'00- '01 Jeep heads crack?
- Thread starter Bonnewagon
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Here is another fine example of piss poor FCA engineering folks. Another reason i will never own a Dodge
Well aside from the cracking problem I believe this is the re-designed engine that made removing the head mandatory to change the lifters. The old design which went back to the 1940's had two lifter covers on the side of the block which you removed for access. I guess that was too simple for the Daimler engineers (think BMW/Audi stupidity) or maybe they did not want serviceability so you just bought a new car? Either way I am shocked at the postings on various forums that these heads are "expected" to fail and aftermarket replacements are selling like hotcakes. I have 50 year old Pontiac heads that are as solid as the day they were made!
This was true a few years ago, also the hokey tin plenum plate with too long bolts on the Kegger manifold for the Magnum V8. Even with the upgraded gasket, it started moving after just a couple of miles. I bought the thick aluminum plate from Hughes. I can tell you my 2017 Challenger GT so far has been massively better, even than my 2010 for quality wise, so far. Dodge wasn't the only one cutting weight over the years. Remember the Pontiac 77 to 79 400 and all the 77 and later Olds V8's. Also the famed Vortec heads have cracking issues as well. Another reason Engine Quest also did replacement heads for them as well. For years Ford, Chrysler and Imports were always one or many steps behind GM in quality and engineering, definitely not true anymore. Look at Hyundai/Kia and compare the cars they made in the 80's. Go back in time to the 80's and tell them Hyundai would have a world class luxury car with a world class in house 400hp V8, they would piss themselves laughing. Competition is real and GM is no longer the far away leader.
The 4.0 isn't a FCA or even Chrysler product, It's AMC. When you get one apart it's really evident that it was designed a really long time ago. Big, heavy parts abound. Head bolts are huge. It just happens to have some semi modern stuff slapped on top of it but it's an old engine under all that fluff.
Actually it's even older than AMC. It's a Rambler engine and I even think that was preceded by Hudson. I had a '75 Matador wagon with the 258 straight six and the exhaust manifold cracked. I scrounged the junkyards and I came up with a '60 Rambler intake/exhaust manifold set that bolted right up. It even had brass nipples at each end of the intake for the heater hoses to attach to. The inside of the intake had a brass tube for the hot coolant to warm the intake. Nice! Winter operation made easy. I even scored the original Holley 1920 single barrel carb and it ran better than the Carter BBD that AMC used. It was the first year for the electronic ignition distributor and that worked well, and now that same hole holds the sensor for the modern distributor-less ignition. After speaking with my SIL he said the oil pressure was down and that is when he found the milky oil. He parked it and I told him to drain everything and refill with used oil to flush out the crud. If the oil pressure comes back up he may be OK. Then we get a head.
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