Power Steering Cooler Relocation as a Baffle to Improve Airflow

What is the air flow issue?

While searching for a solution to our overheating problem, the great folks over at Race Louvers informed us of a surprising problem. After air passes through the JK grill, much of it is free to escape below the radiator and not through the radiator as it should. The reason for this is a lack of shroud or baffle below the radiator, and this is easily solved with a little creativity. Check out the wind tunnel testing they did on the JK here - specifically the image on page 6 demonstrating this issue quite clearly.

Our problem

In our case, the problem was a little bigger. We have a full PSC power steering cooler installed as specified in the instructions. This puts it above the lower grill support bar and makes the cooler a bit of an obstruction to air flow to the lower third of the radiator. This hurdle ultimately became an asset when we realized it could easily be relocated to below the grill support. After a bit of fooling around with position, we pushed it down an additional two inches with some spacers assembled from hardware store parts. The PSC cooler is now about even with the bottom of the radiator, and forms a fairly close fitting baffle from radiator to winch. In the photos below you can see the old location vs the new:

Your solution

Now this may be just the thing you need to solve a persistent heat issue if you've got the same cooler installed, but if not - other options may need to be explored. When we first learned of this flow problem we thought of a few ways to possibly add a baffle below the radiator using plastic, or even aluminum. It wasn't until we pulled the grill and looked at things further that we realized not only was the PSC cooler blocking a fair bit of flow, but it could be used to our advantage as a baffle in a lower position. While your solution may not be the same, with a little ingenuity, you can easily find a way to keep the high pressure air from escaping out the bottom. Here's a few more pics of ours in an attempt to provide you with as much information as possible... Kind of tough photographing something this sandwiched in there, but here they are:

Final Thoughts

I would say this is likely the most effective mod we did to preventing high engine temps at higher speeds on the freeway (70-85 mph cruising) followed by the Hood Vents in 2nd place, and the upgraded radiator in 3rd. At lower vehicle speeds, changing the radiator fan control set points was by far the most effective mod. With all the changes working together, our JK now lives happily around 212° F with some longer periods of around 216° while climbing grades or towing, and an occasional spike of up to 222° F.