The Mission, The Success.

Hey all, Matt here again.

This is going to be about the last couple of weeks I have spent on the XJ and what Dylan and I did. Was a decent couple of jobs and made the Jeep run 100% better. Firstly, as the previous post explains, I was having some major problems turning the car on and we suspected it was the NSS, so we took that apart and cleaned it then found out it was the starter motor so took that apart and cleaned that and everything was good from there on it.

From day dot of owning this XJ I have noticed some over heating problems, that isn't uncommon in these cars. It's almost mandatory to have a stock jeep XJ in aussie-land to over heat unless you have done some work on the cooling system. Anyway, I had a list of things I needed. I needed a new belt, a new fan shroud and a new water pump, thermostat housing and a thermostat (Mind you, it didn't even have a thermostat in it at all). One weekend me and Dylan got to it and took the whole front of the engine off and cleaned every bit we took off, every bolt, every nut, ever seal.. Everything.

In one day we got, new water pump on, new thermostat and hosing on, new belt and fan shroud, new top hose, flushed the radiator and put new coolant in it, cleaned and did a small repair on the clutch fan and put it all back together and working. After doing all that I was still aware I needed a new radiator but figure after doing all that I suspected it would run a lot cooler due to it being clean, flushed and new coolant but I was wrong...... (FUCKING CARS) and found my radiator now had a small whole in it. I ran down the road and got a bottle of that Stop Leak and a new bottle of coolant and flushed the radiator again and ran the stop leak through it with the coolant but had no luck.

Yesterday my new full 24 tube radiator came with copper tanks (Not those shitty plastic tanks that come stock) and me and Dylan got it installed yesterday afternoon, I took it for a drive after about 3 hours of topping it and running the car until the block or radiator had no air pockets and it drove perfect, never went close to over heating. I drove it to work today and found it got over 100Deg F (Should sit under or near 100) so I might have to give it a look when I get home tonight and make sure it is full, I almost might need to top it up with some coolant again.

Tonight I have got my Pop to get some Aero-Alloy (Aeroplane wing metal) and the screws / bolts they use to fit it and he has cut it to a perfect size and I ordered $11 plastic vents from eBay. We are going to cut my bonnet tonight and install the vents so that the hot air getting trapped under the hood will have a place to escape and hopefully make it a little cooler in the long run - One can hope.

Now, for the price.. I did everything listed here plus a couple of other things (Breaks, oil filter, spot lights (Small ones I mounted to the roof rack), etc) for all just under $500. I got a quoted price to do everything I did including labour and parts prices for $2, 600... Just attempt it your self first guys, a lot of the major stuff that happens is quite an easy fix.