Overheating issue

685

Asked by Choirck16 May 21, 2013 at 01:57 PM about the 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Last summer, my jeep overheated. A friend of mine said it was probably the sensor, since the fan would work when he tested it, so he ghetto rigged the fan to a fuse inside the car. The connection was shotty at best and kept coming out. I didn't have issues during the winter as it's cool around here. Now that it is getting warm, the Jeep started overheating again. I had someone else look at it and determine at some point that the fan motor burned out. It was replaced, but still had the wire rigged to a fuse to turn on with the ignition. The connection still sucked. So I decided to replace the sensor. I paid a shop to replace the sensor. Now the fan doesn't come on at all. After doing some driving, the water boils. Every time. Sometimes it will get so hot it will boil over. I have to wait for it to cool off and put more water in. I was going to buy the relay switch, but I want to know before I do if this is the issue or if I'm overlooking something else. I don't want to keep just replacing parts and have it continue to not work. Thank you for your help.

44 Answers

685

No, I have not. But it does register the temp on my gauges. Would the thermostat cause the fan not to come on when it's supposed to?

19 people found this helpful.
177,705

The engine is not supposed to over heat at all. Having the fan running does not cure the problem. The only time the fan should energize is when you're stuck in stop and go traffic or the Jeep is towing heavy loads up hills. Sometimes they come on with the air conditioning.

21 people found this helpful.
685

My jeep doesn't overheat just driving. If I'm doing freeway driving or not much stop and go it's fine. It's only when I'm doing a lot of in town, stop and go driving (ie: lots of traffick, Idling, things like that) and on warm days. I know that the fan is not coming on when it is supposed to and that is the issue with the overheating. When the fan was hooked up to the fuse box and it was coming on all the time, it was staying below temperature. It does not turn on when I idle (even if the engine is getting hot). I'm trying to find the issue with why the fan would not be turning on.

39 people found this helpful.
190

No answer yet but i have a similar issue. When my Ac is on the engine begins to overheat. When i turn the AC off, it cools back down. The pwm fan seems to be spinning slowly and i wanted to test it. What wires to i jumper to test that the fan is good?

19 people found this helpful.
180

There's a fan relay located under the right head light. You either remove the bumper or cut into the headlight plastic mounting to get to it. I cut into the mounting, bend it out, replace the relay and tape it back with duck tape. The headlight assembly slide over it. No one will see.

18 people found this helpful.
640

I'm having a similar problem 2003 jeep cherokee over heating change relay and sensor plus the themorstat and put in a new radiator and when I start to drive within 10 minutes it start to overheat and start to boil I even try to take out the air pockets any help please

64 people found this helpful.
160

I HAVE A 2000 JEEP. THE PROBLEM THAT YOU HAVE HAS TO DO WITH LIQUID STUCK IN YOUR RADIATOR. THE JEEPS RADIATORS ARE NOT MEANT TO HANDLE THAT SIZE OF AN ENGINE. WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IT EITHER BUY A BIGGER RADIATOR OR GET YOUR RADIATOR FLUSHED AND SEE IF THAT HELPS

16 people found this helpful.
150

I have the same issue on my 05 Cherokee and was told my water pump was leaking. Funny thing is I just replaced the water pump 1 year ago! Fan turns on sometimes! I don't have a clue why.

15 people found this helpful.
230

I have 2004 Specisl Edition stright six with the same problem I have replaced the fan,thermostat and radiator. No relay switch can be found or the sensor for the fan. Just put another fan in, it's barely moving and still running hot. An appointment has been made with Chrysler, figure its their product they should have the answer. Will post results after repair.

23 people found this helpful.
420

I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and every time I sit with my car in park for a while it begins to overheat and I have to wait till it cools down. So I don't know what it is or why it's happening any thoughts?

42 people found this helpful.
320

Same problem as above combined with my steering making the strangest groaning sounds at the same time as it starts to heat up while say waiting at a drive through plus the fan at the front goes wild. I also am hearing a significant amount of water sloshing near the firewall on the passenger side whenever I 1st start movi g forward. Then after I stop, I can literally HEAR the water boiling.

