Thank you guys for those who've helped me with my journey with my xj.

She's a 97 with 205k miles.

As previously posted, it developed a bad miss, bad enough I couldn't fix it. I took it to a mechanic and got it pressure tested/leak down test and it was determined that there was issues in the head, likely the valves not seating properly. I took the jeep home and pulled the head myself and posted the below pictures.

Today I took the head to a machine shop and it was found the head was cracked in addition to some other issues. They want to replace the head for 700 bucks. I assume they'd get a new head and put the existing hardware on it. Seems a bit high priced but that's besides the point.In addition to the head issue, it's had some low oil pressure issues as of late.

I think it' getting time to rebuild or replace the engine. They wanted 2500 to rebuild the engine. That's an option or I can rebuild the engine myself. Luckily I don't really need the car at the moment. With working from home, my wife and I are getting by on one car. I'm thinking about rebuilding the engine myself although I'm a bit of a noob in the car mechanic world. There seems to be enough manuals and you tube videos out there I could successfully get myself through it. Any thoughts on a rebuild being a shadetree mechanic? Any good places to start on how to rebuild? Any rough idea the costs i'd incur rebuilding the engine myself? Any further advice would be appreciated.

Sorry to be lengthy but thanks for advice.

J