zachjen

2000 jeep cherokee 134,000 miles

It was driven until it died on the side of the road. When I got to it it had a hole in the lower radiator hose and had no coolant in it. towed it home. When it was started up it to take on and off the trailer it ran rough. found a hole in the lower radiator hose. changed it filled it with coolant. started it up and heard a loud bang come from the engine compartment and quickly shut it down. It immediately started leaking coolant from the water pump in a slow steady stream that quit after about five minutes. Had a guy come take a look at it. Started it up and it was again running rough but no loud bang this time. He opened the drain plug and coolant came of the engine. He told me he thought it was a blown head gasket. Took the head to a machine shop to get tested and cleaned up. They called and said it had several cracks. Now my concern is what if the block is also cracked. Right now I can walk away from it only being $200 into it. Otherwise I put into it $1000 in the end and find out after it is all put together that there is something wrong with the block.

My question to you guys is what would you do? What are the chances that something is wrong with the block? Just wanted some opinions to help me make my decision.

Thanks

**** I went ahead and replaced the head put all back together and everything has worked out great. Thank you all for our input. It helped. A week after I got it put back together I got a check engine light going down the freeway and my heart sank. Luckily all it was was a TPS.

MWildmann

If it was driven to the point that it died on the side of the road, then the crank bearings and what-not on the lower end of the engine are toast too. The load bang you heard was likely the seized bearings letting go on start up? Seems to me they'd heat up due to the coolant in the oil, seize, then cool and shrink and loosen back up again. It's going to need a new block to go along with a new head. You might want to throw a used motor from an 01 with the 0630 or 0331-TUPY casting number on the head in it.

Moncheche

New block? Probably not . Rod and crank bearings? New cam? Some resurfacing? Yes.
New lifters? Yes. It starts adding up.

There's a slight chance you have one or more cracked piston skirts.
Add the water pump, thermostat, hoses, well... Car ownership isn't cheap.

You have only $200 into a vehicle that has a defective head that very likely toasted much of your engine. I'd walk. This is coming from a guy who rebuilt his 00' after the 0331 head wrecked my bearings. There are other jeeps out there.

Firestorm500

"There are other jeeps out there."

Yeah. Avoid the ones with the 0331 head.

Radi

If the rest of the jeep is pristine, I might consider dropping in a different engine. $200 + new engine is still in comfortable territory if the rest of the Jeep is in good shape.

Gee oh Dee

This.

And yor own personal mechanical ability can play a pretty good role as well.