After my jeep consumed about 3 gallons of coolant and never being able to find a leak I finally thought to check my oil. I pulled the dip stick and everything was clean. I looked under the oil filler cap and their was a crap ton of coolant inside. I was thinking that I had a blown head gasket or a cracked head. While I was pulling the head, the front exhaust stud came out. Coolant poured out for 2 or 3 minutes. I didn't think it was normal for coolant to come out of the stud whole but I kept going. Everything else came off normally. I inspected the head and I didn't see anything else that seemed to be a problem, No cracks, no large amount of gunk buildup. I did notice the head was stamped with a WJ. Also the head gasket was aftermarket so I know the engine has had problems before. oh and the head gasket didn't seem to be blown. My questions are, should coolant come out of the stud hole? Is it normal for the stock XJ head to be stamped with a WJ? The head is at a machine shop as we speak getting checked out. If the head is OK, where else could the coolant be coming from?

 

Yes it's normal. Two of the Bolts go into the water jacket.

 

Most likely the old owner had a cracked head and replaced it with a WJ head or the entire motor was swapped out for a 99 or newer Grand cherokee motor.. Either way there are a few bolts that enter the water jacket in the head ..

 

Thank you guys for the info about the bolts going into the water jackets. I'm hoping the machine shop finds something wrong with the head. i want a definitive answer about the problem.

 

If you get the head back and it checks out OK,
chase the threads in the block

then a little dab of
on the bolts.

 

I got the word back from the machine shop. The head is cracked, twisted and has a high center. I'm ordering a new Odessa head from ebay. Hopefully it will be here before the weekend.