Okay, head's done! Everything went smoothly EXCEPT on the new head, there is a 1/8" flush pipe plug in the rear driver's side. There is none on my old head, so we weren't looking for it. It was only finger tight and painted over. It didn't start leaking until the engine was run for 3 continuous hours, THEN it started gushing! I stopped for a traffic light and was enveloped in steam! I got it home before it ran out of the reservoir contents and it never overheated. The steam was from the exhaust getting wet. It was a (female dog) to find but is now good to go. My mechanic says he's going to complain strenuously to Clearwater. Yeah, lots of blue words! He says having it leak sets a bad mark on his reputation. This guy is a straight shooter and apologized but I told him I probably wouldn't have seen it either.

One thing I did notice, even though I've cleaned the throttle body a couple of times, the intake ports in the head were crapped up with carbon and only clean where the fuel spray hit them. There is a lot to be said about Sea Foam. I should have used it. The exhaust ports were clean by comparison, so I know to wasn't burning oil.

The jeep is now running a lot better with clean valves that seal and new plugs. Now off to chew on Clearwater myself!

 

I just wanted to add that I put in a new set of lifters while we had it apart. NO MORE TICKING!! I used Sealed Power lifters from Rockauto.

 

Excellent and helpful post, I'll be going there, too. Mine will be a little more involved, as I lose oil pressure after engine warms up, I've been told that's crankshaft bearings? It's an '01 Cherokee Sport.

 

Be advised, I have an update on this head. While it's doing what it's supposed to do and doing it well, I seem to have a problem with unacceptable oil usage lately. It appears the valve stem seals aren't doing THEIR job. Read my recent post for more info. The head came completely assembled so I haven't a clue what seals they used. I'll let you know what I find. It's entirely possibly they were left out!

With yours, it might be the oil pump has too much clearance in it. This seems to be common with older XJs. My WJ with 204K miles on it still holds 40 lbs at idle hot and 55 at 40 mph. I'm using Valvoline 10W-30 Max-Life Synthetic Blend. I switched from full synthetic when the oil problem started. It got too expensive otherwise.