iHigh5

Alright so I'm looking to do some upgrades on my stock 2000 Cherokee. Was thinking cooling system (due to the fact cause I have a small leak to find and why not) or the air intake...I do have the 0331 head however not sure if it's been replaced before... Not looking for technical help just trust trying to get ideas on what everyone would upgrade. I'm trying to upgrade as much as possible for around 1000$. Anything from speakers, lights, interior exterior engine etc.... And I'm going to do a lift and tires this spring so please some help with something other than that would be greatly appreciated!!!



What would you do......?

LAF1269

Save the $1000 for when you do the lift. You'll need it when all of the unanticipated extra parts start adding up.

extrashaky

You cast the bait with the comment in bold, so you ought to expect replies to that. Are you seeing leaking coolant, or is coolant just disappearing from the overflow bottle?

I would probably upgrade that head if it hasn't been already. But that's coming from someone who went through the 0331 disaster personally, and not from one of the many people who have not had an issue. It's your roll of the dice.

You can find out if it's the original casting 0331 by looking down inside the oil filler hole between the #3 and #4 cylinders. All the replacement heads have a mark cast into the metal there. The Tupy heads say "TUPY" there, and the Clearwater heads have something else cast into that spot. The original casting heads have either smooth metal or a weeping crack there. I'm pretty sure the replacements are like that by design so that when someone looks to see if the head is cracked, they'll see the mark and become somewhat happier.

iHigh5

ok well then while I have the head off (barring it's the original head) what else should I upgrade while I'm in there?

But the coolant seems to be disappearing from the overflow while cold and I'm not seeing any leak.. Getting uv dye tomorrow

extrashaky

And that is often the first symptom of a cracked 0331 head or blown head gasket. If it ain't leaking out, it's leaking in and either ending up in the oil or the exhaust. Personally, I'd test for it to rule it out.

You can test for coolant in the oil by sending a sample off for analysis (I use Blackstone). With modern oil, you can't just look at it and tell. The detergent packages in use now keep it from turning milky like your grandpa's oil used to do.

You can test for a leak on the combustion side by using a combustion leak tester that will detect exhaust gases in your coolant. When you get to that point, you'll start to get reddish-brown sludge in your cooling system where the water is being boiled out of the coolant and leaving that nasty mess behind. That crap clogs up radiators and heater cores and will actually eat a water pump in a matter of months.

If it's cracked, you may even be able to see it through the oil filler hole in that same spot between the #3 and #4 cylinders, though it's not always easily visible. Some people have seen it once they pulled the valve cover off to get a better look under a light.

Don't let it go. If you catch it early, it's just a head swap on a Saturday afternoon for ~$500. If you let it go, it turns into bearing damage that ends up being an engine swap instead.

If your cooling system is showing any signs of sludge, I'd go ahead and do an overhaul.

Beyond that, it might be fun to put a header on it, but on a stock motor that would mostly be for the sound. I will say that the unequal-length '00-'01 Torque Tubes-style headers sound awesome on these motors. You could also put a cowl intake and a bored throttle body on it to get it breathing better. Spend a bit more for a decent exhaust, and it'll sound like it's breathing fire.

andrewmp6

Take the oil cap off the valve cover and look down inside the head,If you see the word tupy you have the replacement head,If tupy is not there you have the bad head on it.Missing coolant you can't find is a early tell sign of a head/head gasket problem.

Joe Dirt

I've had 3 Jeeps (TJ, JK, XJ) and the best money I ever spent on them was new gears

Fred/N0AZZ

If you do not have the replacement head do it now before it costs you an engine then a lot more money in the long run.


When you finally decide on what size lift you will have and the exact tire size (very important in this) you will be running in the end then........The biggest upgrade I made was the changing of my gears and installing lockers ft & rear without a doubt. The lockers made the most difference off road with ability to go places I had not been in the past.

RedJeepster1

Just a word of advice, make sure the head is bad before you pull it. There have already been suggestions as to how to make sure you don't have coolant in your oil or exhaust. Being the owner of 2 2000 xj's that both have original heads with over 200,000 miles and no leaks, I can say that there's no guarantee that anything will ever go wrong. If you don't need to replace the head, your money could be wisely spent elsewhere. Your coolant however is going somewhere, so find out where that is. The last time I was loosing coolant it was through a pin hole in the lower radiator hose. That $15 hose was much better then spending a few hundred on a new head I didn't need.

Fred/N0AZZ

Damn you should play the Lottery all the time and hit Vegas every weekend, I would if I had that kind of luck struck by lightning twice without a scratch

extrashaky

I have a feeling it's the other way around. Nobody talks about the day that nothing happened. People who have the head crack end up here talking about it. People who have had no problems at all don't. So if all you see about the 0331 head is that it cracked, it will seem like they all crack, when in reality the majority probably have no issue.

Even so, having been through it myself, my issue is the uncertainty. Even knowing the probability of a crack is low, not knowing for sure and not knowing how likely it really is would still affect how I approached it. If it were my only vehicle that I needed to drive on a daily basis, I'd go ahead and swap it out so I could have confidence in it. If it were a second vehicle (or if I had another reliable vehicle as a backup if the head took a dump at an inconvenient moment), I would probably let it ride and diligently monitor the cooling system and oil analyses for signs of a crack, then deal with it when I had to. It wouldn't keep me from buying one.