bryweb

A magnet.... you know one of those that extend out.... or have a small round cylinder.... like this one from Harbor Freight (or try your local hardware store)

http://www.harborfreight.com/15-lb-c...ool-95933.html

How many miles are on the Jeep??? Its always a snowball effect, at that point do you put a Cam in to? Its a matter of how they look, how many miles, and your budget.

Bryan

JohnEP

OK. Time for me to go "all in" betting on my lower bearings, and just replacing the head with a TUPY. So here we go... See 3 photos below:

1) Lifting the old 0331 head out (straps and pipe):

2) Verifying the crack (look for the cracks above the 3 "x" marks I inserted):

3) Here's the deck view of the old head:

Now lets see if I can really put this all back together... Stay tuned.

JohnEP

JohnEP

Progress being made. Photos (OUT OF ORDER):

1) Gasket is cleaned off block.
3) (last photo) A better way to lift the head? Bowline knot used on strategic re-installed side-protruding bolts.
2) (middle photo) Yeah, it worked great. 3-man job. Dropped it right into the posts on the gasket first try.

I wish I had thought of this bolt/rope/pipe lifting method before I used the strap method (see post above) to remove the head. Would have prevented a lot of gasket crud from falling down into the engine. I'll keep you posted.

Your comments/critique appreciated.
JohnEP

iwheeljeepxj

300 miles short of a 100k. on an 01 cherokee. and guess what. my buddy got's a cracked head. he's kind of tight on money. has anyone purchased the j&c head? if so got anything to say about it? want both of the good and bad. how long have u had it on there? i know theirs a lot of people who have used the cch and the ach heads but haven't herd of head anything about the j&c.

I'm also surprised there isn't a write-up on this yet. 90% sure the crack is in between coolant and exhaust. anything you guys recommend replacing while we're in there this deep? some helpful pointers will help also.

bryweb

Depends on how long it has been leaking, but I have replaced heads before only to have crap oil pressure once its warm because the "Cam Bearings" were shot, had to pull it apart again and replace them.....

Bryan

jeepxj412

I have a spare 0630 head for sale if your interested only had 86k on it PM me if your interested

concealer404

198k miles on my 0331 head and counting. Fingers crossed. Shows no signs of letting up. 20psi hot idle, not using any coolant, no weird smoke, good power, hot oil pressure at cruising speeds in the 40-50psi area.

bigbadon

Yup cam bearings usually go first. The reason: coolant drains directly onto them from the drain holes in the head. Lifter bores in the path of coolant draining into them take a beating too. Usually it is cam bearing #3. Somewhat good news is it will run for a long with a washed out cam bearing and 3 to 5 psi. Mine has ran for over 3 years and still counting.

bryweb

An 0630 head will not work unless you use a header, the stock exhaust manifold is smaller than the ports on an 0630 head compared to the 0331 stock head... I have done (3) 96 motor swaps into a 2000 Cherokee and can confirm this as fact - at least if you are running the twin precat setup as your exhaust, I have used both Rugged Ridge Stainless header as well as Ebay Stainless header with no problems.

Bryan.

262markm

i have a 00 xj sport with 140k with unexplained coolant loss milkly under the cap and i have done a cooling system pressure test and it doesnt drop down over the course of a hour it takes about a week for the coolant overflow to go dry no check engine light no rough idling other than when its super cold out kinda sounds like a diesel for a min or too
oil pressure is 40 at crusing speeds

none the less i ordered a new head from odessa cylinder head hopefully it cures the problem

CrawdadSlim

There's nothing to worry about as long as you properly maintain your motor and cooling. The heads that crack are on abused and neglected motors that have been overheated. I've got 120k on mine and I'm on top of my maintenance do I worry one bit? No sir. And hey if by a fluke it were to happen it's just an excuse to upgrade.

FTHESHACK

I also stay on top of my 01's maintenance, so I don't worry at all about having the 0331 head. If it cracks, it won't be from neglect, and I will make the necessary repairs to get it back on the road again.

Roadrunnr72

2000 XJ 4.0 with about 190,000. Got it from my son with a broken piston skirt. In the middle of a rebuild now. Wasn't until I had it pulled apart, and an engine kit on the way that I started reading about the 0331 heads. Went and checked, and sure enough. My son had ran it hot, at least 3 times, within a few hours. It got hot, they stopped, let it cool, added water, cleaned the Rad fins, drove again, ran hot, after the third time, they removed the t-stat, then replaced the stopped up radiator. He drove it for another couple of months before the piston broke, and that happened about 2 weeks after changing the oil.

No cracked head, (knocking on wood)!! I have checked it several times, and when I first pulled the valve cover, everything looked great, no water/antifreeze. We'll see, and I'll keep an eye on the coolant level and oil......RR

bryweb

I had one on a 2001 WJ 4.0L head magna fluxed and I think it was still cracked, after putting the motor all together with in the first 300 miles I had the white froth around the oil fill cap. It was then that I swore off 2000-01 4.0L motors, I always swap out for something older and just run a header, now I even get rid of the coil rail and run a Caravan/Viper Coil Pack and wires......

Not mine but a picture of the one I based mine off of.;

Kalali

That's not necessarily true. You can reduce the likelihood of the head cracking by making sure you never overheat but the head can still crack. On my 2000 XJ the temp gauge never went over the 210 mark but I still ended up with a cracked head. My only clue was unexplained loss of coolant.