Hello Everyone - Long story short, I did the valve cover gasket yesterday and noticed i have a leaky head gasket as well. Now Ive poked around on this forum and others and have learned about the head problems with my year cherokee. At this point I think im catching this before the head its self becomes a problem. There are no signs of water in the oil. Once I got the valve cover off, it looked clean. No milky build up; under the oil fill cap either. So like I said, think i catching it before it early. That said, its pretty obvious to me that the head gasket needs to be done, which i plan to do my self, at which point ill get the head fluxed for cracks...

Im looking for some opinions and advise from others that have had to do it and have done it them selfs. Things I need to look out for when tearing it down. Things like bolts that consistently break and stuff like that. Im Pretty sure Im going to have issues with the exhaust manifold.

Anything anyone can suggest or share with me is greatly appreciated

here are some pics

 

Honestly when I removed my head, I had no issues at all, just mark and bag everything and put the bolts back in the holes they came from. Pretty straight forward. Maybe I got lucky but nothing broke on me

 

Also just a point but get rid of the Fram oil filter aka "orange can of death"

Often causes really dry starts and all sorts of other issues especially with the 4.0

But everyone had their opinion this is just my 2cents

 

Your going to want a torque wrench for sure . And a 12 sided 13mm socket

 

I just finished doing my head gasket and new cam its a simple job just time comsuming. Do your self a favor get a quality head gasket like felpro new intake and exhaust gaskets since your already there might aswell replace it. Also grab a quality toqrue wrench and when you pull the rocker arm the push rods and that stuff they have to go back on the same way you took them off

 

In my opinion, if an 0331 factory head (00-01) comes off the engine, it should not go back on.

Because of the known head defect between cylinders 3-4, there is significant risk in putting it back on the engine.

Get a redesigned head from a vendor like Clearwater Cylinder Head, or you can look for a used 2003 or later 0331 head from the Grand Cherokee or the Wrangler. Those heads are mfg. by TUPY and are just fine.

 

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