32 people found this helpful.
250

I have a 2008 grand Cherokee, I was having the same problem, my car would get super hot just sitting still in traffic or idling. I replaced my radiator cap which didn't work, I took it to 2 shops and no one could figure it out. Finally my uncle looked at it, we flushed my engine and the radiator and replaced the thermostat and it hasn't over heated since! The thermostat wasn't opening when my car started getting too hot! Hopefully this helps

25 people found this helpful.
480

Hi all I have a solution for some of you. I own a 2002 cheeokee. I replaced the thermostat, radiator and the cooling fan in the event the fan wasn't coming on high speed. I have an electric fan. The 2003 and higher have both an electric fan and a clutch fan. I went to a football game last week tailgating and left it running for 30 mins with ac on. I just happened to notice the temp gauge. The antifreeze was boiling. How the hell can my jeep overheat with a new electric fan, new water pump, new thermostat and new radiator. I replaced all of them 3 months ago as preventative maintenance. Still overheats at a standstill even though the electric fan is working on low and high speeds. Well I found out in 2003 they put 2 fans in. One electric for the radiator and a mechanical clutch fan to cool the engine. So, I bought a mechanical clutch on eBay for $32 and a plastic mechanical fan for $23 on eBay. Installed them onto the front of engine pully (just screws on with your hand) and now I have 2 cooling fans and no more overheat issues :)

42 people found this helpful.
140

MBella2000, I never knew about the fan that mounts on the pully. Is it literally just like a plastic fan blade that mounts on and spins as long as the engine (pullys spinning )is running? I definitely need to put one on my 2002 grand cherokee seeing how I live in hot ass south west florida lol. I just bought this jeep like 3 weeks ago and didn't know shit about jeeps. It has a new thermostat, water pump, I just put a fan relay in today, and it still over heated, I am going to get a radiator flush next, but regardless I want to put that second fan in because it can't do nothing bad to it but make it run cooler so I definitely want to do it. What do they call it exactly so I can look it up to buy one, or if u can post the link for it I would appreciate it so much. Thank you and I hope to get this issue solved seeing how I'm not rolling in money right now, u kno? Lol

14 people found this helpful.
185

I own a 2002 grand cherokee, I am reading the answer from MBella2000, do you have a picture of the Fan you bought on E- Bay? Can you share it with us, please?

18 people found this helpful.
50

I have question about my 2004 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. When driving in town the AC/Heater blows air just fine. After 30 minutes of highway driving it quits blowing. If I stop and kill the motor it will blow for 30 minutes and shut off. The other evening my temp gauge read hotter then normal, but immediately cooled down once I reduced speed below 40 mph. I checked fluids and all were normal. I have driven it the last 2 weeks and no sign of overheating, but still has an issue with AC/Heater.

5 people found this helpful.
40

The guy that mentioned the relay hidden behind the passenger side headlight mounted to the fender has the answer for many of you. My problem is a thermostat that goes up and down, I believe a short ground somewhere. And the car shocks me getting in and out. Anyone has this problem?

4 people found this helpful.
100

Yes except the piece that was burnt up on our 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee was the connector the fan relay switch hooks into we saw it was burnt causing a bad connection to the fan causing it not to cut on and overheat while idling . Went to junkyard got need connector cut old one out retape the wires and our fan works now here's a picture

8 people found this helpful.
100

FYI fan relay switch is under passenger headlight under the plastic header panel check the connection the fan relay switch and what it hooks into if any looks corroded or burnt that is most likely the reason why your fan won't cut on causing the car to overheat. We smelled a burning smell going down the road and right after the fan stopped working and car overheated

2 people found this helpful.
110

There is no relay switch under the passenger headlight on the 2004 GC. There's low and high relays in the fuse box. Please don't go taking off your bumper or cutting a hole under the passenger headlight on the 2004 GC. That's not the only "nice" changes/problems Chrysler did for the "last in line" 4.0 engine GC's. What needs to be answered, for the 2004 issues, is what makes the radiator fan come on? Is it supposed to come on when the a/c is turned on or just when the water temperature gets warm enough. Adding a clutch fan is an option (which I did - an 11 blade offset - blows like a hurricane, but does not compromise heating in the winter time), but I believe that the electric fan should be coming on when you use the a/c. I've not seen or heard an explanation for the high and low options on the relays.

11 people found this helpful.
320

I started having this same issue with my 2004 Jeep Grand Cheroke Laredo 4.0L I-6. The fan comes on at first and runs fast, then gradually slows to a crawl as the engine warms up. By the time the temp gets to about 220 the fans is spinning at a snails pace. Turning the AC on has no effect on the fan. So far I have had the radiator flushed and changed the coolant temperature sensor (also made sure there is 5VDC at the connector). I have also eliminated the low and high fan speed relays by swapping them out with new relays. I don't think it's the fan because it does turn at high and low speeds. I'm stumped.

7 people found this helpful.
100

I have a 2008 Grand Cherokee Laredo, and mine is overheating when idling or stop and go traffic. It doesn't get into the red zone but the engine temp does get above normal and the fan kicks on (it's super loud and vibrates the whole car). So far, i've replaced the thermostat, flushed the radiator, and it still has this problem. I was thinking of replacing the water pump next to see that that does anything before tapping into the fan/radiator. Anyone else have this problem on there 08 GC? If so, how did you fix this overheating problem?

