The head crack won't make any noise. As EZEARL said, the valve trains on these things are noisy and get louder as they age. You can also get a sticky lifter ticking. One thing you can do is get a mechanic's stethoscope ($4 at Harbor Freight) and poke around to see if you can tell where the noise is coming from. Sounds can travel around the engine bay in strange ways, so it's not always originating where you think it is.

I would call Clearwater and discuss it with them.

The original casting 0331 had the flaw. Chrysler replaced the original casting in 2002 (after the XJs were done) with the Tupy 0331 head, which has "TUPY" cast into the top of the deck between the #3 and #4 cylinders (right where the original casting liked to crack). Tupy is a foundry in Brazil that took over production of the 0331 heads. They didn't change the design, but they added more nickel to the alloy to prevent cracking.

The folks at Clearwater know about the cracking 0331, so it's doubtful they would sell you a reconditioned original casting. More likely it's a Tupy head that has been reconditioned, in which case it should be fine. However, before ordering one I would call and talk with them to make sure it's not an original casting. I would only buy a reconditioned head if it were a Tupy.

If you do buy the reconditioned one, please post your experience with it. I don't recall anybody buying that one, so it would be good to know exactly what it is they're selling for that price.

 

My mechanic's going to let me hang around with him tomorrow while he looks over my XJ, and we're going to inspect the head while we're at it. I don't anticipate a swap any time soon (hopefully), but I'd be tempted to do so preemptively if and when time and money allow. So, I'm going to call Clearwater tomorrow just to get some more info about the reconditioned models. I'll let you know what they say.

 

inspect how? Are you removing the head?

 

Just removing the head cover and letting someone with a better-trained eye than mine take a look at it, then working through (and hopefully eliminating) the list of red flags that have been mentioned in this thread.

 

Great thread, there is a whole lot of useful information here. I have been living happily till this year with my WJ GC. Then, I found that in Europe the Magna Steyr plant (Austria) where my jeep was assembled, started using the 0331 at the beginning of '99. The car has been purchased in May that year and here we are.
No leak symptoms for the time being. I am around 120k miles, as far as I understand the "sweet spot" of cracked heads. I would like to have the engline oil analyzed after my next oil change but nobody performs this in my area.

One thing that gave me the goosebumbs recently was a slight overheating episode in normal driving conditions. The vent started and in few minutes things settled but considering my clean radiator and the recently checked cooling system I will try to check the oil to see if some coolant is visible.

However this is a 20 yo car and even if I love it I won't consider swapping the head. Probably I will just give it back to some car dealer to get the eco bonuses really en vogue these days ooor I will search for an XJ with a decent engine but this is another story.

 

At the time I bought my Clearwater head, they weren't selling reconditioned ones, just new castings. I have a picture of the TUPY head markings that I'll post. You can see the TUPY if you shine a light down the oil filler hole. I just went out to check, but I don't believe my Clearwater has either markings on it but I can't tell because my engine has the aluminum wafer heat shield over the manifold and hides the head 0331 marking. If your head doesn't have a casting number on the intake side next to the valve cover, it's an aftermarket head. My original 0331 cracked at 154K miles and I got lucky because it cracked into an exhaust port and not into the valve area, resulting in lots of steam and coolant dripping out the tailpipe.

Not all 0331 heads crack, but to me it's like sitting on a grenade and hoping the pin is still in it! Also, I can't see getting rid of a jeep just because the head is cracked. It's a major job to change one, but not that big a deal. As long as you catch it early you can save the engine.

 

I just bought a 2000 XJ with 125K miles on it. Now I'm going to have to go thru the waiting game all over again. Luckily with my 2000 WJ, I was prepared because I'd read about the 0331 on this forum. BUT, I bought this XJ knowing full well what I was getting into. The entire powertrain and running gear are excellent, but the body has some rust issues. Nothing major, yet!

 

 

Funny thing. While I'm contemplating buying a rebuilt engine for my WJ, I chatted with a rep from one company about if their engines had an 0331 head on them or not. He said they completely clean and inspect both the block and head before they rebuild them, but said whatever head was on it stays on it unless it's faulty. That means to me that as long as an original 0331 head checks out, it gets rebuilt and used on the engine. Which means I'd be buying a short block and using my Clearwater head instead.

Rob440, I can see where you might be better off finding another jeep, but my WJ, even through it's got almost 1/4 million miles on it, it has almost no rust. On top of that, I AM in love with it!

 

I own two 2001 0331 head j's. One of the since new with 250000 miles plus. Never had any issues. Seems to be more of a problem in cold weather country with the continual expanding/contracting of the metal, and yes do not over heat it there are obviously brittle.

 

 

All told, It cost me around $1200 for the whole ball of wax, $455 for the head and the rest for labor, including a new water pump, gaskets, and head bolts.