2006 Jeep Liberty Machine Shop Head Reman VS. New Head?

wingsfan3415 · **Joined:** Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:41 pm **Posts:** 3

Hi everyone,

This is my first post so I hope I found the correct forum.

Own a 2006 Jeep Liberty 2.8 CRD that was leaking coolant due to head gasket issue. Mechanic got the head off earlier this evening and called me to let me know it obviously isn't the first time the head has been remand (stamping on it only done by a machine shop, not factory according to him). He wasn't sure I should have the machine shop redo the head a second time. The alternative is a $1,700 new head from idparts.com. I'm thinking having the machine shop clean up the current head sounds much better, but don't want to be back in the shop again anytime soon so need to know...

Does anyone else have experience with this? can you rebuild/reman a CRD head more than once without creating problems?

I need to make a decision by tomorrow morning so any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
Richard

Srytrucker · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:04 am

From whatever little knowledge I have reading the posts here it is advised not to use reman head ( due to it being aluminium construction) or turbo ( only OEM ).
That being said the costs starts to escalate and while at it you might look into use of ARP studs and replacing worn rockers ( IDparts has a great price on them) and even more $$.

racertracer · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 2:50 am

I went through a head gasket leak in 2011 and I did not replace the cylinder head with a new head but with one that was remanufactured ...... the problem returned with a vengeance 3 months later.

naturist · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 2:46 pm

I have been told that while it is possible to remanufacture these heads, they cannot simply be milled flat, which is the usual way machine shops address the problem. I paid $800 for a head from Moparpartsonline last June, and it has performed flawlessly since. I'm fairly certain it was a remanufactured head -- they wanted my cracked head back as a core.

grywlfbg · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:51 pm

Well, be careful w/ terms. As I was told by Jeep, there are NO "new" heads for our motor available through Mopar. If you order a head from Jeep it is "factory remanufactured" and carries a 3-year warranty. This is longer than the warranty you would get on a "new" head.

The OP is asking if a local machine shop can "shave" the head or whatever to bring it back to square.

When I was faced with this I went w/ the Mopar reman head as this way there was no possibility of finger pointing between the dealer who did the install and the machine shop who shaved the head.

Sure enough, 9 months later the head warped again and the dealer installed a new one for free, no questions asked. My gut tells me the dealer messed up the install (mine was their first CRD) and now hope that they'll do better on their second one :-)r

audiboy86 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:00 pm

I have a machine shop here where I live that all they do is diesel cyclinder heads and he has rebuilt 3 without issue. The trick he told me is to mill it down to accept the next size gasket and no more. So if you have a no hole head gasket they mill it down to meet the one hole gasket. They also completely disassemble everything and check it all if it is cracked or weak they require it to be replaced before they will warranty their work. So I am trusting my spare damaged cyclinder head to them and swapping out my current blown head gasket one.

MRausch82 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 7:45 pm

I know of a machine shop here in PA who successfully reconditioned a CRD head. It wasn't warped, but they did mill it, and did a valve job. They did a good job as far as I know. I have had them do a bit of work for me, last thing was a Volvo D24 diesel engine; I had them bore it .040" OS. I assembled it. I have also had some heads built there. They do a lot of diesels, and I trust them.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 9:00 pm

Reputable machine shops do reputable work. When I had my repair shop for 14 1/2 years, I had a lot of heads repaired, and straightened by baking them in an oven. Then they did a very light resurfacing of the head. If an aluminum is welded in any way, all carbon and other contamination must be totally removed from the crack or the weld is junk.
I also had customers drag in cars with heads that were done by a hack job want to be machine shops who jut ran the head over a grinder type resurfacer designed to only work on old cast iron push rod gasser heads, not an over head cam aluminum head of any kind, including a CRD or TDI.
A good machine shop knows what they can fix and what to scrap. To say no CRD head can not be repaired, is a lame assumption. With 16 ports on a CRD head along with the glow plug holes and injector holes, a CRD head would be a challenge to repair right if cracked, depending on where it was cracked. Straightening a CRD head that is mildly warped, should not be an impossible task to the reputable machine shop.

wingsfan3415 · **Joined:** Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:41 pm **Posts:** 3

Thank you everyone for the help! Has anyone ordered parts from George @ VM UK? if so, how long did it take to get parts?

He seems to know his stuff, but has been difficult to get a total quote from. Think i'm going to have to wake up at 3AM (8AM in England) this morning to call him so I can get my parts ordered...

racertracer · **Posted:** Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:39 pm

wingsfan3415 wrote:

Thank you everyone for the help! Has anyone ordered parts from George @ VM UK? if so, how long did it take to get parts?

He seems to know his stuff, but has been difficult to get a total quote from. Think i'm going to have to wake up at 3AM (8AM in England) this morning to call him so I can get my parts ordered...

Other members who have done business with him, say good things about him.

2006 Jeep Liberty Machine Shop Head Reman VS. New Head?

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