Those darn 0331 heads - cracked

[pajeepman]

Yep, I got coolant in my oil in my 2000 XJ. I noticed heater wasn't working great Friday. I topped coolant off Saturday. Topped it off again yesterday since I figured rad may have been low. I checked oil and it looked ok, level was ok, milky crap on filler cap though. Oil looks like a milkshake today. I figure the bearing are ok since it seems to have just happened. Anybody have any experience with aftermarket heads. I have found:

Alabama Cylinders Heads for $520 to my door(1 yr warranty)
Oddessa/Clearwater Cylinder heads for $369(2 yr warranty/$425 5 yr warranty)
J&C cylinder heads for $369 (1yr warranty)

Anybody have any experiance with any of these. They all say they are new castings, beefed up were the factory ones were weak. I kinda have afeeling they all get there castings from the same factory in China, whadda ya think?
I'm wondering about the Oddessa/Clearwater head, same compnay(Oddessa is there ebay name), would you spend the extra $55 for 3 more years on the warranty?
I doubt that it's just the head gasket.

 

[SanDiegoOverland]

short trips in any car can leave a milky residue on the the dipstick, the filler cap, etc.

Basically the highest parts of the engine where the moisture in the engine vaporizes, but does not burn off.

This is not indicative of a head gasket issue.

I have seen many cars with the milk on the cap with no issue other than not getting out on the highway like its supposed to. Happens a lot with soccer mom, small town, commuter type cars.

You sure the oil is mixed/milky?

 

[pajeepman]

You sure the oil is mixed/milky?

OH YEAH!

I checked it yesterday thinking I better check it since my coolant level was down, it was ok yesterday, its "chocolate milkshake" today.

 

[Emerscape]

I've posted elsewhere in this forum on this topic but I ended up using Clearwater Cylinder Head ("CCH") for my replacement head on my 2000 Cherokee. I called around and wanted to go with Alabama Cylinder Head ("ACH") but ACH gave me the run around and never had any available. On top of that ACH customer service was almost non-existent. Sounded like some hillbilly in the back of the warehouse taking orders.

Give Pat a call at CCH and he'll get it out to you within 3 business days. Really nice guy, friendly and knowledgeable. I don't remember the warranty off the top of my head, but I do know that it was much better than ACH.

I will note, however, that if you search my old posts you'll see I had a problem with a valve spring breaking on the new CCH head. Originally it was suspected that it was an inferior quality spring but after further examination it turned out to be a defective spring and it was a one in a hundred thousand chance. I don't fault CCH for this breakage and they worked with me on getting it taken care of.

 

[pajeepman]

I've posted elsewhere in this forum on this topic but I ended up using Clearwater Cylinder Head ("CCH") for my replacement head on my 2000 Cherokee.

I have seen your posts about CCH. I can get what I assume is there same head via ebay for $55 less but with 3 years less warranty. I kinda figure if that if the head is "beefed" up, any warranty issues should show up in 2 years. I don't plan on getting rid of the Jeep so I may go with the 5 year warranty head.

 

[Emerscape]

Yeah if you're planning on keeping it for the 5 years then the $55 is worth it. I ended up driving once I cracked the head - put about 3k miles or so on it, went through about 1 full coolant bottle of coolant. Wish I had fixed it right away as I'm always questioning the bearings.

 

[multmigs]

when I had Sport Jeep diagnosis mine years ago they did some type of leak down test to the coolant system which I believe shows that the pressure they put into it is not leaking externally (I guess cause there are no drips) but that it is going out into the crankcase via the cracks in the head. I did the job myself and it was obvious as soon as I pulled the valve cover. Hope you have a warm garage sir!!

 

[pajeepman]

I had a friend offer me his garage but it's gonna get done in my uncles garage. We can get it done right hot in there if we want to. If it was summer, I would tackle it in my driveway. My garage is full of crap but its very narrow, long but narrow. I painted my CJ-8 in it and had to jack it up and move it against the one wall and paint half. Put it against the other wall, and paint the other half:looney:

I can see the crack when I look in the oil filler hole:doh:

 

[pajeepman]

I just order one from CCH. Pat said it was gonna have all new parts. Emerscape, you were right he was very nice and seemed to know his stuff. I should have it Wednesday! Hopefully it will be back on the road next week.

