help! ideas? head freeze plug

Hi guys my brother's 90 XJ with a 96 stroker block just blew out the freeze plug on the back of the head. Do you have any ideas or suggestions on how to fix/replace the freeze plug without having to pull the head? I even thought about cutting a hole through the firewall maybe?!?! I'm just trying to hopefully avoid pulling the head again haha!

Djjordache said:

Hi guys my brother's 90 XJ with a 96 stroker block just blew out the freeze plug on the back of the head. Do you have any ideas or suggestions on how to fix/replace the freeze plug without having to pull the head? I even thought about cutting a hole through the firewall maybe?!?! I'm just trying to hopefully avoid pulling the head again haha!

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If you can get the old one out, they sale the rubber expanding ones. Slip it in and tighten the nut.

ratherbcamping said:

If you can get the old one out, they sale the rubber expanding ones. Slip it in and tighten the nut.

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the old one is laying in the road somewhere.... it popped out and dumped the coolant so I got a car dolly from UHaul and towed the Jeep home to fix it. I thought about the rubber ones but I don't know if it would be good enough for a permanent fix....

Djjordache said:

the old one is laying in the road somewhere.... it popped out and dumped the coolant so I got a car dolly from UHaul and towed the Jeep home to fix it. I thought about the rubber ones but I don't know if it would be good enough for a permanent fix....

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Go Jeep did a write up on this a little while back. I believe they are called Welch plugs and they are a direct replacement for the stock ones, you just tap them in with a mallet. It sucks it blew the back one out though, that one's a biatch to get to I think.

Djjordache said:

I thought about the rubber ones but I don't know if it would be good enough for a permanent fix....

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It wouldn't be my first choice either, but it the same way they install block heaters and there's a lot of those in service up north.

replacing the freeze plug takes all of 2 minutes. i like to replace them with the original dealer items.

now getting to the freeze plug......well.....there is no easy quick way.

I replaced the welch type (that blew out) with a rubber type and got about 1500 miles out of it. I just put in another one that was a little bigger, it actually was the right size I believe (2 inch). I have heard that these are really only a temp fix. When the weather gets a little warmer, I will be pulling the head and doing it right.

My procedure for getting the rubber type in:
Climb up onto the engine to get some good leverage and find some type of pry bar and use a block of wood against the firewall to get it in as far as it will go. It will not go all the way in due to its thickness.....It hits the cylinder inside the head. Then tighten it as much as possible. Its working fine for me right now.......no more coolant puddles under the heep.

thanks for the ideas I think I'm gonna try the rubber plug method (2 inch) to hopefully avoid pulling the head.... maybe 2 hours messing around with the rubber plug are better than many more pulling and reinstalling the head:laugh2:

If you're in TX, the rubber one should be fine. The freeze plugs are there to provide a 'weakest link' when the head or block expands due to freezing coolant/water within it. Instead of cracking the head/block to relieve the pressure, the plugs pop out.

I don't think you're gonna have to worry about freezing due to your location.

I used a rubber replacement in a Nissan motor for about 20k miles w/o a problem.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I had a '77 honda civic which had a rubber freeze plug in the head stock from the factory.