2.4 over heating

[muddydan]

hi all,

need some help, our surf has started to over heat when stuck in traffic a fan on the outside of the radiator has started to kick in never new that was there!
this is the weird bit the oil pressure needle shoots down and the temp needle shoots up, then if I rev the engine needles all go to normal fan turns off all good for 5 min then starts again?

Oil and water levels are good.

thanks

Dan

[woodwarm]

Sad news Dan.

Plenty of info if you do a search

1st thing to check is a possible air lock in cooling system.

You might be lucky & not be a head problem

[andyverran]

Sad news Dan.

Plenty of info if you do a search

1st thing to check is a possible air lock in cooling system.

You might be lucky & not be a head problem

Followed by check the thermostat and the viscous coupling on the fan....and the state of the water pump...

Which brings me to a question, with the 2.4 being so prone to getting to hot in the head, any mileage in fitting a stat that opens cooler?

I was wondering last night if there was any way to adjust the temp the viscous coupling locks up at for the same reason?

..or reduce the pulley size to increase fan speed?

at this point I may have lost my mind

[shokenore]

Followed by check the thermostat and the viscous coupling on the fan....and the state of the water pump...

Which brings me to a question, with the 2.4 being so prone to getting to hot in the head, any mileage in fitting a stat that opens cooler? NO

I was wondering last night if there was any way to adjust the temp the viscous coupling locks up at for the same reason?YES

..or reduce the pulley size to increase fan speed? WHY

at this point I may have lost my mind

PROBABLY

I along with countless others had worried about that head issue.
And if you have a standard truck that is well maintained and used in a normal manner all the extra cooling mods are in my opinion more beneficial for cooling your head.
If you do lots of low speed off road then an auto box cooler would be beneficial.
If you do lots of near capacity towing then ditto.
If you run big tyres and stadium lighting ditto.

I fitted a data logger to record my radiator temps over a two week period and ended up with an average temp of 88'C

Yes I have stripped and refilled my viscous fan and yes I did set it to lock up a whole 8'C cooler, the rubber strips sealing the bonnet gaps were removed along with the sound deadening insulation.
I would agree that the cooling system has its faults.
I think having some form of low water level alarm should be at least on the list of mods if not a priority.

[smurfL6]

Had similar problems, burping the system overnight helps the problem. Towing a boat over the a30 last weekend she was getting hot, took out the thermostat and removed number plate and spotlights from the grill also helped.