I just went through the disappearing coolant, overheating, creamy oil on bottom of oil cap, low oil pressure deal with my wife's 2000 XJ sport. I replaced the waterpump (which it needed anyway), t-stat, rad, and oil pump and still had issues. Narrowed it down to the infamous crack between the 3 and 4 cylinders.

I ordered a new 0331 head from Clearwater off of Ebay which has the newer casting and I found a reman short block for $1165 from Flightline Engine via ebay. With the head I'm looking at $1557 shipped for a reman engine. Doesnt seem like too bad of a price. Have any of you guys heard of or have experience with Flightline Engine?

Fortunately, most of the cooling stuff is new so I'm just going to move that to the new engine. Besides anything worn out or broken that will obviously need replacing, is there anything else I should think about replacing during this process?

BTW - I found lots of good info here at CF leading up to my first post so thanks in advance.

 

I don't know if 2000 XJ's are as bad for header cracks as earlier ones, but if so, CHANGE YOUR HEADER WITH THE ENGINE OUT LOL. You will be much happier. Also, take a glance at the harmonic balancer and P/S pump and maybe even the Alt. Other than those things... I think you're set. Let me know how the engine is.. I might be needin a new one too lol.

 

Good call, I dont believe that the alt has ever been replaced so I'll check that out. I guess I could change the p/s pump too since I'll have that off. Not sure about the header, I dont think that its cracked at the moment but I dont want to sink too much more money into this thing...of course, until I start upgrading the suspension, etc.

 

Why do you need a new block? Unless you really overheated it multiple times or killed the bearings, it should be fine.

 

I'm getting around 11psi oil pressure when warm at idle with a brand new oil pump. Unfortunately, it has overheated multiple times and I'm pretty sure the bearings are shot at this point given the lack of oil pressure. I dont really have the time for a rebuild so the new engine seems like the best route.

 

How many miles did it have on it when it cracked?