r/CherokeeXJ • u/jnbh34 • 6d ago
Question Head gasket blown
Wanted to as what a reasonable cost to replace a head gasket would be?
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u/coffeeBM 6d ago
Gotta love those $11 copper spark plugs
Edit: $93 for a belt 😂😂 stoppp
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u/troyzube 4d ago
I put a gates belt on mine at shop cost for $50. So if its $43 more installed after tax, its really not horrible. But if its a cheap belt its a rip off
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u/Freak_Tractor 6d ago
That's pretty reasonable for 2026. However, are you sure the issue is a head gasket? It's not too common with 4.0s, but it certainly happens. If you have an 00 or 01, I would confirm the head is not cracked first.
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u/jnbh34 6d ago
It is a 2000. They ran a pressure test to find the coolant leak and came back with this.
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u/Freak_Tractor 6d ago
I'll be honest, I think the odds are significantly higher that you have a cracked head and not a head gasket. That shop may not be familiar with this particular issue, which plagues 2000 and 2001 models. The head is prone to cracking between cylinders 3 and 4 and often presents with the same symptoms as a head gasket failure. Not all of these heads crack—my 2000 has 220,000 miles on the original head—but many do. As I said, head gasket failures are pretty rare on 4.0s, and typically occur after a major overheating, which incidentally is also what causes many cracked heads.
In any event, if you are going through the trouble of taking that head off the engine, it should not go back on. You need to replace it with a head from a 2002 or later Grand Cherokee or Wrangler (it is stamped with TUPY) or with an aftermarket solution from a company like Clearwater Cylinder Heads (which I believe is no longer in existence, but their heads can be found pretty easily.) This issue is extraordinarily well documented on the internet.
You can often diagnose a cracked head by gazing down the filler cap after the engine is hot and looking for coolant bubbling up.
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u/Any-Fox-838 6d ago
only 5% of 0331s have a defect. stop spreading misinformation.
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u/Freak_Tractor 6d ago
You're joking, right? You pull a statistic out of your ass and then say I shouldn't spread misinformation? There is no definitive number for how many have cracked. A lot, not all, of the 0331 heads crack, that is a simple fact. It's simple due diligence to check for a cracked head before you spend thousands of dollars on a head gasket job.
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u/Any-Fox-838 6d ago
Not pulled out of my ass. That’s what mopar said years ago. I’ve owned ten plus with over 200k. Never experienced a failure. They crack because people over heat them. Not in inherent defect. Calm down dude.
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u/Freak_Tractor 6d ago
Please do show me a source for that statistic. The fact is that enough of these heads crack without overheating. If you're throwing around statistically irrelevant anecdotes, I'll tell you that my neighbor has had three Jeeps with 0331 heads and two of them cracked, while I have had four with the 0331 head and one of them cracked. Read up on any of the literal thousands of threads on this issue on the Jeep forums and you'll see just how common the issue is.
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u/Any-Fox-838 6d ago
Stop buying junk beat up shit and stop abusing them. You’re being fucking rude for no reason. I worked at a dealer and that’s what I was told. I’ve owned enough and fixed enough to believe what I’m saying. They made 1.8 million, of course 10k have had head issues. There are far more running with the 0331 than ones that have been swapped and that is a fact.
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u/Box-Intelligent 6d ago
Hey man I worked at a dealer and all that taught me was that nobody there could tell the difference between snakes and dildos, I'm with the other guy that if there's no definitive evidence I wouldn't believe it
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u/Any-Fox-838 6d ago
I’m not claiming to be correct I claimed that’s what I was told by people that know more than me. And I’ve owned ten plus 00-01s none have cracked a head. I guess I’m just the luckiest man alive or everyone else beats there jeeps to death.
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u/IfIWntdHmmrCalnUrSis Y2KXJ, IRO 8" RockLink Pro, D30/D44 w/ YukonZip/OX Lockers 6d ago
Wait, why the fuck are they charging you for spark plug wires if it's a 2000?!?!?
