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[wildrover]

Its me again....As i mentioned on other posts , i have a diesal cherokee that suffered overheating problems , possibly due to a cracked cylinder head...  In desperation i threw in a product called steel seal , which to my suprise sorted out the problem...

Since putting the stuff in i have had no problems at all with overheating , and its tempting to leave things alone as long as the stuff is working , but there is always the chance its going to come back and bite me in the ass at the worst possible moment...

I intend to use the Jeep for some quite long journeys into the depths of Ukraine , and maybe Russia , so i am thinking it may be a good idea to replace the head before the problem comes back on some remote track in the middle of a Ukrainian forest...

I am awaiting a manual for the vm engine , but in the meantime perhaps the experts that have been great at sorting out my Jeep problems can put me wise on a few points...

My Jeep has it seems has four seperate cylinder heads , one or more of which has a crack in it....are all four of these heads the same , can i get myself one or two cylinder heads , and then simply put the new heads on whichever cylinder has the damaged head . or are they all different...

I don,t want to have the vehicle off the road longer than is needed , so it would be good to get the parts before pulling it to bits , of course it the heads are all different , then i am going to have to pull it to bits first to see which one is damaged..

My other question is about the gasket , apparently , there is only one gasket for the four heads , not four seperate ones can anyone confirm this...?

thanks peeps..   

[Dave69]

all the heads are the same so you don't realy have to worry about where you put them but it's easier to replace the head back in the same place. the failed head should be easy to spot due to it being wetter than the rest
 the mk1 had individual gaskets and depending on the engine aplication they had different gasket thicknesses. this is identified by the nuber of holes in the gasket, IIRC they are located on the left hand front corner looking to the rear of the jeep.
 you can buy a one piece gasket but if your swapping over then the end support plates need to bee machined to cater for this swap as they will be slightly higher due to them sitting now on the gasket. if you have a one piece gasket then it's easier and no real worries.
 you will also need a new set of head bolts so remove all the heads and clean them as it's not worth just taking two off. clean the bolt holes out so you don't hydrolock the bolts with left in coolant
getting the exhaust manifold off is a PITA especiall the bolts by cylinder #3 as the bolt is so tight it only allows itself to turn one flange at a time. when replacing all the bolts use spring washers to secure them as it will stop the bolts working loose as the engine warms and cools during running.

[wildrover]

Thanks Dave , i was hoping all the heads were the same , no idea if mine is a mk1 cherokee or not , i guess the engine number will tell a dealer which one i have....Since this head cracking seems to be a common ailment of vm engines did they ever market a replacement head that was a bit stronger and not prone to cracking....?

I am supposing my cracked head is due to a previous owner having an overheating problem , but i wonder if the overheating was due to a cracked head , or the cracked head due to overheating caused by something else,,,which comes first...

I have not had any other major problems with the Jeep since i had it , so it would be nice to get it 100%   

[Dave69]

to be honest the model is irrelevant as you can see by looking whetheer it is a 1 piece gasket or individual ones. if you have one piece side windows and an air bag then it will be a mk2 (facelift model) 1997 yr will be the swap over time of models. the heads are the same for both years and they fit either model. if you buy a new replacement head then it will the improved design and made better so no more predictable porosity and bad castings. the cheapest place was or is the vm specialist in sheffield if they are still trading (see other post)

[wildrover]

Definatly a mk2 model then...As for the VM dealer in Sheffield , i guess that would be the Chesterfield one then , from what people on the forum are saying , it looks like they went down the pan....But i guess there must be another someplace....

[Bubba]

i think they will reapear after all they could make a fair bit just out of diesel jeeps