Hello all,

Several weeks ago I bought a 2000 Cherokee Sport. Since then, I have spent a lot of time and money changing all the fluids, replacing the radiator and fixing some minor issues. Now, it appears I have the dreaded cracked cylinder head. After replacing the radiator, I added coolant a couple of times thinking it was just purging air from the system. After checking online, I looked through the oil filler cap while the engine was running and I think I can see coolant. It's not green, but it doesn't look like oil either. It's brown.

I feel like a biscuit for not being aware of this issue. I had owned a '97 Cherokee for 14 years and it was great. I thought the Jeep 4.0 engine was pretty much indestructible. Yet, it appears someone pawned off his problem on me.

So, now I'm looking for a replacement cylinder head. I've seen references to reinforced cylinder heads available from Promaxx and Clearwater. And now Edelbrock is going to sell a performance, aluminum 4.0 cylinder head. So...

- Which iron cylinder head would you recommend? Much of the information I've seen online appears to be dated. Also, I've seen a lot of bad reviews for Clearwater, but I don't know how valid they are.

- When will the Edelbrock cylinder head become available and what is the price?

- I'm pretty good with engines. I've rebuilt multiple V8 engines, but never a Jeep 4.0. Are there any specific challenges with replacing a cylinder head on this engine?

- My oil pressure is pretty good. Is there any way to tell if my cam or other bearings may be damaged? Since I just bought this Cherokee, I don't know its history.

- My Cherokee has 112,000 original miles, which is why I bought it. Other than the head issue, it's very clean and has a factory towing package. But now I'm finding out it's already bit me.

Thanks!

 

I got my 0630 head off ebay for $285 shipped to my door. It had good machine work done and all new springs and valve stems. I pulled off every valve spring and checked valve stem clearance and they where all good. None sticky valve moved very smooth. I would recommend that route. I can look up exact seller if interested

 

They also sell a head with a thicker deck for around &475-500 and or you can look for a tupy head from the later 4.0s but they are in the same range as the ones they sell with a thicker deck.

 

Yes, it's the thicker, reinforced head I'm interested in. I don't want to install the same type of head and risk it cracking again. I'd also like to get a new head which will work with the coil packs. I don't want to mess with rigging something up to make the coil packs work on an older style head.

I saw this for $661. Was Promaxx formerly Alabama Cylinder heads?

http://www.promaxxperformance.com/in...-complete.html

Would that be a good choice?

 

Check out Clearwater Cylinder heads. They sell the thicker casting new head. On ebay I believe they are known as Odessa Cylinder. I've installed them on a few 2000s with great results.

 

I mentioned above I've seen multiple bad reviews for Clearwater. Good to you know you had a good experience.

 

Where have you seen bad reviews? One of the heads from them I put on has over 50k miles on it, the other one has a little less.

 

Titan yes, Clearwater no.

 

Can you please elaborate?

EDIT: I checked the Titan engines web site and it appears they do not sell Jeep 4.0 cylinder heads.

Re-EDIT: I now see the 4.0 heads on the Titan site. For some reason, they weren't coming up on the main page or in the search function the first time I looked.

 

Google reviews.

 

I called ATK who reported they use the factory castings and the improved castings, but there was no way to specify which I would get. No thanks.

 

I think he meant Titan engines. There have been some nightmare stories on the forums regarding their strokers. I would go with Clearwater. You know what you are getting, the quality is good, and prices are decent. For what its worth I have an Alabama head on my 2000 XJ, and I had a broken valve spring after 20k miles. So technically I've had less problems (none) with the Clearwater heads than the Alabama heads.

 

Well, it appears you can order it today with about a 2 week lead time.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-50169

It's quite pricey though...

 

Links to at least one (maybe more?) bad review? For future personal reference.

 

Clearwater and Odessa heads are the same.
I have bought their aftermarket thicker bare casting head and my machinist and I are very happy with it's quality.

No personal experience with Titan, but many others have had issues with their stroker engines. But that was years ago.