10 people found this helpful.
320

I solved my 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee overheating at idle issue. I did change the coolant temperature sensor but that didn't fix it. My fan would come on at first but then stop. I checked out the relays and that wasn't it. So instead of fooling around with the electrical fan system, I installed a fan clutch and fan. I used the Murray 2787 fan clutch (O'Reilly's Auto Parts) and the Dorman 620-602 11 blade nylon fan. The parts DO FIT (yes, they fit, even though some websites say they don't). The fan clutch does not come with bolts so I went to home depot and bought 4 ea of 10Mx1.5x16mm and used M10 lock washers. Get the zinc coated kind. This solved MY overheating issue. Give it a shot. I came across this video on youtube that has all the information. Check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=j41reuWOtCA

24 people found this helpful.
10

I have a 200 jeep grand cherokee. Do you think it would work the same way?

1 people found this helpful.
40

have a 2004 GC with the same problem is there a fix to this over heating problem that doesn't involve a separate fan installed. i have checked and replaced the relays, replaced the fan and the temp sensor. it work till i shut the engine off then same thing over heating. is there something i'm missing?

4 people found this helpful.
70

I have a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee that is overheating. There is only 1 fan that connected to the water pump. I replaced the thermostat, but it's still overheats. I know the pump is working because water started leaking out of a top hose that wasn't clamped down tight enough. Any ideas

7 people found this helpful.
20

I have a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk and it only has 5,000 miles on it. When the car is in traffic the engine overheats. Taking it to the dealer tomorrow for the 2nd time to get this fixed.

2 people found this helpful.
50

I have a 2001 Grand Cherokee. Had numerous overheating problems. I decided to pull out the electric fan and replace it with a clutch fan and blade. I called numerous junkyards in my area and found one for $50.00 It’s a easy fix cause most jeeps have the threaded stem coming from the crank housing. A PROBLEM SOLVER!!!! Car now runs at 180 degrees consistently in heavy traffic. Would get to 240-50 before. I highly recommended this easy fix!!!!!

5 people found this helpful.
20

I am having the same problem 2003 jeep Cherokee bought a relay spent half the night looking for this damb thing evidently minute does not have one, it has the holes for one but nothing is there. Took the light out cut a hole nothing figured maybe hiding so took the bumper off still same, so said I saw a video that said remove battery and fuse box. I know this is killing you all still nothing just got put back together 2 in the morning and got to be back at work in less than 4 hours. Don't get me wrong I love my jeeps but almost thought lighting a match would be better than wasting my time tonight. Why would it not have a relay. Thank you for any help.

2 people found this helpful.
30

it looks like this one http://godaca.com/1-x-connector-glow-plug-wiring-harness-plug-jeep-ford-dodge-chrysler-6-0- diesel/

1 people found this helpful.
30

Tony’s 2787 clutch and dorman fan worked like a charm for me. I had overheating issues at idle with AC on in my 2000 Grand Cherokee 4.0. Removed the electric fan put in the mechanical one and I’m running cool now.

3 people found this helpful.
90

how idiotic are most you freaks running thermostooopidstats and expecting not to overheat !!! LOLLLL FIRST thing i do with any petrol car I buy I take it home carefully open the thermostinking cancerous thrmostat housingthen remove the cancerous malignent typhoid annoying cyst then tosss it as far as I possibly can stomp on the rotten thing first so it doesnt cause anybody grief again LOL if you live in a greenhouse and face it most people do last thing u need is an thermostat , very usefull where polar bears live LOL Itry run my fans full time also less dangerous blow hoses in your face pressure ,oil last 20000 kms gold not black sooot carbon black burnt chicken frying black oil LOL dont worry about a car heater keep ir poofy toots warm an engine should push the vehicle only !!!forget heaters LOL most cars run way too hot of course mechanics love it problems allways with costant oil changing and breakdowns I run my car on the first line temp gauge coolant beautiful !!! oil lasts ages !!!! fans on always !!! mechanic broke because of me do yourself your car your pocket , the environment an Favour take out that RUBBISH THERMOSTAT UNLESS YOU LIVE IN ALASKA !!!!! LOL

5 people found this helpful.
90

also water pump stressed from pushing water which is blocked , bad dangerous pressures blow hot water in your face , hoses pop , oil black from extreme temps thermostats are BAD!!!!!TAKE THEM OUT I DO my car runs for miles I could drive 5000 ks dont need stop only fuel up!!! car just warm not chicken cooking carbon black SOOT LOL THERMOSTATS ARE BAD!!!!

