Rebuilt TUPY head vs New Clearwater 0331 head

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martygras13

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Jul 26, 2018
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Location
Templeton, California
Hello all and thank you in advance for your advise. I would like to say that I love this forum. I come from the Honda world and it seems that all the forums there are typically very negative. It is such a relief to find an informative and positive minded community of Jeep owners as I've found on this forum. Kudos to Chris and all of the supporting members that make this site possible and so great.

Anyway, I've recently bought my first Jeep and it was love at first drive. It's a 2002 Sport. I specifically sought out and purchased a 4.0L because of their reputation for being rock solid dependable. Little did I know that there is a very small window of flawed years for head castings. Of course, Murphy's law dictates that I must buy one of the bad ones and now I have the dreaded 0331 crack on the topside between cylinders 3 and 4.

So, my question to all the wise Jeep Gurus out there is should I buy a rebuilt TUPY or a new Clearwater head. My concern is the metal quality of the Chinese Clearwater casting. I'm kinda leaning toward the TUPY head, but your input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much,
Marty
 
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You won't find much negativity here. We TJ owners stick together!

I come from the BMW crowd, and I can say that those forums also have a lot of negativity going on for whatever reason, so I know what you mean.

My advice would be to avoid a rebuilt TUPY head if it's an 0331 casting, as it will only give you more trouble. I'd also avoid those Chinese heads as well, as I don't trust cheap Chinese parts.

I would actually seek out a remanufactured head from a place like LKQ (they sell them), or get a used one on eBay or http://car-part.com.

If you end up getting a used one, any good machinist can overhaul it and make it like new. Just make sure that if you get one, it isn't an 0331 head.

I had a Cherokee XJ before this with an 0331 head, and I was under the impression that was only an issue on 00-01 models.
 
I am also curious to the best solution. I sent my head to machine shop and have the 3-4 cylinder crack. What about a reman from O’Rileys? About $450 complete head.
 
Tim Nash said:
I am also curious to the best solution. I sent my head to machine shop and have the 3-4 cylinder crack. What about a reman from O’Rileys? About $450 complete head.
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Got the reman O’Rileys head, it was a TUPY. Put it on and no problems so far.... will update once I get a few miles logged.
 
dmatt13 said:
Awesome! How did you know you needed to replace it? I have a 2000 so it is a concern. Not seeing any signs yet though
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Major misfire. Scanner revealed cylinder 4 misfire. Thought it may be a coil rail at first until I saw just one cylinder misfiring. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but usually when the coil goes it’s 2 cylinders. Ruling coil rail out I checked compression on cyl 4 and it revealed 0 psi. I want ahead and did a wet/dry compression test, pics attached. Seems cyl 3 and 5 were also suffering from valve sealing issues as well. Since cyl 4 was “0” I pretty well knew it was a burnt valve since a burnt piston or washed rings would have produced smoke from a running engine, and I wasn’t experiencing that. Sure enough burnt exhaust valve cyl 4. Sent head to machine shop and when the mag tested it, it had the common 3/4 cylinder crack.

2A85FA97-032A-40F8-AD9B-E90D9EE2547D.jpeg


C6CCB2AB-FC3A-4FC5-9A1E-3995BF6B5FD0.jpeg
 
Tim Nash said:
Major misfire. Scanner revealed cylinder 4 misfire. Thought it may be a coil rail at first until I saw just one cylinder misfiring. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but usually when the coil goes it’s 2 cylinders. Ruling coil rail out I checked compression on cyl 4 and it revealed 0 psi. I want ahead and did a wet/dry compression test, pics attached. Seems cyl 3 and 5 were also suffering from valve sealing issues as well. Since cyl 4 was “0” I pretty well knew it was a burnt valve since a burnt piston or washed rings would have produced smoke from a running engine, and I wasn’t experiencing that. Sure enough burnt exhaust valve cyl 4. Sent head to machine shop and when the mag tested it, it had the common 3/4 cylinder crack.
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Also, my coolant was almost black, I believe thinwas from the cracked head allowing exhaust gases into the coolant system.
 
dmatt13 said:
Awesome! How did you know you needed to replace it? I have a 2000 so it is a concern. Not seeing any signs yet though
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Mine presented with discoloration of the coolant and major overpressurization of the cooling system due to combustion gasses being forced into the coolant. I almost blew the black plastic top completely off of the radiator. Other symptoms of this problem involve coolant getting into the crankcase oil. That is a much more serious symptom than I had, because if coolant gets into the oil and it is not repaired very quickly then it will destroy the crank and cam bearings causing your oil pressure to drop very low. At that point the damage is so extensive that it is cheaper to buy a long block and replace the engine than it is to repair it.
 
After much research, careful thought, and deliberation, I decided to go with the new casting Clearwater head. I know they have a bad reputation as a business, but everything went smoothly for me. The part looked great (I worked in a cylinder head shop for about a year in the past), it arrived when it was supposed to, and has been performing excellently for about 5000 miles now. No more top end oil leaks. No more combustion gasses entering the cooing system. And my oil level stays the same from the time I replace it until it is time to change it again. For better or worse I will continue to update this post as I rack up the miles on my daily driver.
 
martygras13 said:
After much research, careful thought, and deliberation, I decided to go with the new casting Clearwater head. I know they have a bad reputation as a business, but everything went smoothly for me. The part looked great (I worked in a cylinder head shop for about a year in the past), it arrived when it was supposed to, and has been performing excellently for about 5000 miles now. No more top end oil leaks. No more combustion gasses entering the cooing system. And my oil level stays the same from the time I replace it until it is time to change it again. For better or worse I will continue to update this post as I rack up the miles on my daily driver.
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Hi martygras13...do you have a specific part # for the head you ordered from Clearwater? My 2000 Sport has begun to drink the coolant (oil level is increasing while coolant level is falling) so I'm afraid that I've blown a head gasket or have a cracked head. I've read that it's better to just replace the head if its being taken off to replace the gasket, so I'm going to go that route. Plus, I found thick light-brown "snot" covering the underside of the oil cap and I just had a new radiator installed with new antifreeze and its discolored brown...so something is surely going on. I've added some dye to the coolant to see if I can find a leak...but I'm just expecting to see the oil glow. I'm not driving the TJ...only running it as necessary to distribute the dye. My local shop can do the work, but I want to be able to tell them the EXACT part to get (so they don't just get another original 0331 out of a junkyard!). Thanks in advance!
 
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Sparktweek said:
Hi martygras13...do you have a specific part # for the head you ordered from Clearwater? My 2000 Sport has begun to drink the coolant (oil level is increasing while coolant level is falling) so I'm afraid that I've blown a head gasket or have a cracked head. I've read that it's better to just replace the head if its being taken off to replace the gasket, so I'm going to go that route. Plus, I found thick light-brown "snot" covering the underside of the oil cap and I just had a new radiator installed with new antifreeze and its discolored brown...so something is surely going on. I've added some dye to the coolant to see if I can find a leak...but I'm just expecting to see the oil glow. I'm not driving the TJ...only running it as necessary to distribute the dye. My local shop can do the work, but I want to be able to tell them the EXACT part to get (so they don't just get another original 0331 out of a junkyard!). Thanks in advance!
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Hi, I just bought mine off of ebay. Clearwater goes by the seller name odessa*cylinderhead. I have included the link below (I hope it works). I've now put 12,000 miles on it and my Jeep still runs great. All of my original symptoms have been remedied. I think you are making the right choice by replacing the head.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-...0001&campid=5337789113&icep_item=172146958114
 
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