96 ranger 2.3 cracked engine block

toms.abpg · Dec 23, 2018

Well, what I thought was just a leaking head gasket ended up being a crack from one of the cooling ports outwards toward the exhaust manifold, and about an inch down the side of the block. Pretty upset about it but I guess my question is, can these be successfully welded? I’m not willing to pull the motor on this truck, I only gave 100$ for it and it ran awesome, just leaked antifreeze slowly. I don’t see why I couldn’t weld it and then file and sand it down too a flat finish. Just looking for Input, if it can’t be fixed, off to the scrapyard

tinman_72 · Dec 24, 2018

If the alternative is throwing it away, why not try?

Dirtman · Dec 24, 2018

Can it be welded? Sure... Will it last? Done professionally, maybe for a short while...

Its not a simple process. You can't just hit it with your typical home hobby mig welder. It will crack instantly if you try, 100% guaranteed. The crack needs to be drilled and v-grooved, then pre-heated, then either stick but preferably tig welded with special nickel filler, then post heated and cooled very slowly. After all that it may hold up for a while but I certainly wouldn't expect it to last forever.

tomw · Dec 24, 2018

I have seen Fe welded by two different techniques on youtube. chucky2009 and roadking for two. Aluminum can also be welded using TIG, I think, perhaps easier.
One technique is to 'dot' the welds as shown by Chucky, slowly joining them together so as to not heat up the metal a lot and cause deformation. The other technique was to cook the head/block in a charcoal fire to get all the metal hot enough that the heat of welding was not a large differential. A third method is to use special welding blends of metals, some lower temperature melting, other I am not sure of.
Go watch some youtube.
A simpler alternative is to clean out the crack, drill a round hole at the ends of the crack to stop its expansion, and use a filler such as JBWeld or other 'filled epoxy'. If done properly, the filler can be pressed through the crack, and form a bit of a plug inside to insure that it stays when subject to cooling system pressure. For sure if the engine was used in a boat, the lower pressure of the open cooling system would not displace the plug.
As they say, What do you have to lose?
tom

96 ranger 2.3 cracked engine block

toms.abpg

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tinman_72

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Dirtman

Former Middleweight Moss Fighting Champion

tomw

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