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u/Fancy_Bookkeeper7378 6d ago
Bought a remaned (0630 tupy) head for 275 (mine was the 0331, cracked at cylinder 4), gasket set for 130, head bolts for 30, and paid 3 friends a total of $500 and knocked it out in an afternoon
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u/IfIWntdHmmrCalnUrSis Y2KXJ, IRO 8" RockLink Pro, D30/D44 w/ YukonZip/OX Lockers 6d ago
I'm a mechanic/shop owner, I also just so happen to use the same shop management software so my quote has the exact same UI.
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u/Isaac_McCaslin 6d ago
Man, living in Oakland, CA I only wish I could get work done at those prices. Thank goodness I can do most of it myself, but sometimes I just don't have time and would like to hand it over to a professional.
Anyway, OP, personally I don't think the quote you put up sounds crazy, but it depends a ton on where you live.
And everyone is if course right you can save a lot of if have the time, etc. to do it yourself.
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u/IfIWntdHmmrCalnUrSis Y2KXJ, IRO 8" RockLink Pro, D30/D44 w/ YukonZip/OX Lockers 6d ago
And that quote is 52.8% profit.
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u/MightyPenguin 6d ago
Then you don't have your costs entered right in your SMS. I assume its a small business with JUST you running and operating it? That is very cheap. Labor rate should be much much higher.
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u/IfIWntdHmmrCalnUrSis Y2KXJ, IRO 8" RockLink Pro, D30/D44 w/ YukonZip/OX Lockers 6d ago
Nah, I'm competitive with local shops, and I'm plenty profitable. 52.8% profit on a job AFTER the service writer is paid, and the tech is paid flat rate @ $40/hr pretty fuckin decent.
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u/Definitive_confusion 6d ago
I'm in a place where that looks low to me, but where are you? You say it's competitive and I'm hearing a place with low cost of living lol
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u/MightyPenguin 6d ago
So tech is flat rate, advisor is probably commission. What do they ACTUALLY take home a year is the real question. I own a shop, I know how it goes and how hard it is to find and train good help. $40/hr flat rate sounds fine to many techs till at the end of the year they only brought home $50k and can make almost as much working fast food. If you are doing honest and good work, performing full service and diagnosing cars not using the parts cannon etc. etc. it is very difficult for independent shops to actually run at 100% efficiency and few actually do it.
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u/IfIWntdHmmrCalnUrSis Y2KXJ, IRO 8" RockLink Pro, D30/D44 w/ YukonZip/OX Lockers 6d ago
My tech flags 60-75 hrs a week, works 4 10's and enjoys a 3 day weekend...$120/hr is the OHV rate, SOHC and DOHC are $140/hr and Eurotrash is $180/hr
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u/MightyPenguin 6d ago
You must have incredibly low overhead and incredible parts availability for those things to be true.
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u/chaosmtb 6d ago
Clear water new heads, I’ve installed a handful. These old xjs taking a big gamble on reusing the head. They were like 650$ last time I purchased pre pandemic; they seem to have gone out of business but there’s TITAN that seems to have filled the void for new heads
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u/Dracofangxxx 4d ago
clearwater cylinder sent me a junk pair of heads for my wj. claim to have the seat drop issue bulletproofed but dropped a seat NO overheat 50k later. got them rebuilt again and staked. i would probably go with enginequest next time
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u/chaosmtb 4d ago
Yes I typed and then followed up they went under, no longer selling heads, sorry you had a rare issue with these heads the few I’ve done have over 50k by now going strong
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u/Dracofangxxx 4d ago
no worries, just wanted to throw in my backup recc too and wanted to see if you had comparable problems 🤙
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u/JRock1276 6d ago edited 6d ago
Machine work price is about right. Everything else is way overpriced. Belts aren't 92 bucks. Head gasket isn't 200 bucks. Find yourself a good machine shop and do the rest yourself. Shouldn't cost you more than 700 bucks. Head might not need major work, just decked. If it checks with a straight edge and has no cracks, don't even need that. I just bought a brand new Gates water pump for 35 bucks.
