I'm in Virginia and found what I consider a great deal on a clean, stock XJ with the 4.0 which is exactly what I wanted to start my project. The kicker was, it was $1000 and located in the Outer Banks of NC. Luckily I have family down there and sent them to look it over before purchasing.

Owner stated everything works great with many things replaced maintenance wise. He started to notice white smoke from exhaust and immediately stopped driving it.

my research tells me that it’s most definitely head gasket at minimum but more than likely also the notorious 2000 model crack in the cylinder head between 3 & 4.

im having it towed to a reputable shop there and having the head and head gasket replaced even if the head doesn’t need it yet (this is my logic if they are prone to cracking may as well replace even if it hasn’t cracked yet while doing the same labor for the head gasket, am I wrong?)

My main question is: when purchasing the new cylinder head, are all of the replacement heads going to land me in the same boat with being prone to cracking or do I need to specify to the shop to get me the head with the thicker walls? (If so, which one do I tell them to grab?)

Once she’s done at the shop, I’ll be starting the build with 33x12.50s on 15x8 wheels and a 4.5 short arm lift for now.

Anyways, sorry for mixing an intro post with a tech post but I’m not typing up 2 posts to get started haha. My bad!

 

Get a Clearwater head yourself and get it shipped to them.
Pretty sure there are core charges on them.