Hello,

I'm afraid I'm effected by the dreaded cracked head. I have a 2000 XJ with about 174k miles. I'm losing coolant and my oil pressure is around 10psi when hot at idle. I also find milky oil on my cap today. I'm wondering if it's even worth replacing the head at this point? I've been reading a lot of people saying the camshaft bearings could be shot at this point?

I've noticed coolant missing for awhile but, have not found the milky oil until today. The engine has not overheated yet.

Any recommendations?

 

IS that 10 PSI according to the dash? If so, verify that with a mechanical gauge. I have a 2000 XJ that had a cracked head with 184K. I replaced it and now I sit around 17 PSI (mech gauge) at a hot idle and just shy of 50 while driving.

Do you plan on keeping your Jeep for awhile? If so, you can replace the head and run it till it needs a rebuild or just rebuild with a new head right away. This is expensive, of course.

If you're not in love with your XJ, it maybe time for you to move on.

 

Do you know what your PSI was before you replaced it?

Thanks for the advice.

 

I would say confirm the oil pressure If it really is 10 PSI @ hot idle, then yes the engine needs rebuilt or a quality used dropped in. 13 PSI is minimum spec for hot idle. Let us know.

 

It was the same. Changing the head doesn't change the oil pressure.

My oil wasn't milky and I had an external coolant leak, so I couldn't tell from that either. I had to send a sample into Blackstone Labs to confirm. With only 500 miles on my oil, it had coolant in it.

 

How does this look? I spent awhile trying to clean it up. This is the best I could do.

 

with head off try "rocking the pistons, they rock if you have piston slap.
mine makes rattle noise, slap so when head goes im in for new engine

 

Ok thanks

How does that surface look? Clean enough for a gasket?

 

looks like the left side (middle to top of photo) still has some of the old gasket on it. Mine was the same and it was really tough to get off. I used a straight razor--PITA

 

scotch-brite resurfacing pads on a wizz-wheel works awesomeeeeeee.

 

+1

Used these for my water pump and t-stat surfaces. Good stuff! If you don't have a angle die grinder and air. You can load them in the chuck of a drill.

Pro tip: cheap knock offs available at harbor freight.

 

you dont want to too much of that junk in the water passages,,,NONE!!

oh, not on pistons either.

 

I never had good luck with the china freight ones. They always fall apart. The 3M ones are worth the extra dough. But yes, I use these whenever I need to clean a gasket surface. They work great on any high rpm tool. Never tried them on a drill. A pneumatic right angle die grinder seems to be the easiest tool to use these on.

And yes, remember to plug your cylinders or whatever you may be working on with a rag or something equivalent. You can blow the cylinders out with a little shop air if you're overly concerned but some gasket dust won't hurt anything.