should I be worried/ thermo temp??

[meep]

OK - 93 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 229,000 miles. 4.0 I6.

I'm working through the bugs of this daily driver. Tried Maxlife 10-30, smoked a moderate amount, added Vis thickener, isn't as bad.

Did a drain/fill maxlife Dex III, trans shifts strong. It's the AW4. Nice trans.

Topped off front diff, put valv blend in rear. Rear end rumbles just a touch, but not bad.

It may lose 2 drops oil/night on the driveway. not bad at all.

Coolant... costs me more than oil. Looks to be coming from the thermostat housing at a refill-jug-weekly rate. Now, I've purchased a 195F (oem temp) t-stat and housing (housing is known to corrode badly).

Here's my Q: on one occasion I thought I saw a drop of coolant at the back of the engine. IF there's a history of freeze plug leaks, which that might suggest, maybe I should drop in a cooler (180F) stat to lower pressures and buy me some time. But I can't see, don't have access, and am new to these engines.

Thoughts on t-stat?

Also, it's tucked immediately behind the fan, and below the shroud. Any tricks to shroud removal for t-stat access?

Thanks!!

Mike

 

[Quest]

dropping the thermostat temperature/pressure in hopes of eliminating certain leak problem is not the "proper" way to do, and it's no better than dumping a can of bar's leak into the rad.

Have a rad shop to perform proper leak test/pressure test to determine it's status before you resort to something drastic.