Is it supposed to be this hot?
- Thread starter Ant's JK
- Start date
OverlanderJK
Resident Smartass
Depends how long it was running before that but the 2012's and up run really hot under the hood.
webejeepin
Member
Same on my 08. It's amazing when I park it in the garage how much it warms that space up, even in the dead of winter!
GuillaumeC91
New member
I don't know about the 3.8L, but the 3.6L runs pretty darn hot. Every time it rains it gets me when I see steam coming out of the hood when stopped at a light 
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GCM 2
New member
Going to be Captain Obvious here....
You guys do know that once you shut the vehicle off that the circulation of coolant through the motor and radiator, and the circulation of trans fluid to its cooler stops. Therefore with no ability to effectively dissipate heat, the engine and trans temperatures begin to climb for several minutes, and if you had an analog or digital dash gauge that shows actual numbers you would see the temps steadily climb way to levels that you might only see under extreme conditions of a normal functioning cooling system. In fact, have you not noticed that after parking any vehicle and turning the motor off that the electric fan to the radiator (if it is not already running) will turn on several seconds, or in some cases 10, 15, 30 seconds after the vehicle is off? As the temperatures rise once the motor is off, the thermostats sense this and kicks the fan on, but it is only cooling what fluid has settled into the radiator. Unless you are experiencing abnormally high temperatures while driving under normal conditions, there is nothing to worry about. I live in the desert where it regularly reaches 110+ in the summer, my jeep is overloaded with armor, large 1 ton axles, 40" tires, a tiny stock 3.8L motor and I have never had on episode of engine overheating. I did have to add an additional trans cooler and power steering cooler because of the 40" tires.
You guys do know that once you shut the vehicle off that the circulation of coolant through the motor and radiator, and the circulation of trans fluid to its cooler stops. Therefore with no ability to effectively dissipate heat, the engine and trans temperatures begin to climb for several minutes, and if you had an analog or digital dash gauge that shows actual numbers you would see the temps steadily climb way to levels that you might only see under extreme conditions of a normal functioning cooling system. In fact, have you not noticed that after parking any vehicle and turning the motor off that the electric fan to the radiator (if it is not already running) will turn on several seconds, or in some cases 10, 15, 30 seconds after the vehicle is off? As the temperatures rise once the motor is off, the thermostats sense this and kicks the fan on, but it is only cooling what fluid has settled into the radiator. Unless you are experiencing abnormally high temperatures while driving under normal conditions, there is nothing to worry about. I live in the desert where it regularly reaches 110+ in the summer, my jeep is overloaded with armor, large 1 ton axles, 40" tires, a tiny stock 3.8L motor and I have never had on episode of engine overheating. I did have to add an additional trans cooler and power steering cooler because of the 40" tires.
hogtyed
Member
:hot: Yeah, I'm not rear hip on cutting on my hood at this point. :hot: