2000 xj 180k i had the low oil pressure symptom and pulled the valve cover off today and this is what i saw between cyl 3 and 4



is it this a legit crack? am i in the market for a new head?

 

I would say yes and yes.

 

Yep. I just pulled the same thing off my 2000 with 194k on it. Hey, I have a head off a 2000 xj that I'll sell ya real cheap!

 

How much coolant are you losing? How often do you add and how much? I suspect the same with mine but I never have to add coolant but the PO may have put in block sealer!

 

is it the 0331 head? lol but i definately dont wanna spring for the $300+ for a brand new head. what year model would be the best to rob a head off of and what should i be looking for when i get a used head?

 

Yeah it is a 0331....late 2002 is when they switched to the tuppy head yours looks like it is cracked. Is that the boss on exhaust rocker #4? If so, that is where they most often crack.

 

i just got the jeep about a week ago and put like 400 miles on her and didnt have a chance to see if she was eating coolant but im sure she was i could see droplets of water in the coolant pooled in the rocker arms and yeah its between cylinder 3 and 4 and BIGBADON do you know if it would be a direct bolt up to my 00? also what kind of miles are on the head and what did it come off of and such because i may just buy that head off you

 

You have me mixed up with SpruceJedi he is the one with the head for sale.

 

That definitely is a crack. And on the 0331, it almost always is between cylinders 3-4, because of a casting defect in that area.

Clearwater Cylinder Head and Alabama Cylinder Head have helped many with the 00-01 that have been unlucky in this regard.

But also know that it doesn't take long for a little bit of coolant mixed with the oil to damage your engine bearings. That results in low oil pressure. So it is extremely important that a cracked 0331 is caught and corrected very early. Replacing the head is not the total answer for you if you're already seeing a drop in oil pressure; a rebuild or engine swap is in your future.

 

sorry about the mix up and the p.o. replaced the rods rod bearings rings crank bearings and cam bearings before i bought it and i put like 500 miles on it so i think i might be ok. i just spent all my money buying the jeep so now i have to start from scratch with saving up again. i want to do the head myself but i cant find any good write ups on here plus all i have is pretty much a ratchet set. my friends dads friend ( we call him greasy ) knows alot about jeeps and i think im gonna give him a call to see how much he would want to do this job

 

I would question if the PO really replaced the cam bearings because that is hard to do without removing engine.

 

i think he did like maybe removed the front clip. the only reason i believe him is cause when i replaced the oil pump thinking it was the cause of my low oil pressure i noticed that the oil pan gasket was one of those new reusable kind and looked fresh

 

A couple of things don't line up. First of all what is exactly your oil pressure at hot idle? If its below 10 PSI and your oil pump and oil filter are good, then at the minimum your main and/or rod bearings have excessive clearance. Most likely the cam bearings are shot since they are actually more exposed to the coolant running down from the crack. The cracked head in by itself will not cause the oil pressure to drop. Its the effect from the cracked head that causes that. The only logical conclusion that I can draw is that the PO let the cracked head go on until he lost oil pressure. Then he did all the bearing work and did not address the root cause and left the old head. Then he kept driving and the head kept leaking and now you're at square one. That's really a shame because compared to all the bearing work replacing the head is a piece of cake.
By the way, the new heads go for much more than $300 - they're more like $450. The ink is still wet on my receipt for the head I got from Clearwater. My oil pressure hangs between 15-20 PSI so like most others I didn't catch my crack as early as I should have but still better that some.

 

A+ your right on about the cam bearings but assuming you have SOME oil pressure you should have flow to the good rods and mains....worn cam bearings will not cause a catastrophic failure so if you baby it may run a very long time.

 

at warm idle it was at like 9 psi but at cold idle it was a solid 40. he said he changed all that to stop an engine noise which still continued to be there i think its the lifters which i plan on doing when i get the head off. the oil pressure was so low because the water was mixing with it. when i pulled the valve cover there were drops of water mixed with the oil. i think the motor will be ok because he changed all those bearings and i only put like 400 miles on them with the low oil pressure condition but than again this is all just my theory