hi all! i'm currently shopping for an xj for my daily driver. i found a pretty sweet 01 limited with 116k on it. the guy told me he just replaced the head with an aftermarket head. my concern is that if the head was replaced was it because it was cracked, and if so has there already been damage beyond the head? bearings, etc. i just dont want to buy this thing and a month down the road have the oil pressure drop on me. can anyone give me any insight on this situation? am i better off to avoid this jeep all together? thanks guys.

 

Yeah it most likely overheated. In my case, i just replaced the head on mine with no further issues, I have been running the new head for 4 months now. I would worry more about what caused it to overheat and crack.

 

when you replaced the head did you still have good oil pressure or had it already dropped?

 

It was still good

 

Thanks for ur input. I'm just worried that there may have been more extensive damage beyond just the head due to the weak castings of the 99-01 heads.......it's a gamble i guess.

 

Drive it for 15 + minutes or so and make sure it gets up to operating temp then see what the oil pressure is reading..... 17-21 # at idle with the engine fully heated up seems to be the norm.

if its showing 13-15 its iffy....... 13# is the factory recommended "lowest acceptable"

 

Nice! Thanks guys.