After inspecting this thing over and over and over I have come to the conclusion that this head must have been replaced at least once before. I can not for the life of me find any markings that say anything other than 0331 on the head. I had done several leak down tests and found nothing. So now I await on the gaskets lifters and headbolts so I can begin reassenbly and get her back on the road.

 

I would not reuse that head until you take it to a machine shop and have it checked. The leak down test, as mentioned earier, is a place to start looking for a crack. It would only show up if it were a large crack in the cumbustion area, it will not however show a crack thats between the oil and coolant passages. This is why you need to take it to a professional and have it checked, otherwise there is a chace you'll have to do this again soon. Also, if you've had coolant in your oil for a length of time it is likely that your cam bearing are shot- they are usually the first to go and you won't know for sure unless you do a complete disassembly.

I'd have reservations about putting a 0331 head back on even if it weren't cracked... but that's just me.
'

 

And I'm confused, you said on Feburary 19th that you identified you had a cracked head but then on April 8th you said you don't have a cracked head. Could you clear this up for me?

Oh, and if you've actually been loosing coolant for a year since you bought it you need a completely rebuilt motor. Don't even fool with it anymore.

 

From what I could see when inspecting with the valve cover off it looked like there was a crack inbetween 3 and 4. After pulling the head off and doing a close inspection there was no crack. I have used a couple of different ways for testing the head and as far as I can tell the head has no sign of cracking. I guess its a case of mistaken identification. There was however a huge piece of the head gasket missing between 5 and 6. I have only been running water in the rad ever since the rad blew a tank. The oil looked good (except being dirty) when I drained it. I don't have access to a machine shop. Not one for 100 miles from where I am at. Im kind of at a stand still with all of this since I really don't have the time to spend sitting on it anymore. I am transfering for work and have a 1200 mile trip coming up.

 

I saw the pic of the head gasket and that "burn though" would cause the run issues you were having, but it will not cause coolant loss.

Can you post a pic of the top of the head between 3 & 4 where you thought you saw a crack (and is typically where the crack happens)?

 

How about these guys:
http://www.yellowbook.com/profile/sp...e&classid=5310

 

 

I talked to the guys at spencers. They said they could try and check it out but they are more into farm equipment and fabrication more than automotive. I understood that to mean they were not wanting my work. They are not much in the machine shop area as much as they are in the welding and fabrication. The closest automotive machine shop is in casper at napa. Even the napa out here closed everything down except the brake lathe

 

My thought process...be it flawed if anything...is that with running straight water in the cooling system, I would have had evaporation out the overflow bottle which would account for the loss of fluid. Maybe its just my alter ego trying to keep from replacing a motor but it sounds good in my head.

 

Gasket set has arrived.
Head bolts here tomorrow or Friday
No arrival date on lifters exept sometime this week.

Praying this Jeep is as tough and bulitproof as Jeep has talked them up to be.

 

Injectors soaking in sea foam. I think I will leave them overnight. The lifters are bathing in oil. I noticed a slight difference in the overall heigth of the new lifters compared to the old lifters. The measurements from the cam side to the cup that the pushrod sits in seems to be the same length. I will know more during assembly tomorrow. Gotta get this thing runnin. Texas wants me there asap.

 

Well it is all back together. It starts and runs but it still have a knock from the top end so I guess there is more damage in the head than I thought. Oh well. At least I know now.

Guess its time for a new valve train.

 

Well I guess once a jeep a holic always a jeep a holic. I have decided that even if I have to swap motors I am going to get this beast back on the road. To be continued...from south central texas.

 

wait, wait. You didnt have milkshake oil, only some top end valve noise and you removed the head expecting the worse? Not all 0331 heads crack, its just more prone then other heads. Gf's 01 is at 225K miles now with no issues but my 95 head crack at 195K

If it aint broke, dont fix it

 

Nope...No milkshake oil at all. It was all still brown/black when I drained it. I had it overheat on me once and from that point on it had a miss. I pulled the head, replaced the lifters, and put it back together. It still is a bit off but it starts right up. It just has a noise in the top end. When I get it down to Texas, where I have access to more things, I am going to pull it down. Seems I may have something in the valve train bent. I may just go ahead and put the upgrade head on since that will give me new everything. The bottom end looks clean. Just the noise in the top end.
Time will tell on this one, but even if I have to swap the motor...I will get this thing back runnings sooner or later.