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Stock XJ Cherokee Tech. All XJ Non-modified/stock questions go hereXJ (84-01)
All OEM related XJ specific tech. Examples, no start, general maintenance or anything that's stock.
While your at it fix those two ground wires...their looking a little frayed.
yeah almost all of the wires and connectors are bad on this bad boy, exposed copper everywhere. Figured I’d re do almost all of them while she is stripped down.
Alright so i have ordered my clear water cylinder head, also doing felpro gasket kit, new lifters, oil pan gasket, rear main seal, new drain plug, im also considering doing a new oil pump. Do you think thats necessary? Im kind of just wanting to do it now since she is at 152k miles. Other than the oil pump should I do anything to clean all of the gunky oil off of the lifter area and how do I clean the top of the pistons?
Revived Clearwater cylinder head today and I am excited, the new head is clearly better construction than the old. Oil pump comes in Tomorrow and my buddy is coming over to help me get her running. We’ll see what happens. Just a bit of advice for anyone taking this on with little experience or little tool budget. DO NOT trust Harbor freight torque wrenches. I almost broke a bolt off trusting it. Would not click and it was brand new. I bought a Husky 3/8 torque and the second I used it I felt a difference. I know $12 compared to $85 is a huge difference but the 3/8th torque is my main tool for all of my vehicle bolts. So it comes in handy, I will be using a 1/2 for the head bolts since they take I believe 110 pounds and I want more leverage.
If you are going to use a high volume pump make sure it clears the block or it won't seal and you will lose pressure , they will hit on some 2000 & 2001 blocks
Year: 1998 Classic (I'll get it running soon....) and 02 Grand
Model: Cherokee (XJ)
Engine: 4.0
Originally Posted by DallasOverlandXJ
Damn, I'm supposed to go look at a 2001 with 129K tomorrow. The cracked head thing makes me real nervous.
They don't seem to crack unless they are overheated. Take good care of the cooling system. The good news is, that's not hard to do. You can replace the radiator, hoses, t-stat, water pump, the whole shebang, for about $200.
Last edited by BlueRidgeMark; 05-29-2020 at 06:37 AM.
Damn, I'm supposed to go look at a 2001 with 129K tomorrow. The cracked head thing makes me real nervous.
See if it in fact has the 0331 head. It may have been changed out already.
Bring a flashlight and look down the oil filler cap opening and look for signs of antifreeze contamination. Check oil and antifreeze as well. If oil is brand new sparkly be suspicious. Watch/smell the rear exhaust for signs of burning antifreeze on start-up (not plain moisture, anti-freeze).
You may want to insist on pulling the valve cover to inspect the top of the head before the deal goes through.
Pull the spark plugs and see if 3 and 4 are burning cleaner than the others.
Dave51 is correct. Mine is also a 2000 model but looking into the valve cover I see no 0331 stamped and unable to find 0331 stamped on the outside of head also in that one spot. Appears the previous owners may have replaced the head as the fuel injector wire are numbered and the exhaust gaskets also looked new.
I could of sworn 3 years ago when I had my valve cover off it was either a 06** 0r 07** number I saw but I still have the coil pack and its not rigged up with homemade brackets for mounting. I'm dying now to remove valve cover again just to see. But yea just don't take it for granite it still has the 0331 head without looking.
Damn, I'm supposed to go look at a 2001 with 129K tomorrow. The cracked head thing makes me real nervous.
So I had no idea what I was looking for when I checked mine out and the guy very clearly sold me this knowing it was cracked. Here are some tips that if I would have known would have saved me from doing all of this.
1- if they do a fresh oil change right before they’re probably hiding something or trying to hide a noise.
2- tell them you want the engine cold when you arrive so you can check coolant levels. If coolant is low in the radiator or resivour just run bro. Mine was hot when I arrived and I never checked but when I got home and checked everything was extremely low.
3- Definetly open then oil cap while the engine is running and look down and back a little bit, I could literally see a stream of green fluid inside of the valve cover. Also run if you see that because it’s most definetly cracked.
