DCXJ

Not 100% certain, which is why it's at another shop right now getting a 2nd opinion. However, the tech at the last place showed me the crack with an inspection mirror and it looked fairly obvious to me that the coolant was bleeding out the block, not the head gasket.

I'll try to get a picture of it tonight if I have time after work.

DFlintstone

The 0331 head has a habit of cracking right in the middle. Sometimes you can see the crack through the oil filler. If you google 0331 head you will find plenty on that. Any Jeep can have gasket issues.

If you did try AlumaSeal, be prepared to wait a good while for it to work.

DCXJ

Well, I had it confirmed by the 2nd shop today: Definitely a crack in the block. That shop wants almost $7K to install a re-manufactured engine.

BTW, just to be clear: This is a hairline crack that is causing coolant to leak external to block, not into the head, cylinders or elsewhere.

At this point, I feel like I have nothing to lose by trying a sealing product. I have ordered the IronTite Ceramic Seal, as well as their Thoro flush and all-weather seal. The risk of ruining the cooling system on an already-doomed engine is greatly out-weighed by the reward of fixing a block with $50 worth of magic goop. Shoot, I'd be delighted if it fixes my $X,000 engine but ruins my $100 radiator...

For the record, I absolutely agree with the idea that replacing bad parts with good parts is the truly correct way to go and that any kind of liquid seal is a band-aid. However, considering that the bad part is an engine that will cost almost double the value of the Jeep to replace, I'll take my chances on the snake oil first...

Will keep you guys posted on how it turns out, hopefully I can find a sympathetic friend with a garage this weekend to run the sealing procedure.

ehall

If you can, connect the heater hoses together and bypass the core so you don't block it up

Since the leak is on the outside, you won't be able to use stuff that is heat-activated. It needs to be air-activated.

jeepnewbie44312

Why don't u just jb weld it if it's just a hairline crack I've heard people run cracked blocks with jb weld an it holds up for years

DCXJ

I was finally able to run the IronTite products through my engine over the weekend. To summarize:

• I think it fixed my block
• I am fairly certain it clogged my heater core
• My oil pressure is now reading completely differently and I don’t know what to think of it

I bought the three-bottle “kit” directly from IronTite that included their ThoroFlush, Ceramic Seal and All-Weather Seal. The work was done at my In-Law’s house in North Carolina, about 7 hours from where we live in Northern Virginia. I followed all directions verbatim, rough procedures as follows:

1. Drained coolant by removing LRH from Water Pump and removed thermostat
2. Poured ThoroFlush in Radiator, topped with water and ran engine 10 minutes
3. Drained coolant by removing LRH from Water Pump
4. Flushed cooling system with a garden hose using Prestone flush tee kit
5. Re-installed thermostat
6. Poured Ceramic Seal in Radiator, topped with water and drove XJ for +1 hour at a variety of speeds, including freeway
7. Drained coolant by removing LRH from Water Pump
8. Removed all cooling system hoses and thermostat + housing
9. Allowed engine to dry out for 18+ hours overnight with hood open and a shop fan blowing over the engine
10. Flushed heater core 2x in both directions (lots of green & brown gunk came out)
11. Re-assembled cooling system and filled with MOPAR HOAT coolant, distilled water and IronTite All-Weather Seal

To test it all out, I Drove the XJ for 45 minutes at a variety of speeds, including freeway and observed the following:

• No leakage detected during or after driving
• Heater blew extremely hot air, much hotter than before the flushing procedure
• Oil pressure at idle was much higher than before. Used to be 12 psi at idle when warm, increased to 25-30 psi at idle when warm after. Oil pressure at 75 MPH increased from 40-45 psi to 50 psi.
• Temp gauge registered consistently at 210 degrees

At this point I’m very happy, park the Jeep and have a celebratory beer (or seven). The XJ sat overnight, and then we drove from NC home to Northern VA after lunch the next day (yesterday). On the 350 mile trip home:

• No leakage observed overnight
• Oil pressure behaved as described above.
• Temp gauge behaved as described above.
• It was t-shirt weather when we left NC, so heat wasn’t necessary until the last few hours of the trip. When I turned it on around Richmond, the air coming out of the heater was cold and unresponsive to adjusting the temperature control.

All signs point towards the crack in the block being plugged, at least temporarily. Obviously I’ll be monitoring it closely for the next few weeks and will report back on whether it holds. I’m irritated that I have no heat, but more than happy to flush or replace a heater core than a whole engine. My guess is that the All-Weather Seal did it's magic while it sat overnight and plugged an already-narrow passage in the heater core. I’m also nervous about the radiator now, but probably won’t know if it’s a problem until we get hot weather here, which won’t be for a few more months. Again, better to replace a radiator than an engine.

I’m not sure what to think of my oil pressure changing. The readings don’t look bad, the engine runs great and the oil looks fine. However, I didn’t do anything that would have affected oil pressure (that I know of), so I have a general concern that something changed that I don’t understand. I will be watching it closely.

I share this with you as first-hand anecdotal evidence that IronTite, in some cases, may not be snake oil. Also, if anyone has any ideas about what’s going on with my oil pressure, I’m all ears.

DCXJ

Welp...spoke too soon. Was driving to BJJ practice on Monday night and didn't make it a mile before overheating. Pulled into a neighborhood, parked it on the street and watched it puke coolant just as I opened the door. The coolant came out the radiator cap and was also coming out of the coolant reservoir overflow port in a very aggressive rolling boil. Weird, because I drove it to work that day just fine, and 350 miles from NC to VA the day before.

I had it towed to my local shop. They called me this AM to say that they found hydrocarbons in the coolant, indicating a blown head gasket. I assume that could also indicate a cracked 0331 head.

I told them to go ahead and flush out the cooling system, just in case the magic goop that is blocking my radiator (assumed) is also causing the hydrocarbon reading. I doubt that's it, but I don't have much to lose at this point (except money).

Crazy 8s

There is a shop here in Phoenix that will install a fully remanned and warrantied 4.0 for $2149 and that would include towing to the shop from anywhere in the state.

6k or 7k for a remanned engine is absolutely robbery.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/ptd/4935153890.html

Crazy 8s

You can buy a complete 270hp stroker I6 for under $4k and pay someone under a grand to put it in for you...

http://www.jeep46stroker.com/jeep-en...ep-long-block/

DCXJ

I could not agree more. However, this is the DC Metro area and labor rates are exorbitant. $2-3K sounds reasonable to me, but no luck getting there yet. More than one shop has told me it's not worth it to spend that kind of money on a 14 year old vehicle.

Crazy 8s

I'd bet that you could drive or tow it to any one of the dozens of solid mechanics in Virginia proper that can hook up your Jeep for less than half those quoted prices.

A tip for you should the SHTF...move away from DC now while you still can.

jeepcherokee89

problem with stop leak crap is it stops all leaks including the water jackets inside the head, in which case causes the motor to overheat and cause bigger issues which you have found out.

JamDeeper

Hey! I thought I was the only one this happened to! My 2000 block cracked in the same exact spot ha

GRohr

My first engine cracked there, like EXACTLY the same crack, path and everything haha. I spent about an hr cleaning the inside and outside of the crack. Drilled the end of the crack where all the antifreeze was coming from and JB welded it from the inside and outside of the crack. It worked well for me till I blew up the engine.

jeepkid03

Was the engine overheated? I'm wondering if the OP's Jeep was overheated before he bought it. I've heard of cracked 0331s not so much cracked blocks.