Possible cracked head

MrBClark

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 30, 2019
Messages
300
Location
Montoursville Pennsylvania
I recently posted a coolant loss thread. Today, I decided to look inside the oil fill cap for like the 90th time and I found this. It unfortunately is an 01 with the 0331 head. Any suggestions on where to get a new head? That Saltwater or whatever place sells a brand new one that's reinforced for like $525 and I cant find a TUPY one for the life of me.
 
I recently posted a coolant loss thread. Today, I decided to look inside the oil fill cap for like the 90th time and I found this. It unfortunately is an 01 with the 0331 head. Any suggestions on where to get a new head? That Saltwater or whatever place sells a brand new one that's reinforced for like $525 and I cant find a TUPY one for the life of me.
Guess the video wont work but just believe me when I say it looks like a cracked head
 
I recently posted a coolant loss thread. Today, I decided to look inside the oil fill cap for like the 90th time and I found this. It unfortunately is an 01 with the 0331 head. Any suggestions on where to get a new head? That Saltwater or whatever place sells a brand new one that's reinforced for like $525 and I cant find a TUPY one for the life of me.
I replaced my 01 cracked head with a Clearwater new head a year ago, got about 4000 miles on it with no problems. New head looked great, used FelPro gaskets. Took this old guy two eight hour days to do, also replaced the radiator waterpump, t stat and hoses. Those manifold bolts are a bear to get too. Motor runs 200 deg. in this Florida heat, 210 with A/C on.
 
Anyone know how to post a video here? I want to share the video just for other opinions on the head. The best way I can describe it is that it looks as if there are bubbles in the oil passing right under the oil fill cap. They are pretty obvious and are a decent amount of what looks like "bubbles" in the oil but I'm guessing it's the coolant not mixing with the oil. Plus for the amount of coolant I'm losing with no obvious external leak, I'm guessing this is it. I posted a pic and circled what I am trying to show.

20191013_223250.jpg
 
Not sure about posting the video cause I never have, bit I did have a cracked head on my first TJ and I was too dumb at the time to know it. I found out when I sold it to a friend and he had the head checked. I always noticed a sludgy milky consistency in the coolant and ran it that way for thousands of miles changing the radiator a couple of times thinking there was just old trash in the system that needed to be flushed out. Like I said, I was clueless back then.

If you truly believe that the head is possibly cracked, the only way to rule it out is to pull it and take it to a shop that does machining and have it pressure tested. I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but save yourself the time of troubleshooting and possibly doing further damage.

Somebody with more experience can correct my logic if I'm giving bad advice, but I'm fairly proficient at wrenching now, and that's what I would do.
 
Not sure about posting the video cause I never have, bit I did have a cracked head on my first TJ and I was too dumb at the time to know it. I found out when I sold it to a friend and he had the head checked. I always noticed a sludgy milky consistency in the coolant and ran it that way for thousands of miles changing the radiator a couple of times thinking there was just old trash in the system that needed to be flushed out. Like I said, I was clueless back then.

If you truly believe that the head is possibly cracked, the only way to rule it out is to pull it and take it to a shop that does machining and have it pressure tested. I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but save yourself the time of troubleshooting and possibly doing further damage.

Somebody with more experience can correct my logic if I'm giving bad advice, but I'm fairly proficient at wrenching now, and that's what I would do.
Yea unfortunately you are right, and luckily I have connections to a machine shop 5 minutes from my house, but I just do not have the time. This Jeep is my daily and I need it every day. Sure, I can take the old head to the shop and have them tell me it's a crack, but then I have to wait for a new head to arrive. Any other way I can tell? I do have very little white smoke out the exhaust and some condensation on startup, but that's normal I thought.
 
A good shop can repair a crack, but I don't know if it's worth it with this particular head. It sure sounds like your symptoms are a cracked head and if you weren't dealing with a commonly known symptom of a head that often develops issues, I may approach this differently.

I know it's a kick in the nutz, but that's where I would go before any additional time spent on diagnosing it.

Again, I'm no expert, but I'm a mechanical guy. That TJ that I owned that had the cracked head also locked up the engine on the interstate because of a cooling system failure. I repaired the hose, filled it up with water and drove it for another 50k miles with the same cracked head and no additional work to the engine until one day it started overheating at any speed over 55 mph and I sold it to a friend. To my credit, it was a sport with AX15 and a Dana 44 rear with 3.73 gears and 180k miles, and I let him have it for $3500. He had the head repaired and still drives it to this day as a second vehicle. He thinks he got a deal, and maybe I agree 😁. That jeep started me on a path in which I'm pretty sure I will never be without a TJ again.

But I digest, (family Guy reference) there really is only one way to rule it out...
 
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A good shop can repair a crack, but I don't know if it's worth it with this particular head. It sure sounds like your symptoms are a cracked head and if you weren't dealing with a commonly known symptom of a head that often develops issues, I may approach this differently.

I know it's a kick in the nutz, but that's where I would go before any additional time spent on diagnosing it.

Again, I'm no expert, but I'm a mechanical guy. That TJ that I owned that had the cracked head also locked up the engine on the interstate because of a cooling system failure. I repaired the hose, filled it up with water and drove it for another 50k miles with the same cracked head and no additional work to the engine until one day it started overheating at any speed over 55 mph and I sold it to a friend. To my credit, it was a sport with AX15 and a Dana 44 rear with 3.73 gears and 180k miles, and I let him have it for $3500. He had the head repaired and still drives it to this day as a second vehicle. He thinks he got a deal, and maybe I agree 😁. That jeep started me on a path in which I'm pretty sure I will never be without a TJ again.

But I digest, (family Guy reference) there really is only one way to rule it out...
Thanks for your help. Glad to hear that Jeep is still running. I guess these motors do run forever even if a few have issues. My Jeep is already on its second head. First one cracked with the PO and he replaced that one with another faulty 0331. If this one does end up being cracked, I am gonna buy a reman TUPY for it. I love this Jeep and its many (and I mean many) problems. I've only had it for a few months and love it. Unfortunately it has been in the Rust Belt its whole life so I cant keep this one forever, but i never want to be without a TJ for long. Lucky for me, my grandfather is a master mechanic so he will be helping me along with my dad.
 
Dude, my dad is a pharmacist, so I had no help there. Everything I learned, I learned from majorly screwing something up.

Count your blessings 😂