JL hood vent correction DIY -- vents now open & functional

[mark thieda]

The nonfunctional hood vents really bugged me. The 3.6 engine compartment gets very hot and needs a working hood vent. Here’s a DIY project that I did at $ 0 cost. I cut open the insulation hood cover around the vents to discover Jeep engineering had a drain hole just dumping onto the back side of hood insulation and going nowhere. I cut the three vent area’s open with a vibrating trim saw. Glued and taped insulation cover to give it a trimmed out look. To solve the future water intrusion problem into engine compartment made clear plexiglass covers for the exterior. Hope this tip helps with your overheating JL. I tow a 3,500 lbs. trailer and can’t wait to try this out this summer.

 

[Caliguy]

I thought about this mod. Then I realized the insulation panel underneath actually has water forging properties to move water to the edges.

this nod slows water straight into the engine compartment

 

[Reinen]

The engine compartment isn't watertight. Water gets splashed up from the tires and also comes right into the grille, through the radiator and gets sent everywhere by the fans. I wouldn't worry much about the vents letting in water.

But FYI, this has been tested by another user. I can't seem to find it right now but the TL;DR is that It doesn't help at all while driving. However it helps tremendously once you park.

I had a big heat soak problem when I parked in a sunny lot in 108F desert heat for 15-20 minutes and got back on the road. Codes thrown left & right, went into limp mode. Everything under the hood was hot to the touch, even things that don't generate heat. The windshield washer fluid tank was almost too hot to touch. Had to find shade and sit with the hood open for 20 minutes to let everything cool off. Then all was well again.

That hasn't happened again since I opened up the hood vents and gave engine heat an easy way to escape while parked. That's the primary function of opening the vents.

 

[Megawatt]

I live in the desert where the asphalt melts in the Summer and it stays 100F at midnight.

My JKU doesn’t have engine compartment side vents like the JLUR has. We have hundreds of wranglers in Vegas and in 19 years of living here haven’t seen any overheated Wranglers on the side of the road with the hood up.

And the Arizona guys are always a couple degrees hotter than us.

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