Hi, my 08 2d wrangler sport has been overheating the last few weeks in traffic and slow moving streets/parking lots and stand stills. On the highway or speeds 40+ it is fine. I noticed that when i parked one day and the temperature gauge was almost maxed out that the fan was not spinning behind the radiator. I also have been mudding a few times semi-recently. I sprayed my radiator and what not with a good amount of water and washed it, but have not flushed it (don't know how exactly). The fan spins when i manually spin it, so nothing is blocking it. The jeep will get to extremely hot temperatures, the temp light coming on and flashing and chiming occurring. I thought it might be the thermostat but I'm not sure where that is located (can't find a forum regarding it exactly). Any help at all is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Remove the fan and its bracket. Gently flush the radiator from the back.

Flush the A/C condenser again, too, if you have one.

It's pretty easy to not flush enough.

 

It's probably your fan, their known for going out if u soak them. Mine did the same thing on the trail once but after drying out worked fine since. I just try to take it easy though the water holes now.

 

A quick way to check the fan is to turn on the AC system. The fan should start almost as soon as you turn on the AC system. If it doesn't turn on then it is bad. If it does turn on then you would have a problem with the normal control circuit for the fan. I think it has what is known as a solid state relay which could have gone bad, or the fan itself could be bad.

 

There is a mechanical relay in the fuse box for the radiator fan.
The relay gets coil power from the circuit board in the TIPM. A problem could be there, too.

 

Glad to hear they use a real relay instead of those solidstate ones, they just don't hold up as well as the old mechanical ones do.

 

Awesome help guys, I think it might have worked. I'll find out tomorrow; I didn't pull off my fan b/c I didn't have the time to figure out how/to do it period tonight. But I did wash my radiator real well front and back and saw the fan kick on when i turned on the A/C, so that's a good sign. I'm going to let me radiator dry out and what not and see how it runs on the way to work in the morning and post when I get back. Hopefully it was just as simple as re-rinsing it! I'll keep you guys updated, thanks again.

P.S.
The A/C rarely worked, so IDK if that had anything to do with it (since it started over heating) but the a/c ran when i let it sit just now, so I may have knocked out two birds with one stone, who knows?