Jeep Experts

[Ducksquasher]

Hey there...our 2015 Jeep Wrangler had a radiator leak...small seep where it cracked right at the bottom seam/end cap. I saw a couple drops when my daughter pulled up in the driveway and it was caught quick. We had the radiator replaced, picked it up and when I was driving it the temps were high...got up to 236-237 (never overheated) and it would come back down but it ran hotter than I remember. I would see high 190's to low 200's normally before. Started checking it out and the replacement radiator wasn't OEM and it wasn't as large as the original so it simply didn't have the volume to recover temps under normal conditions, etc. They replaced it with an OEM radiator and OEM thermostat. picked it up yesterday and the wife said that it was 219-223 on the freeway yesterday coming home and this morning when she got home from dropping the kids off it was in that range.

From what I have researched the thermostat opens on these at 203 and the fans kick on at 226? I remember before when the fan kicked on over the hot parts of summer at 226 it never went over and it always seemed to run cooler, even when it was hotter outside?

Am I over thinking this and just being overly cautious? Is this normal? I am not super familiar with Jeep engines...what say you Jeep experts?

Thank you in advance.

 

[dribble]

Normal.

 

[mesquito_creek]

I have a 2016 and it runs 205+

But there is a little tricky water circuit burping process you must follow whenever you open the cooling system.

 

[chopperx]

Hey there...our 2015 Jeep Wrangler had a radiator leak...small seep where it cracked right at the bottom seam/end cap. I saw a couple drops when my daughter pulled up in the driveway and it was caught quick. We had the radiator replaced, picked it up and when I was driving it the temps were high...got up to 236-237 (never overheated) and it would come back down but it ran hotter than I remember. I would see high 190's to low 200's normally before. Started checking it out and the replacement radiator wasn't OEM and it wasn't as large as the original so it simply didn't have the volume to recover temps under normal conditions, etc. They replaced it with an OEM radiator and OEM thermostat. picked it up yesterday and the wife said that it was 219-223 on the freeway yesterday coming home and this morning when she got home from dropping the kids off it was in that range.

From what I have researched the thermostat opens on these at 203 and the fans kick on at 226? I remember before when the fan kicked on over the hot parts of summer at 226 it never went over and it always seemed to run cooler, even when it was hotter outside?

Am I over thinking this and just being overly cautious? Is this normal? I am not super familiar with Jeep engines...what say you Jeep experts?

Thank you in advance.

burp the system, it prob has air in it still.

 

[Her454]

Not an expert, but my 2018 Wrangler JL runs at 210. My first Jeep and I thought that was high, but my fellow Jeepers in our club all say that its normal to run anywhere from 190 to 220 and it depends on the thermostat.

 

[zhandfull]

To the OP, temps look high. I second having the air burped out of system. My 2014 runs 210-215 around town.

 

[Bigbore500r]

Hey there...our 2015 Jeep Wrangler had a radiator leak...small seep where it cracked right at the bottom seam/end cap. I saw a couple drops when my daughter pulled up in the driveway and it was caught quick. We had the radiator replaced, picked it up and when I was driving it the temps were high...got up to 236-237 (never overheated) and it would come back down but it ran hotter than I remember. I would see high 190's to low 200's normally before. Started checking it out and the replacement radiator wasn't OEM and it wasn't as large as the original so it simply didn't have the volume to recover temps under normal conditions, etc. They replaced it with an OEM radiator and OEM thermostat. picked it up yesterday and the wife said that it was 219-223 on the freeway yesterday coming home and this morning when she got home from dropping the kids off it was in that range.

From what I have researched the thermostat opens on these at 203 and the fans kick on at 226? I remember before when the fan kicked on over the hot parts of summer at 226 it never went over and it always seemed to run cooler, even when it was hotter outside?

Am I over thinking this and just being overly cautious? Is this normal? I am not super familiar with Jeep engines...what say you Jeep experts?

Thank you in advance.

Just went thru this fiasco with ours. It sounds like its close to normal, but still a little warm for it not being summer. Fans do kick on pretty late with these, and they don't really move much air until the things get really hot (240+ will finally make it command the fan to come on "high").

You may still have a little air in the system, OR they didn't use an actual OEM thermomstat....alot of the shops / dealers still don't have the OEM stats that were on backorder, so even dealers were installing Motorad stats due to the shortages. My first thermostat was purchased in a mopar box but stamped Motorad. It ran warmer and would not cooperate trying to bleed the air - never would open fully to let the air out, and because it made it run too warm it would cause the coolant to boil over without the cap on and make burping the air impossible.......

I finally cured ours after installing a 2nd new thermostat (verified OEM by package and stamp on stat) and then 3 rounds of letting it burp with the front end elevated and cap off. Big difference burping it with the correct thermostat. Now it runs at 198 - 210 most of the time. Etended grades on freeway can get it to 215-225 but then it comes back down.

I still recommend getting rid of it ASAP, before you end up getting "familiarized" with the 3.6 .....
I only keep mine because my wife loves it, and it became a "man vs machine" battle to fix it.
Chrysler can suck it!

Good luck!

 

[TPC]

 

[Singleton]

took my shop, 3 days to get air out of my JK’s coolant system.
They then figured out thermostat was defective.
190-210 is the average temp on my 2014

 

[Sandlord]

Just using that funnel system was not enough.
I also had to open the air bleed valve down on the front of the engine.
After closing the valve, I left the funnel setup connected overnight and it took more coolant.
2015 also.

 

[BigfnJeep]

The fan is programmed to turn on when the coolant temp>221F and ambient temp <105F, if ambient temp >105F then coolant temp will have the fan turn on when coolant temp > 217F
If you monitor the action, the fan turns on when the coolant is 5F higher than the set temp so that means it'll be on when coolant is 226F if ambient temp <105F or 222F if ambient temp was >105F

it's all pcm controlled. The fan will (or SHOULD) come on low when the ac pressure sensor detects a high side pressure in excess of 240psi

 

[Bigbore500r]

took my shop, 3 days to get air out of my JK’s coolant system.
They then figured out thermostat was defective.
190-210 is the average temp on my 2014

Same! Fuckin thermostat!

 

[spark2678]

2015 JK here. Normal. They tend to run hot but cool off pretty quickly.

 

[Ducksquasher]

Thank you everyone...it looks like it burped itself yesterday as I saw the coolant drop a little bit in the reservoir from the day before? I think that it is still running hotter than it used to? Even last night when my daughter pulled up in the driveway it was at 222, went to 226, fans kicked on, it came back down to 208 but it was only 80 degrees outside?

 

[Singleton]

Thank you everyone...it looks like it burped itself yesterday as I saw the coolant drop a little bit in the reservoir from the day before? I think that it is still running hotter than it used to? Even last night when my daughter pulled up in the driveway it was at 222, went to 226, fans kicked on, it came back down to 208 but it was only 80 degrees outside?

Normal.
They run hot. Over engineered is what my mechanic says.
You should look at the over engineered oil filter housing. My started leaking, $1600 later it was replaced.

 

[mesquito_creek]

Thank you everyone...it looks like it burped itself yesterday as I saw the coolant drop a little bit in the reservoir from the day before? I think that it is still running hotter than it used to? Even last night when my daughter pulled up in the driveway it was at 222, went to 226, fans kicked on, it came back down to 208 but it was only 80 degrees outside?

I saw 220 on mine yesterday after I took the picture for you…

 

[Bigbore500r]

Normal.
They run hot. Over engineered is what my mechanic says.
You should look at the over engineered oil filter housing. My started leaking, $1600 later it was replaced.

I prefer to say they are idiot-engineered. Couple that with parts made from plastic, and
you have the Pentastar oil cooler situation.

 

[rivermobster]

Thank you everyone...it looks like it burped itself yesterday as I saw the coolant drop a little bit in the reservoir from the day before? I think that it is still running hotter than it used to? Even last night when my daughter pulled up in the driveway it was at 222, went to 226, fans kicked on, it came back down to 208 but it was only 80 degrees outside?

Have you run it with the heater on full blast yet?

The heater core holds quite a bit of coolant. Make sure you run the heater full blast for awhile, to purge all the air out of it.

Pretty much everyone forgets this step.

 

[Ducksquasher]

Have you run it with the heater on full blast yet?

The heater core holds quite a bit of coolant. Make sure you run the heater full blast for awhile, to purge all the air out of it.

Pretty much everyone forgets this step.

Nope...I will try this next.

Thank you!

