Ok this will be a long one. I recently replaced the cylinder head on my 01, started up and ran smooth after everything was put back together. I had a little smoke from the exhaust but it stopped after awhile. Went on a short cruise and had zero issues, idle was perfect oil pressure was perfect no issues. Then I went on another ride later that night and had code PO158 pop up and was idling extremely rough. Rpms were all over the place so I turned around. Got home and found that I forgot to plug the wire back into the O2 sensor, reconnected it and cleared the code and it has not came back. After that started her back up and same issue. Rough idle when she warms up and lots of shaking. I still drove it over to my buddies and it was the same the whole was to his house, every stop sign it shook like crazy and had a really rough idle and then I noticed the oil pressure was not getting to 40, 30 max on average. Parked it at his house and burped the cooling system just to make sure and that did nothing. We started it again and it starting acting normal, but we took it for a drive and right at the end we hear a loud pop and drove it straight back. Car is now backfiring from the intake I’m thinking but not sure and the idle is absolutely horrible. Feels like I’m in an old muscle car shaking and as loud as a diesel. I have no idea where to go from here, I feel defeated. I bought her 2-3 weeks ago and the head was cracked so I ripped her down and replaced the head with a Clearwater cylinder head. New gaskets everywhere I could. New oil pump and screen. Spark plugs were new about 20 miles into the purchase. I have no idea, started up fine after all that work just to be in an almost equally worse situation. I have loss of power and backfire now and the worst idle in a vehicle I’ve ever felt. Again right after all this work we went on a drive and had no problems ran amazing and now it’s almost impossible to drive her. Haven’t even driven her 50 miles. Anyone know where I should start? Thank you

 

Check to see if you tightened down the cam sensor after you installed it. It could have walked. This sensor times the injector pulses. You didn't by any chance forget to time it, did you? The cam sensor I mean? I know you pulled it out to spin up the oil pump.

 

I never removed the cam sensor, or timing chain. Added oil to the pump before install. Only thing replaced was oil pump, oil screen, cylinder head, lifters. Everything else was left alone.

 

Well I'm fresh out of ideas at present and am dealing with a problem of my own right now, so let me think about it for a while. Maybe someone else has an idea.

 

Then that's where the issue should be. Check the compression first. Pull the wires one at a time to try to isolate the issue. Pull the valve cover and watch to see if everybody is doing what they're supposed to be.

 

Cause by your description it sounds like an intake bent/broke/fell apart.

OK maybe pull the valve cover first (but if the above is what happened, IMO all the damage is done and it won't get any worse).

 

she won’t start now. Purchasing a new battery today, I think something is wrong with my battery seems to die for no reason.Also going to pick up TPS sensor. If she starts I’ll check under the valve cover

 

Be sure to check the valve springs for broken coils. They are supposed to be new on that Clearwater head, but new doesn't mean good. Also you could start it up with the valve cover off, but if you do, stand back because you might have a squirter caused by a bottomed lifter plunger. If any are like that, the rest of the rockers are oil starved. That might be the reason for your low oil pressure.

You should do a parasitic amperage draw test to see if something is on when it shouldn't be. One common thing is the amplifier for the radio. Even the underhood light or glovebox light can draw down a battery. Also remember if the dome light is on, the body control module is active so clamp down the driver's dome light switch so it'll go to sleep when you are working on it.

 

nah she didn’t squirt oil at all.

 

Alright I’m catching on to something. One of the rockers is extremely lose. I’m re torquing and we will see what happens.

 

Ok I’ve officially lost all hope, got ripped off and paid $5k for a 01 with a cracked head. I’ve spent another probably $1,400 replacing it and upgrading cooling system and now I have to bad lifters, horrible idle that shakes the whole vehicle and backfire when accelerating with loss of power. I’m bringing it to a mechanic and probably going with a new engine. I can’t justify dropping another $1400 at a mechanic to replace the cam that is probably bad. I’m probably going to end up paying $7k in total for my repairs plus the new engine and labor at the mechanic. I’ll never but another Jeep again this experience has been horrible and I did have fun but I bought this Jeep thinking I would have a nice Jeep to drive on the weekends and instead it’s been driven 30 miles or less and parked in my garage the rest of the almost month I’ve owned it. If you’re not mechanically inclined don’t buy a Jeep and definety don’t buy one unless you know what you’re looking for. I could have put a down payment on a new Jeep for how much I’m spending on this one. I would never sell a Jeep in this condition and rip someone off so I’m forced to either part it out or dump more money into it which I’ll never get back. I appreciate everyone’s help but I’m done. This isn’t what I signed up for and I’ve been using credit to make all of this happen and now I’m going to keep racking it up. I hope nobody ever gets ripped off like this please read up on jeeps before you go buy a used one. I hope someone else sees my posts before they purchase a used Jeep. Good luck.

 

You shouldn't buy any 20+ year old car if you're not mechanically inclined. You should do research on any car you buy.

 

It looks to me like the valve lash is WAY off! It DOES look like the head has to come off and the lifters replaced, but I doubt the cam needs to be changed. You shouldn't blame the Jeep because of your inexperience! The lifter preload was the most critical part of the assembly and you weren't even aware it it needed to be checked.

BTW, it is practically impossible to remove the camshaft while the engine is mounted in the jeep. It's as long as the engine and must come out exactly straight, which means removing the radiator, grill, bumper, and jacking the engine high enough for the cam to clear the front frame.

 

Im blaming the Jeep for the constant problems haha. Yeah i will probably pull the engine out if I replace the cam and fully rebuild it, or swap it. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I replaced all lifters when I installed the new cylinder head. 2 of 12 are squishy and I couldn’t get the rockers to tighten up. New day and I’m trying to look at it a little more positive and maybe I’ll just fully rebuild the engine as a hobby/project. I can’t imagine a shop swapping or rebuilding my engine being cheap. I got a quote for a rebuild and it was $3k without them even pulling the engine out for me.

 

Where do you live? I got a rebuilt shortblock from Maabco in TX for $1200 and $200 to recondition my Clearwater head. Another $1000 for installation. I did replace things like a brand new, not rebuilt starter, and other stuff and the whole thing came in just over $3000. We checked the Maabco and all 6 cylinders were .020 over and all the bearings were .010 under and everything was torqued to spec. Your new head could be bolted on as is, as long as no valves got bent or burned.