up into Flagstaff I had similar results but this time it got hot enough to cut out the AC. I shut off the AC and it stabilized, but remained slightly elevated until the climb tapered off and the engine could run reasonable RPMs.
On the drive back home the big hill out of Camp Verde was the big challenge and I did this one entirely without the AC on. It did well until about the last stretch to the top and the temp gauge started to climb slightly.
I am reasonably confident that all of my cooling systems are running well -- fan clutch is strong, radiator, water pumps, thermostat are fine; radiator cap was recently replaced. I guess I'm just wondering if this is typical and expected for us 80 owners out here in AZ, or if mine experience was a-typical and I should have reason for concern? For those of you who have had this problem and have sought solutions, did an electric pull-fan in front of the condensor make a difference in cooling when pulling hills? If not, what else can we do? An additional tranny cooler? An oil cooler? Hell, I want to be able to drive this thing straight up a cliff with RPMs running at 3500 for hours on end without it over heating. I'm willing to stuff Eskimos and penguines in the fecking system if neccessary, but I want the damn thing to run cool under all conditions at all times. Other vehicles pull those hills regularly and don't have to watch their RPMs or turn off their AC and this is what I want to accomplish.
Your thoughts?
Ed
). Anyhow...I took the cruiser on its first real stress-test this weekend -- the trip up to Flagstaff and back. As you guys know, the hill climbs both ways are great for exposing any weakness your cooling system may have, and I tried it with the AC running full blast and OD off just see how it would hold up. About 1/2 way up the climb out of Black Canyon I noticed the neddle started to creep upward and immediately kicked the OD back on and allowed the RPMs to drop. AC was still on and never shut off. It stabilized until the last stretch up and out of the climb and onto the plateau when it started climbing again, but not much.
Pulling the major hills up into Flagstaff I had similar results but this time it got hot enough to cut out the AC. I shut off the AC and it stabilized, but remained slightly elevated until the climb tapered off and the engine could run reasonable RPMs.
On the drive back home the big hill out of Camp Verde was the big challenge and I did this one entirely without the AC on. It did well until about the last stretch to the top and the temp gauge started to climb slightly.
I am reasonably confident that all of my cooling systems are running well -- fan clutch is strong, radiator, water pumps, thermostat are fine; radiator cap was recently replaced. I guess I'm just wondering if this is typical and expected for us 80 owners out here in AZ, or if mine experience was a-typical and I should have reason for concern? For those of you who have had this problem and have sought solutions, did an electric pull-fan in front of the condensor make a difference in cooling when pulling hills? If not, what else can we do? An additional tranny cooler? An oil cooler? Hell, I want to be able to drive this thing straight up a cliff with RPMs running at 3500 for hours on end without it over heating. I'm willing to stuff Eskimos and penguines in the fecking system if neccessary, but I want the damn thing to run cool under all conditions at all times. Other vehicles pull those hills regularly and don't have to watch their RPMs or turn off their AC and this is what I want to accomplish.
Your thoughts?
Ed
