First oil change on my new TJ (bad news?)

CODE5 said:
Based off only a few years later having to repair a bad head gasket I'd say cheaper isn't always better. I'm finding most of the gaskets used were cheap — will be going with Fel-Pro when I seal this engine back up.
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I meant in terms of labor hours not the cost of the replacement engine. I forget you can remove the front grille and fenders pretty easily, a long I6 engine can just pull straight out through the front. Unlike a lot of cars where it takes a lot of finesse to clear the unremovable front body components.
 
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Head is off… Gasket looks pretty darn good. Maybe a small small crack between cylinders 3-4 on the gasket… Sharing photos of the head, valves, etc…

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Rickyd said:
Is it an 0331 head? They like to crack between the water jacket and inside the valve cover.

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Yep, it is. I’ve found a cylinder head in Georgia that might be a bolt on candidate… Anyone in the southeast have any good resources for getting a new head? I’ve got a few places that look cracked like that.
 
Update: inspection came back with a crack between cylinders 3/4... New cylinder head ordered. After doing the removal I think I can get the head back on in a day (8 hours) or a weekend. While I wait on the parts to get here I'm cleaning up the engine bay and cleaning up the fuel injection system and repainting a few parts that were pretty gross looking.

For anyone else out there afraid to do this yourself - it is doable. You just need to be patient. Removing the driver side fender was VERY helpful. I removed the head in my driveway using common tools, with the help of a few cordless impacts and a breaker bar.

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Update: New cylinder head + FelPro head gasket installed. Interesting part I ran into was that apparently the cylinder head was for an older Jeep with two coolant sensors — I wound up with a threaded hole near the back of the driver-side of the head (see pics below)...Will a brass 1/8 plug be safe to fill this spot since my 2002 only has the sensor on the thermostat housing?

I Installed the exhaust/intake manifold and gasket as well. Last on my list is connecting electrical components and installing the new driver-side fender I had painted.

Whew! Almost done!!

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CODE5 said:
Update: New cylinder head + FelPro head gasket installed. Interesting part I ran into was that apparently the cylinder head was for an older Jeep with two coolant sensors — I wound up with a threaded hole near the back of the driver-side of the head (see pics below)...Will a brass 1/8 plug be safe to fill this spot since my 2002 only has the sensor on the thermostat housing?

I Installed the exhaust/intake manifold and gasket as well. Last on my list is connecting electrical components and installing the new driver-side fender I had painted.

Whew! Almost done!!

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I swapped a 2.5l engine into my 97, it came with a little brass plug in that exact spot although my original motor didn’t have one. The swap motor came from a 95 YJ but I would think you would be safe to just plug the hole in the manner you said. Kinda hard to see it with the injector wiring and air box in the way but you can see it on my head too

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kincaid.0678 said:
I swapped a 2.5l engine into my 97, it came with a little brass plug in that exact spot although my original motor didn’t have one. The swap motor came from a 95 YJ but I would think you would be safe to just plug the hole in the manner you said. Kinda hard to see it with the injector wiring and air box in the way but you can see it on my head too
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Yeah, I was. thinking something like this would work just fine: https://www.lowes.com/pd/B-K-1-8-in-Threaded-Male-Adapter-Plug-Fitting/1000505465
 
https://www.jeepforum.com/threads/where-is-my-coolant-temp-port-on-new-4-0-head.1158253/
I found some info on another Jeep forum. Has lots of good reading about heads from different years and castings. If your new head has a casting number on it you might be able to compare it to some in the thread but I’m sure that plug you listed would work if the threads match up. I haven’t pulled the plug in mine out to look at it so I can’t confirm thread pitch or size
 
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