WJCO's Build Thread, 1999 WJ

Of course the water pump didn't fix it. Doing the same thing. But here's what I did find out: I highly doubt it's the radiator because with ac off, everything is fine. When I turn the AC on, fan works normally and ac cools, and the compressor stays running without cycling. As soon as temps start climbing, the ac starts blowing warm, and the compressor starts cycling like every five seconds. So today, when I got home while it was acting up, I put water all over the condenser. Immediately, all symptoms went away, everything was perfect.

So I'm thinking the ac high side pressure is too high. The compressor is getting shut off in order to protect it, then when pressures drop, the compressor comes on again, and this cycle repeats. Now I just need to find out why. It's hard for me to believe that it's an internal restriction because if it's even ten degrees cooler outside, ac works fine. So I'm back to stage 1 thinking there is external restriction even though I've cleaned this thing 3 times. And this whole problem started after a bunch of deep water crossings.
 
Damn sounds like an absolute pain in the tailpipe, best of luck sorting it!

I need to work out some issues with mine soon too, on a trip last weekend on mountain roads she got to 3/4 on the temp guage which was a worry. Cooled right down as soon as I started headed down hill and turned the AC off though.

Might be time for the hood louver install, the guy said it runs hot cause of the cam he had in it, but need to get the full list of mods so I can suss it out still.

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Makes my WJ trouble sound trivial. I hope you get this all sorted out. It sounds like you're on the right track.
 
notnalc68 said:
This whole issue stinks. I hope you get it figured out.


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Me too.

WJIN4LO said:
Damn sounds like an absolute pain in the tailpipe, best of luck sorting it!

I need to work out some issues with mine soon too, on a trip last weekend on mountain roads she got to 3/4 on the temp guage which was a worry. Cooled right down as soon as I started headed down hill and turned the AC off though.

Might be time for the hood louver install, the guy said it runs hot cause of the cam he had in it, but need to get the full list of mods so I can suss it out still.

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Good luck. Mine started that way. Under load, it started rising. When coasting, no issues. Now I really noticed at low speeds or stops.

Stotch said:
Makes my WJ trouble sound trivial. I hope you get this all sorted out. It sounds like you're on the right track.
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I hope so.

gyoja75 said:
Sorry for chiming in so late, but a friend had the same issue and a chemical radiator flush solved the problem.


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Thanks for the info. I will likely try that next.



So for the last hour, I used my copper pipe tool and cleaned the condenser once again. This time I went slower. I also noticed the bottom four inches of the condenser had a ton of bent fins. I used a pick and straightened all of them. I noticed these little black flakes, almost like wood chips, stuck in the fins. Turns out it was paint. The condenser is painted black and the lower rows are all coming off. It looks like they came off from corrosion or a chemical reaction though. Upper part of condenser is fine. So I spent a lot of time cleaning that.Tomorrow I'll know if this is the issue.
 
WJCO said:
Me too.



Good luck. Mine started that way. Under load, it started rising. When coasting, no issues. Now I really noticed at low speeds or stops.



I hope so.



Thanks for the info. I will likely try that next.



So for the last hour, I used my copper pipe tool and cleaned the condenser once again. This time I went slower. I also noticed the bottom four inches of the condenser had a ton of bent fins. I used a pick and straightened all of them. I noticed these little black flakes, almost like wood chips, stuck in the fins. Turns out it was paint. The condenser is painted black and the lower rows are all coming off. It looks like they came off from corrosion or a chemical reaction though. Upper part of condenser is fine. So I spent a lot of time cleaning that.Tomorrow I'll know if this is the issue.
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Mine seems to be only under load when 100 outside and up steep mountain hills for extended periods, fingers crossed. Do you have any idea how hot 3/4 on the guage actually might be?

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WJIN4LO said:
Mine seems to be only under load when 100 outside and up steep mountain hills for extended periods, fingers crossed. Do you have any idea how hot 3/4 on the guage actually might be?

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I'm guessing around 230-235. Your high speed cooling fan should kick on 218. But even when mine does, if AC is on the temps don't drop. You also may have a whole different type of fan system, the WJs had a few different ones, one is even hydraulic and uses power steering fluid.

I end up turning AC off, turning heater on full blast and rolling down windows. Temps drop in a few seconds. Then I turn the AC back on and the cycle continues.
 
Kind of off topic on this one... How much of your front inner fender did you keep when you trimmed the front bumper? Did you have issues with the tires hitting the fog lights in the front?
 
Stotch said:
Kind of off topic on this one... How much of your front inner fender did you keep when you trimmed the front bumper? Did you have issues with the tires hitting the fog lights in the front?
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I'll take some pictures shortly of how I trimmed the bumper. With 32s, no rubbing there. When I went to 33s, I hit only the LF foglight and only backing down the driveway curb when fully turned to the right, however, since I installed the ProRock, that issue is gone. Different steering axis on the knuckle is my guess. As far as inner liners, they are all removed. I don't have them at all.
 
Stotch said:
Kind of off topic on this one... How much of your front inner fender did you keep when you trimmed the front bumper? Did you have issues with the tires hitting the fog lights in the front?
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Here's some pics of how I cut my bumper. I also re-located the washer reservoir. With your 31s, I doubt you'll have to worry about messing with that.


DSC06769.jpg

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DSC06776.JPG
 
WJCO said:
Here's some pics of how I cut my bumper. I also re-located the washer reservoir. With your 31s, I doubt you'll have to worry about messing with that.

View attachment 273720
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I just realized you have different stock fog lights than I do... maybe that's why mine seem closer than yours.

fogLight.jpg

I'll get a look from the inside without the inner fender later...

(and stop cluttering up your build thread lol)
 
Stotch said:
How long do you think that pine cone has been hanging out :cheesy:
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I have no idea, lol. As much as I'm working on this thing, I'm surprised that I just noticed it.

Stotch said:
I just realized you have different stock fog lights than I do... maybe that's why mine seem closer than yours.

I'll get a look from the inside without the inner fender later...

(and stop cluttering up your build thread lol)
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I'm curious to see if your lights are deeper as well. Let me know. Don't worry about posting on the build thread here, no big deal to me.
 
WJCO said:
I'm guessing around 230-235. Your high speed cooling fan should kick on 218. But even when mine does, if AC is on the temps don't drop. You also may have a whole different type of fan system, the WJs had a few different ones, one is even hydraulic and uses power steering fluid.

I end up turning AC off, turning heater on full blast and rolling down windows. Temps drop in a few seconds. Then I turn the AC back on and the cycle continues.
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Thanks for that!

Yeah I don't have the stock fan I have an electric fan in mine.

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It's still doing it, but, it's a ton slower to act up. I can live with it, but it wasn't doing it last year, so I still want to fix it. I'm going to try a flush first. Then, if that doesn't work, I will buy a set of ac gauges and go from there. I think the two are related somehow.
 
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