News: Putting FUN and FRIENDLINESS, FIRST into owning and learning about AMC small bodied cars, primarily Eagles, Spirits and Concords as well as vehicles built in AMC's Mexican subsidiary, VAM.

The AMC Eaglepedia can now be accessed using the buttons found below  This is a comprehensive ever growing archive of information, tips, diagrams, manuals, etc. for the AMC Eagle and other small bodied AMC cars. 

Also a button is now available for our Face Book Group page.


Welcome to the AMC Eagles Nest.  A new site under "old" management -- so welcome to your new home for everything related to AMC Eagles, Spirits and Concords along with opportunities to interact with other AMC'ers.  This site will soon be evolving to look different than it has and we will be incorporating new features we hope you will find useful, entertaining and expand your AMC horizons.

You can now promote your topics at your favorite social media site by clicking on the appropriate icon (top upper right of the page) while viewing the topic you wish to promote.


  • March 28, 2024, 08:32:28 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Author Topic: Sx4 overheating???!!  (Read 4943 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline olymunch

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 145
  • Thumbs Up 2
Sx4 overheating???!!
« on: June 05, 2014, 08:10:02 PM »
Ok so I've got a 4.2 with about 145k, new 195 thermostat, two row radiator, fan clutch is in great shape, fan cowling is in place, no wobble on water pump, with cap off I can see that the fluid is flowing quite nicely, nice color fluid, checked with a laser thermometer to confirm it wasn't my sending unit-also new, hoses don't collapse, the intake is routed to the stock location sucking in air from outside. and no leaks.

There is scale in my radiator but it seems to flow well. Checked the face of the radiator with the laser and the temps were all over the place. When it's overheating the thermostat housing reads 240. With the radiator cap off when I hit the gas there is obvious foaming. When I turn on my heater the temp drops. The temp gauge shows a steady rise in temp.
Please help, I REALLY want to drive my car everywhere!!!
Thanks

Offline eagleman

  • Eagle Limited
  • *****
  • Posts: 675
  • Thumbs Up 35
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2014, 09:12:25 PM »
Sounds like you may have exhaust going into a water passage. Possibly a blown head gasket or cracked head or block
Turkeys walk.Eagles fly!!!

Offline olymunch

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 145
  • Thumbs Up 2
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2014, 10:50:28 PM »
Yea the more I look it up the more likely that seems. I'll do a leak down test and if I have a leak, keeping in mind I don't go thru ANY antifreeze, I'll use bars leaks with carbon fiber to "repair" it. Should be done by Saturday. I'll update my results.

Offline carnuck

  • Having a 727 means never re-doing the trans again
  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • ********
  • Posts: 3451
  • Thumbs Up 89
  • Near Seattle
    • Virtual Jeep
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2014, 12:47:19 AM »
Loosen the coolant sensor to "burp" the motor. Mine ran hot till I did that. I also drilled a tiny hole in the thermostat plate so it was upwards when installed. That helped burp it too.
AMC/Jeep gauges are for amusement only. Any correlation between them and reality is purely coincidental!

Offline olymunch

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 145
  • Thumbs Up 2
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2014, 12:58:54 AM »
I'll try that. Remove the sensor when cold I imagine?

Offline carnuck

  • Having a 727 means never re-doing the trans again
  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • ********
  • Posts: 3451
  • Thumbs Up 89
  • Near Seattle
    • Virtual Jeep
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2014, 01:03:02 AM »
Loosen when cold, start the car and allow the air out then tighten. If your cat is clogged it can back up exhaust pressure and cause it to overheat too.
AMC/Jeep gauges are for amusement only. Any correlation between them and reality is purely coincidental!

Offline olymunch

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 145
  • Thumbs Up 2
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2014, 08:23:20 PM »
I did burp the system but no air came out. My bird has no cat, bought it that way :o . Ok so I used a block tester and no leaks in the head!! Did a pressure test and found out it has a slight leak on the top of the radiator and tried to have it flushed but the radiator was to clogged to do a flush. Guess I'll be needing a new, hopefully three row, radiator.
Thanks everyone

Offline carnuck

  • Having a 727 means never re-doing the trans again
  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • ********
  • Posts: 3451
  • Thumbs Up 89
  • Near Seattle
    • Virtual Jeep
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2014, 09:05:44 PM »
Check the aluminum CJ7 rad swap thread.
AMC/Jeep gauges are for amusement only. Any correlation between them and reality is purely coincidental!

Offline olymunch

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 145
  • Thumbs Up 2
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2014, 09:34:42 PM »
I haven't looked at it in depth yet but from what I can tell I think I'll be going that way. I was also thinking of an aluminum body radiator with a plastic top and bottom. Now I know plastic sucks but with the way it goes together I can take it apart and service it myself in the future with just one tool if I need to.

Offline olymunch

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 145
  • Thumbs Up 2
Re: Sx4 overheating???!!
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2014, 11:26:34 PM »
Ok so actually I think I'm going to remove the old radiator, take it apart, clean it, solder it back together and keep using it for now. It looks super easy and I'll take pics to post here as a guide.

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk