Hose just needed tightened, so that's an easy fix, but it is not runnunig well. Definite miss or something. Just rough idle and a lack of power. I put new plugs in RC12ECC, as per the engine bay sticker. The coil wasn't seated properly but I fixed that....

Maybe I'll pull that back off and check all the plugs again...

 

Throwing any codes? Check injector wiring. Mine started running weird a few weeks after i did my swap, threw a p0203 code, and it was an injector that had a short. I cleaned them all with electric parts cleaner and Dialectric'd them and it went away.

 

Thanks AZ. I'll check those tonight.

 

Ok - so I went back to the garage this afternoon, and before I started ripping anything apart, I started it back up, and went back to the engine bay:


* I think I can hear a vacuum leak coming from the intake/exhaust manifold which I think could cause a rough idle - so I'm going to disassemble/reassemble those
* Check my plug gaps to ensure they're @ .0035
* Clean & dialectric grease my EFI connectors (man those things are hard to get apart)


Anything else that I may be missing? Again, I'm not throwing any codes, and it runs, but it runs rough - at first I was thinking the timing was off, so "rough" like it's not firing correctly.


something else that happened while it was running before I fixed the plug boot that wasn't seated properly - the gauges would "jerk" - not just one, but all of them, which I attributed to the bad spark boot - hasn't happened since, but thought I'd mention it since it did happen.

 

The vacuum elbows on the DS of the intake are notorious to leaking. Also check to make sure you got all the connections intact, check the CCV system as well. Make sure the two or three connectors around the TB are tight and solid. Only other test for vacuum leaks is a can of brake parts cleaner or carb cleaner. If you didn't get the intake gasket set and torqued down exactly it can give you issues as well. Those are what comes to mind off the top of my head. You are just about almost done.

Jeff

 

Let me know what you find out after checking all these possibilities.

 

Started with the biggest job first - took out & re-installed all the manifold bolts, and ensured they were nice & tight. Didn't clear up the issue.

Left it running, and started watching the coil rail. Heard a very intermittent "click", so I just carefully moved stuff so I could see down into each plug bay - the #3 plug wasn't seated properly, so pulled the rail, reset it, and now it runs as smooth as I could ask.

I can't thank you guys enough for the guidance & help - I've driven it up to temp and everything seems good at this point. Driving it to work tomorrow to ensure everything is good, and then hopefully I can find a little patch of dirt to play in!

Thanks again!

 

 

Awesome. I figured it was something stupid. It never hurts to go back over your work to make sure you haven't missed something. Kudos that you found it and keep us informed as to progress and or any other issues that may pop up.

Jeff

 

I definitely will. I did get the dowels out of the old head, but buggered them up a bit in the process... I'll still send them - a little file work could clean them up to be useable.

 

no pics? Congrats on your head swap I also have the dreaded 0331 head and hope I never have to change it but the with this forum and all the great group of guy and gals on here it really helps that confidence of doing it yourself.

 

I had good intentions of taking pics of the process, but truthfully, once I got into it, I kind of got into a "working zone" and forgot to take them (I even boxed up my cracked head before taking pics of it).

I can tell you that between all the assistance I was given on this thread, the FSM, my haynes manual, and the below link, I was very confident in tackling the job.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/0...hread-1371398/

I also watched the Youtube video posted earlier in this thread multiple times!

 

I just ordered my head waiting for it to come. Did your coolant stop disappearing? How's it running? Oil pressure normal? I caught mine early enough as I still have good pressure. Just wondering if the head fixed everything.

 

So, did you ever find any evidence of a crack? And what did you decide about replacing the lifters??

 

The jeep is running very well. The coolant is holding its level perfectly, although I do have an occassional leak @ the cap - seems to be seaping from the overflow hose, so I have to look into why that is happening. It's only noticable after prolonged drives - like the cap isn't opening enough for the overflow to dump back into the radiator (cause the bottle is above the "full" line each I've noticed it happening)

My oil pressue sending unit apparently kicked the bucket after I put the new head on, as it would go up to just above 10 when I turned on the key (w/out starting the engine), and never move from that position while driving, regardless of engine temp. I just replaced that yesterday, and have good oil pressure while driving, but after I get up to running temp, the pressure will drop to zero at idle, like the gauge loses all power. I'm going to install a manual gauge next week & go from there - I have no idea how long the POs may have driven it w/the bad head, but do know oil is getting up to the head while idling. I'm hoping the mechanical gauge will tell me it's just a faulty dash gauge - if not I'll start looking into other fixes.

The head was definitely cracked - I could see it before I even took the old one off. If I was looking down the filler cap w/a light, it was cracked right at the base of the 4 cylinder rocker (normal place). I could see a brown/orangish line where the antifreeze was seaping through.

I did not replace the lifters - just cleaned them all & put them back in.

If anyone has any other questions, let me know - I'm more than willing to answer what I can!