 

[TPC]

Just using that funnel system was not enough.
I also had to open the air bleed valve down on the front of the engine.
After closing the valve, I left the funnel setup connected overnight and it took more coolant.
2015 also.

Good to know and hold that thought.

 

[Bigbore500r]

Just using that funnel system was not enough.
I also had to open the air bleed valve down on the front of the engine.
After closing the valve, I left the funnel setup connected overnight and it took more coolant.
2015 also.

Yep.....I had to do this a few times to get a final "burp" out of it (which only happened after i replaced the new themostat with another new "MOPAR" thermostat).
Raised the front end up almost 2' to make sure the cap was by far the high point.

Previous to my "round 2" burping session - I had even filled the coolant using an airlift vacuum system, which usually eliminates the change for air in a cooing system. Even that doesn't work with this fucking gifts of gods creation........

 

[Bigbore500r]

Have you run it with the heater on full blast yet?

The heater core holds quite a bit of coolant. Make sure you run the heater full blast for awhile, to purge all the air out of it.

Pretty much everyone forgets this step.

This helps with normal vehicles. But these need to be burped like a baby that drinks sprite laced with mentos....

 

[QC22]

I had a JK and now a JL. 240 is normal in high ambient and under load (uphill, hard accel, high speed etc.) My JL dash gauge (C-----H) doesn't move at all from the "normal" spot from 158 to 235! If you watch the screen deeper in the menus that shows actual temp, it finally starts to bump up towards the H at 236, but by 240 it is getting pretty high, but not in the red zone. If I drop a gear (8 speed 2.0T) and slow down a little it will come down. My JK, V6, would do pretty much the same thing, gauge started to creep up above 230ish, pulling a slight grade at high speed in high ambient conditions. Both since new.

 

[OCMerrill]

For the lack of a better term these engines can be bulletproofed to a degree with aftermarket support just like the Navistar 6.0 that ford used.

The biggest problem being top end oil starvation. Every start has to charge that oil filter housing first. Contributes to rocker trunion failure. The oil cooler built onto that oil filter assembly is also problematic. The aftermarket has those issues covered and while I dont own one of these engines I have helped a couple of jeep friends that do... including hands on with the issues I've stated.

Question of it being worth it I have no idea. They are pretty difficult to work on.

 

[C-2]

Not to sound like Debbie Downer and hopefully OP has a better experience, but my daughter's 2014 3.6 running warm is the least of our worries. But for the record, yes, been thru 3 thermos and a heater was mentioned, but that went out too.

When I have some time I will pull all the CEL codes and post them up. Simply unbelievable. We gave up and parked the fuccer. It started out fine, but when it hit about 90K miles...aye aye aye.

Here's a freebie - when you see the Christmas Tree dash don't freak out. Your battery cables are not torqued on tight enough. Yes, it sounds silly, but it's that simple. And if they are torqued as tight as you can get them, then try a new battery with fresh battery posts. Don't go down the rabbit hole of chasing other fixes.

 

[Bigbore500r]

For the lack of a better term these engines can be bulletproofed to a degree with aftermarket support just like the Navistar 6.0 that ford used.

The biggest problem being top end oil starvation. Every start has to charge that oil filter housing first. Contributes to rocker trunion failure. The oil cooler built onto that oil filter assembly is also problematic. The aftermarket has those issues covered and while I dont own one of these engines I have helped a couple of jeep friends that do... including hands on with the issues I've stated.

Question of it being worth it I have no idea. They are pretty difficult to work on.

But your still left with that beautiful wiring harness, which is too short for many of the sensor leads and stretched / stressed causing all sorts of issues with intermittent codes that the internet forums are riddled stories about.

Combine that with the wire sheathing crumbling due to poor quality and stress due to being too short and poor routing, and you have . . . . still a Jeep 3.6

 

[Ducksquasher]

Great...more stress.added to my life!

 

[C-2]

Great...more stress.added to my life!

Awww, the things you do when you're a good dad.

Hopefully you got a good one, it's my understanding that not all them are turds.

 

[Ducksquasher]

Awww, the things you do when you're a good dad.

Hopefully you got a good one, it's my understanding that not all them are turds.

Very kind of you...thank you!

 

[Sandlord]

Just checked my 2015.
The temp runs 195-199.
The fan never comes on.