Off-Road Pages: Readout Meaning?

[Jeep4Life0112]

Hello Jeep Community,

This past week I noticed that off-road pages has finally appeared on my Rubicon. I am wondering if someone can provide an overview for the importance of monitoring coolant temp, oil temp, trans temp, oil pressure, and battery voltage while off-roading? Being new to all of this I am curious to the value of this heads-up display. What are desirable operating ranges on each of these? Any instruction the community can provide is much appreciated.

Cheers!

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[Jeepsterfreak]

Temps are important for any driving conditions but especially during off-roading. When off-roading you are likely to work the engine and tranny hard while traveling very slowly allowing things to heat up more than normal because of reduced air flow to help dissipate heat. Also depends on ambient temps. Think desert off roading in the summer when it’s 100 degrees. If temps start getting too high, then time to take a break to allow the vehicle to cool down.

 

[Jeep4Life0112]

Thanks for the info. Doing research it seems like battery voltage may be important for when using accessories like a winch. Looks like I’ll need to keep reading up on th topic to figure each of these out.

 

[Sheepjeep]

As far as keeping an eye on gauges off-road it's good to notice patterns. On rocks and mud you are working the engine harder but less air flow across the radiator and engine thus the cooling system is less effective. Ideally everything should be around what you typically see on road conditions but may creep up slowly, and if things keep creeping up to the red lines then you know you either have to ease off and let it cool down our you have a fault in that system.

Oil pressure is important because it will tell you if your engine is getting oil or not.

Battery voltage is more the alternator output not the current charge level of the battery, during normal road driving if you watch the battery voltage it will dance. This is because the charge system fluctuating based on engine speed and current draw. When using a winch just keep the Jeep running and you should be fine.

 

[Jeep4Life0112]

This is great info. Thanks for sharing! I can see how being in 2-3 feet of mud would reduce airflow to the cooling system.

 

[TIDALWAVE]

It's not just the 2-3 ft of mud you are plowing through that will overheat the engine. It's having the mud fill and dry in the radiator! You don't want to use a pressure washer to clean out the radiator...the high pressure will bend over the fins permanently. You should use a regular garden hose to soak and soften the dried mud so that normal water pressure will wash out the mud.

 

[mbuck45]

It's not just the 2-3 ft of mud you are plowing through that will overheat the engine. It's having the mud fill and dry in the radiator! You don't want to use a pressure washer to clean out the radiator...the high pressure will bend over the fins permanently. You should use a regular garden hose to soak and soften the dried mud so that normal water pressure will wash out the mud.

Great info guys!

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