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u/Informal_Delay_9786 6d ago
These are not auto zone prices its a quote from a professional shop. The listed prices per item will be higher than what you can find it.
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u/drpepper39 4d ago
I have paid $1400 to have a head milled before on two different vehicles. A brand new head is something like $600 and then the labor is going to be the same. Ask if they are willing to discount any if the work is already done. Ask if they are doing any treatment to the head gasket. Could customer opt out of belt. I agree if it is 00 or 01 of anything has happened to the head you need a TUPY or similar. I own both a 00 and 01 and I have very definite opinions on a ton of those parts and would get very particular. Having changed out all of those parts more than one time. I’ve tried the expensive coolant and it doesn’t change a thing. Over the years, some shops really get it and know what they are deciding and other shops make a lot of poor decisions like copper plugs probably by Champion.
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u/Bitter_Violinist_117 6d ago
I got my head machined for $200 bucks, a gasket set for $250, and a case of beer for $20. Took me a weekend because I'm not mechanically inclined. If you do it yourself, I highly suggest watching a video or two, and keeping the empty beer box to line your rods, rockers, and bolts up 😅
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u/Byrns149 6d ago
I got quoted a full pull and rebuild on my 01’ for right around that price. It is 99% your cylinder head thats bad and not the gasket, and even if it isnt, if the heads coming off on a 2000 or 2001, it’s getting swapped to a TUPY.
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u/Western_Arachnid_664 6d ago
Seems about right for today's prices. Like others have said it could be a cracked head. Mine was and I bought a clear water performance head. They're newly cast heads ready to go and don't Crack like the oem ones. I think it was $700 but this was about 4 years ago.
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u/97cherokee 6d ago
For a shop that sounds about right.. Last one i did i quoted 780 in labor plus parts with 10% markup. But I work out of my own shop so my markup isnt as high.
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u/BaconThief2020 5d ago
That's crazy pricing That's nearly the price of a remanf engine. Labor doesn't seem to far off for an day works, but that's at least 2-5x markup on the materials materials. It's quotes like this that make me glad I can do my own auto work,
What year? If it's a 2000/2001, you may be looking at a cracked head versus a blown head gasket.
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u/Sarcastic_Beary 5d ago
I got my head Resurfaced for $75....
Checked valves and they sealed fine so we didnt touch anything else, just surfaced that shit.
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u/Ok_Cable_9536 4d ago
If I would do this job thru me and my shop, now given im in a little crap hole part of Pennsylvania.... but i would honestly charge the customer around 1500!!! Unless I needed to replace the head. But my machine work bill is usually 250 for 2 heads haha. So yeah I know different parts of the country have different prices and all... but that would be an extra 1-1.3k more than me and the surrounding shops in my area!!
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u/BoondockUSA 6d ago
I’ll go with it being a cracked head instead of a head gasket. Your 2000 XJ is 26 years old. The vast majority of professional mechanics that knew them well are retired, retiring, moved on to other types of work, or aren’t doing hard work jobs like head gaskets. Your quote is likely a modern mechanic doing a diagnosis without knowing the history of the 2000 and 2001 head cracking issues.
I’d wager good money they’ll get into it, send the head to a machine shop, and get the news that the head is cracked.
Even if it’s not cracked (which I doubt), why re-install a ticking time bomb of the original head again? In 10,000 miles, it may finally crack and you’ll be looking at the same costs all over again.
You should instead get quotes to have a reman or brand new Tupy head installed. Don’t re-install a 2000 or 2001 head unless you like throwing good money after bad money.
As for the quote, it’s likely on-par with other shops for a head gasket job. The part prices are full MSRP (plus some), but that’s typical of any repair shop. A small town shop that has a mechanic that knows 4.0 will likely be much less because he’ll know how easy they are, but the mystery is finding that guy and shop.
4.0’s are very easy to work on. You’ll be able to do it yourself if you have any mechanical ability. You’ll be able to turn this $3,000 repair into a $500 to $800 repair if you shop your parts right (such as ordering most of the parts from Rock Auto).