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Head Gasket and Head

JeepCherokeeGuy99

NAXJA Forum User
Location
New Bern, NC
hey guys, my buddy and i got a 90' xj, 4.0 aw4 117,000mi from the junk yard the other day for $400. I drove it home. It ran but it ran rough and i checked the oil and it was milky of course. So we pulled the head off today and found a lot of water/coolant in the back 2 cylinders. The head and block dont show signs of a crack or fracture and the gasket doesn't look bad either. Here's a video of what im looking at.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SU-ANi9FH4


Let me know what you guys think. Should I just replace the gasket and hope for the best or get the head machined?
 
Drop the head off to the machinist and get them to pressure check it and resurface the face. The bearings in the bottom end could be compromised if coolant indeed mixed with the oil and was ran for a while.
 
How much does that usually cost?
 
Costs vary depending on the machine shop and how much work they have to do to it. It cost me $260 to get my cylinder head checked, machined level, and 2 or 3 of the valves and springs replaced. After 210K miles and overheating a couple times the head had warped pretty bad.

You might want to rotate the crank so you can inspect the cylinder walls if you haven't done that already.
 
Costs vary depending on the machine shop and how much work they have to do to it. It cost me $260 to get my cylinder head checked, machined level, and 2 or 3 of the valves and springs replaced. After 210K miles and overheating a couple times the head had warped pretty bad.

You might want to rotate the crank so you can inspect the cylinder walls if you haven't done that already.

Ya I was thinking around 200. I had checked the walls and they were good. Is there a way for me to check myself to see if its warped? Thanks for the help!
 
Ya I was thinking around 200. I had checked the walls and they were good. Is there a way for me to check myself to see if its warped? Thanks for the help!

Straight edge and feeler gauges.
 
Nick, tomorrow I would call Power Performance in slo. Probably the best machine shop in town.
 
Straight edge and feeler gauges.

right on, ill check it out.
Nick, tomorrow I would call Power Performance in slo. Probably the best machine shop in town.
I just have a problem with paying someone else to do something i could easily do myself which is why i'm being stubborn about taking it to a shop. But ill take the head to a shop tomorrow and see what they say.
 
Im dropping my head off tomorrow. they are going to tank it, plane it, magnaflux it, and do a valve job for 135.00. Its well worth the money in my opinion.

Dang if its that cheap ill do it for sure!
 
right on, ill check it out.

I just have a problem with paying someone else to do something i could easily do myself which is why i'm being stubborn about taking it to a shop. But ill take the head to a shop tomorrow and see what they say.
You are saying you are good enough to resurface the head, check it for cracks, and do a valve job? You don't have the equipment for that. A precision straight edge alone is at least 30$
It costs me $250 for the cleaning, resurface, valve job, and pressure check.
That sounds about right.
Im dropping my head off tomorrow. they are going to tank it, plane it, magnaflux it, and do a valve job for 135.00. Its well worth the money in my opinion.

Dang if its that cheap ill do it for sure!
Price varies by location usually, I dont in this area it will be that cheap, but maybe the economy has got it close? I know some places Napa has a machine shop that is decently priced.
 
With 117,000 miles I would consider replacing the con rod bearings, rear seal, break the glaze on the cylinders and put cast rings in.
Get new head bolts.
 
Speaking of new head bolts, i couldnt find any the other day. At least not at any of the regular parts suppliers. I probably couldve gone to the chrystler house but didnt.
That price i qouted was here at a local machine shop who specializes in big industrial diesel engines so they dont worry too much about lil' ol gas motors. they make thier money off the big guys. thats my guess anyway.
 
$135 is an excellent deal for that amount of work.

ya seriously. I think what im going to do is just replace the gasket, make sure i use the right high temp loctite (#272 i think) and call it good. If coolant starts getting into the cylinders again then I'll tear the head back off and do it right. I just don't want to spend much money on this thing, i have my own jeep to worry about lol. This is technically my best friends (jeepcherokeeguy90) jeep since he paid $350 for it and i paid $50. He's not very mechanically inclined so ill do all the labor for free and he will pay for the parts. seems fair.
 
Itll seem more fair if he buys you some of your favorite beer.No such thing as free labor.

Ya well doing the labor is sort of my hobby. Relieves stress for me, so its something id be willing to do for nothing in return.
 
Also take note that when dealing with something like this a lot of times you can get a fully reman'd head off of ebay, for really cheap and they will include a pre paid label for the return of your old head! THe prices are much cheaper than you would think, and many times cheaper than getting the old one worked on, and no turn around time.

for example check this one out $260 shipped http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/REBU...rQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_1744wt_794

This is just an example, there are a lot of shops that work just like this, just something to keep in mind.
 
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