4- bro don’t buy a 2000-2001, I will never buy this year again in my life, unless I get a sweet deal. It’s almost impossible for me to find aftermarket parts for this engine that don’t need to be modified. Plenty of headers for pre 2000, but all the ones for 2000-2001 need to be modified. And it also seems that almost nobody makes YouTube videos about these years. I know people will disagree but I’m telling you that from my experience with this Jeep so far, and that’s with me owning it 1.5 weeks and having only driven it 15 miles before having her ripped down in my garage that I will NEVER buy this year again. Thankfully it’s not my daily driver so I can take the time to take her apart in my garage. Total cost so far is probably around $1600 for the cylinder head work.
$600 for new clear water cylinder head. The rest is gaskets and replacement parts and new tools I had to buy to take her apart.
If you do go with the 2000-2001 and you’re not mechanically inclined I would save up for the cost of getting the head replaced one day. I don’t trust that it just happens from over heating.
good luck man if you have more questions let me know I’ll try to help
I was just offered a 2001 Cherokee Sport with 46K original miles on it in absolutely pristine condition for $7000. If I had that kind of money, I would have bought it, knowing it had a defective head on it. My mechanic told me he had serviced this vehicle and inspected it every year since the woman who owned it had received it as a gift from her husband to use as a "winter lifeboat." No money was spared maintaining this jeep and it was kept active enough so it didn't deteriorate. THIS is the only kind of 2000-2001 I would buy. I settled for a 2000 that ran perfectly with 143K on it that had never been washed, judging from the condition of the body, for $700 to use as a back-up vehicle for my WJ. It needed brakes, tires, and a bit of frame welding.
I was just offered a 2001 Cherokee Sport with 46K original miles on it in absolutely pristine condition for $7000. If I had that kind of money, I would have bought it, knowing it had a defective head on it. My mechanic told me he had serviced this vehicle and inspected it every year since the woman who owned it had received it as a gift from her husband to use as a "winter lifeboat." No money was spared maintaining this jeep and it was kept active enough so it didn't deteriorate. THIS is the only kind of 2000-2001 I would buy. I settled for a 2000 that ran perfectly with 143K on it that had never been washed, judging from the condition of the body, for $700 to use as a back-up vehicle for my WJ. It needed brakes, tires, and a bit of frame welding.
yeah I can’t argue with that for $7k, I would honestly just replace that cylinder head as soon as I got it. Just so I know I wouldn’t get a surprise in the future. Jeez man here in CA I paid $5,000 for my 01 with 152k miles lifted and tires already. The guy definelty was selling it he had to of know the head was cracked or I got so unlucky it cracked the day of my test drive and I didn’t know what I was looking for at the time. Now after partially rebuilding my engine and braking a lot of the parts along the way I know for sure what to check next time.
Okay, one thing. The later model 02-05 0331 head is a "TUPY" head made in Brazil. This picture shows the markings. Note the "0331" at the top of the picture and the "TUPY" under the oil fill hole.
So it’s official, heard a ticking noise since I bought her 1.5 weeks ago and thought it was maybe lifters. Finally removed valve cover today and started her up and there was a constant flow of green. I don’t really know where to go from here, just spent $5k on her and I’m pretty sure they guy had to of known he only had her three months. Do I just replace the head and call it good? Or do I look into a new engine? Take it easy it’s my first Jeep and I didn’t know what I was looking for, I knew this year had a common head crack but the guy said it wasn’t cracked and I believed him. I messed up and I know it but now I need to know what to do next, anyone have a similar situation? Photos aren’t the best I know
did you know of the issue with 00 and 01 heads? or you a gambler?
Hey, give the guy a break! We can't all be know-it-alls about Jeeps! My first jeep was a 97 ZJ and I bought it right before joining this forum in 2010. Because not too many guys had 2000+ Grands then, I didn't hear about the problem which was just starting to appear in XJs, the forum section I wasn't following. By the time I needed a new Jeep, I couldn't find a nice ZJ, but got a real good deal on my WJ. At that time, I knew about the head problem, but it wasn't that big a deal for me as long as I watched it closely. When it cracked, I was ready for it. I could have not known about the head problem, and destroyed the engine like most people.
One thing I NEVER would have done is sell a Jeep with a known cracked head and not mentioned it in the deal. That's just not right, no matter how you look at it.
did you know of the issue with 00 and 01 heads? or you a gambler?
I knew of the issue but this is my first Jeep and I had no idea what to look for. Exhaust was fine oil looked fine. I didn’t know, trust me I’ve learned from this experience.
05-23-2020, 01:14 PM