I figure I need:
Head (CCH)
Head Gasket (Victor Reinz 54249)
Head bolts (Felpro ES71102)
Manifold gasket (Felpro MS93094)
Valve cover gasket (Felpro VS50458R)
Thermostat housing gasket (Felpro 35630)

Antifreeze
Oil filters
oil
Vodka for the uncle helping me:cheers:

I figure I will use the Victor gasket as it is a little thinner than the felpro gasket(530sd). Small bump in compression should give a little more power, not sure if I will notice it but engine will be more effecient.

Anything else I forgot?

 

[Curt'sY2KXJ]

I did a Alambama Cylinder Heads 0331 Head on my Jeep. Have no problems with it and all fit well. Buy it through quadratec they have them instock just tell them that alabama lists it on their site for 3xx.xx or whatever. And they will match the price.

 

[multmigs]

I have some of those gaskets laying around my garage, if you didn't order them up already lemme know I'll dig them out, it would also be a good time to replace ur waterpump, they are cheap and I'd even suggest the timing cover gasket if urs looks greasy and was never off...

 

[Emerscape]

glad to hear things worked out with Pat. Best of luck to you. Wish I had dealt with mine earlier than I did.

 

[pajeepman]

I did a Alambama Cylinder Heads 0331 Head on my Jeep. Have no problems with it and all fit well. Buy it through quadratec they have them instock just tell them that alabama lists it on their site for 3xx.xx or whatever. And they will match the price.

I got annoyed when I talked to q-tec. They said the head was $639 on sale to $609. I told them the club I belong to gets 10% off and he said I couldn't use that since it was already on sale(it would have saved me $64 instead of the $30 it was on sale). I talked to 4WDH and told them what I could get it direct from Alabama and he said that was cheaper than his cost(I would have called BS but it wasn't worth it). Q-tec had one on hold for me -guy offered to hold it for 2 weeks, I called them back and told them I could get it cheaper direct from the Alabama and he said OK, didn't ask what their price was or anything, didn't seem to care about lossing a sale or trying to get the sale for that matter.

 

[Emerscape]

yeah I went that route as well. Then 4wd never had it in stock and it was going to be a month before they had it in stock. So I went over to everdrive to get a used one and they sent me the wrong head. Finally I ended up with CCH...

fyi - my recommendation is to keep testing your oil using Blackstone Laboratories or someone similar after you replace the head. It's good to know what's going on in your engine based on what your oil can tell you.

 

[pajeepman]

pm sent to you multmigs

 

[OverlandZJ]

How did this work out for you?

Looking like i need an 0331.

 

[pajeepman]

Good, the head looked good. Got it back together last week. Only snag was an intake/exhaust gasket that was giving to me was for an earlier head, overlooked the difference and had to take the manifolds off again to install the proper gasket. The head arrived when I was told it would, packaged nicely with all the return postage slips included and all.
I ordered it through CCH, not Odessa which is their ebay store. $55 more total but an extra 3 years on the warranty. I usually keep vehicles along time so I went with the longer warranty. Talk to Pat and mention you saw info on , who knows, maybe if the word is spread, they will give a discount?

 

[Emerscape]

glad to hear it worked out for you..

 

[OverlandZJ]

Good to hear..

Are there any restrictions to the warranty over who installed the cyl head? Hate to pay extra and find out the warranty is void because an established shop did not install the head.

 

[pajeepman]

I hope not, they didn't mention it. The do have a "heat tab" thingy that is suppose to melt at 255-260 degrees F. If that thing melts, kiss you warranty good bye. It mentions this on there web site. I think that cracking would be more of an issue with an alumninum head cracking from overheating(I hope so since their 0331 heads are suppose to be beefed up where they crack.)

If you plan on using a Felpro head gasket, their part # 530sd(.050) is thicker than their hs9076pt4(.043) gasket, it would lower your compression ever so slightly and lower your power a tiny bit FWIW. I was gonna go with the victor reinz gasket 54249 but didn't feel like ordering it, nobody stocked it around me but "multmigs" gave me a head gasket he had laying around anyway.
Thanks again "multmigs"