Gen 3 Overheating at Idle?

[arb098]

Alright, I've got the dumb question of the day. I was driving the Gen3 this morning, and while I was sitting at the drive-thru, I noticed the temp gauge started creeping up. Kept an eye on it, and sure enough, it hit that dreaded H mark. I shut her off while we waited for our food (maybe 2 minutes), turned it back on, and pulled away. The second I started moving, the temp gauge dropped back to normal. It took maybe 10-15 seconds to fall back to the normal range. I didn't have the scanner hooked up to check the actual numbers, so I'm still unsure whether it was actually overheating or the gauge was going wonky. It's only done this once before and that was when I let it idle for about 10 minutes after a long day on the trails. Tried to figure it out then, but I couldn't find any issues.

I'm going to take a look at some of the common issues: possible leak behind waterpump, low coolant, fans, but I was curious if anyone else has had this issue before?

 

[nwoods]

sounds like the AC fan is not drawing air through the radiator. I'd check to make sure the fan in front of the radiator is on. This was an issue with my Gen 2.5, which had a significant overheating issue until I replaced the non-operation fan and then it never overheated again.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Another vote for making sure your AC fan is actually working, it sits in front of the radiator and should turn on and off with the AC, easy to check.

 

[BOPOH]

In my case i had combination of bad fan clutch and damaged/clogged radiator, pretty much the only two components responsible for cooling. Quick and easy fix with OEM parts from junkyard $60

 

[Inyo_man]

I'm still unsure whether it was actually overheating or the gauge was going wonky.

A loose connection at the temp. gauge is a common problem with the Gen. III.
There are a few threads on the issue, and you can repair the problem by pulling the cluster from the dash and soldering the connection.

Cheers

 

[Michael Brown]

Mine did this a few times with the water pump o-ring leak. It was low on coolant, but while moving it kept enough airflow to cool the engine. Low speeds on trails and stopping at drive-throughs would cause the temp gauge to rise.

 

[grandpa]

A loose connection at the temp. gauge is a common problem with the Gen. III.
There are a few threads on the issue, and you can repair the problem by pulling the cluster from the dash and soldering the connection.

Cheers

I have this issue. There have been issues with the gauge cluster temp registering high. A Google search can help you find the fix. You have to remove the gauges and resolder the connection. I think there is a YouTube video about this fix. I haven't done mine yet.