Head Gaskets

[Melissa]

Without going into my whole very long story on my replacement motor again, I'll keep this short.

If It is the head gasket on my motor that is bad, and by chance the block is warped, can I put two gaskets on instead of just one? Could that help at all?

I have heard that sometimes putting two gaskets on will work if your block is warped, was I just hearing BS?
:popcorn:

[Mudderoy]

I've heard the same thing. Dunno.

[xjjeepthing]

2 gasket wont seal correctly. Very rarly will a block warp. Have the cylinder head checked for warpage and cracks. If its warped have it resurfaced and install a good name (Felpro prefered) head gasket and new head bolts

[Melissa]

2 gasket wont seal correctly. Very rarly will a block warp. Have the cylinder head checked for warpage and cracks. If its warped have it resurfaced and install a good name (Felpro prefered) head gasket and new head bolts

All this was done less than four months ago, even the Felpro gasket was installed :confused:

[BudgetXJ]

Assuming that the head was true and has no cracks, the gasket could have been improperly installed or torqued down. Like xjjeepthing said, the block will very rarely warp but if you do take it apart again, you can check that fairly easily using a straight edge and feeler guages.

Did you have a shop do the work or did you install it yourself?

[Melissa]

Assuming that the head was true and has no cracks, the gasket could have been improperly installed or torqued down. Like xjjeepthing said, the block will very rarely warp but if you do take it apart again, you can check that fairly easily using a straight edge and feeler guages.

Did you have a shop do the work or did you install it yourself?

I bought the motor on CL and then had a mech do all the work after hours at his house and paid him under the table. He is the city of Stanfield's mech, so I believe he knew what he was doing. He took the head to a machine shop had it checked for cracks and machined (however heads are delt with). I bought the felpro gasket and took it to him when he was ready to reinstall the head.

[BudgetXJ]

Thats really bizarre then. Out of curiosity more than anything else, I would ask him if he checked the block for warpage but it shouldn't be and he probably did. If the head checked out ok and you haven't overheated it (until your recent problems), it shouldn't be cracked. There is a possibility that you got a bad gasket but I haven't ever seen that with the good fel-pro gaskets. I'd be guessing at this point if I were to say what I thought it was. I'd recommend taking it back to that mechanic and letting him give it a once over.

[Melissa]

Thats where I'm gonna start. I would have thought he would have checked the block, but I never thought about asking if he did check it, I will now.

This whole "guarnteed" donor motor has been nothing but trouble and I should have just bought the crate motor, but I was being cheap :headbag:

I would have been into a crate motor less money than I am now with the donor motor
:thumbdown:

[BudgetXJ]

That sucks. Just one of those ever so painful learning experiences. I've had my fair share of those over the years of tinkering with vehicles. I try not to think of how much money I have blown on my various projects. Hopefully it doesn't cause you to have to park the Jeep for too long.

[Melissa]

I hope not to, It still runs around town just fine without any overheating issues at all, as long as I don't pull any hills, that is the only time I am seeing the temp spike.

[BlueXJ]

Temp doesn't worry me it is the crankcase pressure you described with oil coming from the dipstick tube. Solve one and you most probably will solve the other.

Oil still looks like oil and not milky or worse chocolate milky? That is an indication of oil/water mix which is not good.

[Melissa]

Temp doesn't worry me it is the crankcase pressure you described with oil coming from the dipstick tube. Solve one and you most probably will solve the other.

Oil still looks like oil and not milky or worse chocolate milky? That is an indication of oil/water mix which is not good.

Okay lay it on me, how much trouble am I in?

The oil looks like chocolate and smells like gas, but it does not appear to have water in it, looks nothing like it did when I found water in the oil from the original head no milky color.

:scared0016:

[BlueXJ]

Well the milky is just water and oil. The cocolate indicates water, antifreeze and fuel. That is for sure a bad gasket/cracked head. There is one or two years that had a bad casting for the 4.0L head and they are brittle and crack. My guess is that is what you are unfortunate enough to have. That means a new head and head gasket set. Fel-Pro is good but I have always thought that NAPA was as good if not better. Use some copper sealer (Indian Head) on the gasket even though the books say you don't need any. Get a head that is prior to 96 IIRC or newer than 99.
HTH.
Check with Spanky to see if he knows for sure which years had the heads that crack easily.

[Melissa]

My original head cracked in half is it still repairable?

I never had problems with that one until my water pump froze and my jeep overheated so bad it cracked that head.

Do you think it would be cheaper if in fact the head is cracked to fix my original one and use it instead of buying another head?

[kryptonitexj]

I would recommend you get a Compression Checker. Their like 20 or so dollars and can go a long way to help you diagnose your problem. I would do a compression check on all cylinders and look for a low reading. after that pull the valve cover off and look for cracks near any cylinders that had low compression. I had to do this to diagnose my bad motor. Also when you pull the plugs to do the compression check look at their condition if one was getting wet or has oil you know what cylinder('s) to focus on.

Good Luck And please don't give up on a Jeep I have brought mine back from the dead a few times. She just keep on going.:)

[Melissa]

I'm not giving up really, just frustraded since the head was done about four months ago and now I might be looking at a bad head again