2 people found this helpful.
90

Id love to do some sort of endurance test with any hero mechanic engineer one day next day cant spell it !! how long I can run an old bomb of a car without an thermostat VS he can use a new car even running with his heroic know it all hero engineer thermostat LOLI know whicjh car would go further !!!! Id love it PLEASE !!!!!

2 people found this helpful.
100

I've seen numerous used 2000-04 Jeep GC's running no fan clutch, or mechanical fan; I6 & V8 both. Even seen youtube repair videos and again no mechanical fans? Apparently, only the electric fan. I would think that might save some airplane noise & save gas but it's asking for overheating. Unless, of course, they have installed a 165 deg thermostat or none at all! YIKES! 1) ALWAYS run a thermostat unless you don't care about heat in the winter! A 195 deg thermostat is probably what your engine computer is maximized for so if you don't care about gas costs then the 195 is the way to go. 2) The Coolant Temp Sensor only tells your gauge & computer what the coolant temp is. it's generally not gonna' fix a boiling or overheating problem. 3) Flush & Change out your coolant every couple years to keep flow problems at bay. When you do this make sure to run your engine for at least 20 mins (or until the bubbles stop coming to the top of the radiator neck) with the radiator cap off. The idea is to bleed any air from the system. DO NOT REMOVE THE CAP with a Hot engine. Do this from dead cold. Air in the system can cause problems & false Hot Readings on your Dash Gauge. 4) Flushing the Heater Core is also a good idea and not difficult for an experienced DIY'er of the Jeep GC I6, can't advise on the V8. 5) Check your fan clutch with the engine off and cold. Grab the mechanical fan and try to spin it either direction. If it free wheels easily or doesn't stop within 1-2 turns replace the fan clutch. Using the Murray 2878 Clutch is the best. The clutch should be hard to spin and stop quickly. Once it's warm or at highway speed it kicks out in favor of natural air flow. The stock 7 blade fan is OK, but there used to be an OEM 10 Blade but they are hard to find now. Can't advise on the Dorman 11 Blade plastic fan but may save a bit of fuel. 6) Check your relay fuses. pre-2004 they are behind the headlight and hard to get at. Look those up on YouTube. 2004 and newer are in the fuseblock near the battery (2004). If you have a Multi-Meter Tester (Harbor Freight less than $10) you can find YouTube videos to tell if your relays are good or not. 7) Check your Radiator fan shroud. Is it broken or cracked? If so, replace it. You need a full shroud to allow the mechanical fan to pull max air flow thru it at all speeds, especially idle. 8) Electric Fan Assy; Check to make sure it's not frozen or have broken blades. Check the electrical connections. Check the Wiring. Is it broken or melted? Is the insulation cracked or exposed? Check the Low/High Functions. Again, YouTube videos abound. 9) Check your Coolant? Coolant testers are less than $5. If your mix is incorrect, (too much water your Boil temp will be much lower than the correct mix. Once you get it right always top off as needed with 50/50 premix. 10 Replace / Test your Radiator Cap. probably easiest to just replace. 11) Is your serpentine belt slipping? Don't chince on these! I always use Goodyear or Continental Gatorbacks. Smooth, quiet, strong. 12) Check your water pump. Maybe the internal blades are shot. Check to see if a Non A/C water pump is available. They move more coolant than an A/C pump. Lastly, consider a FlowKooler pump. They flow 25% more coolant at idle & low rpm's. They cost double a regular WP but it beats the more expensive problems from serious overheating issues. Just some random thoughts & tips at where to look.

10 people found this helpful.
30

I’ve replace radiator fan twice .. thermostat .. temperature sensor and relay .. now I’m noticing that the relay connector it’s some how burnt .... somebody knows why ???? (( love to solve the problem without the clutch fan ))

3 people found this helpful.

I am having the same issue now in the warmer temps. I remember one time replacing the radiator cap and it worked. I know it sounds stupid but I'm telling the TRUTH!!! Jeep Cherokee xj Sport 97.

Just some food for thought but as these older Jeeps (mine is a 94') just keeps on plugging along and are just plain solid vehicles with very affordable maintenance one of the things going back to the radiator is time. Over time the core begins to plug up and the cooling fin disintegrate. I put in an aluminum radiator and a high capacity water pump. Huge difference. Used to always run mid scale on the gauge and if I had to climb even the slightest grade the gauge would just continue to climb. Now 1/4 scale on the gauge is normal and 1 small hash line above is under load. Over the net $200 delivered for the radiator and $80 delivered for the pump...Worked for me. PS Change your thermostat if you have not already and except for hoses you're good for another 200k. The pics are the original radiator with 196k on it.

10

2007 jeep grand cherokee fan not working even with new fan, new fuses. can't find the relay. looked under the passenger headlight bumper not there. hellllp

1 people found this helpful.

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