Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

Got a 21 stud that has a hairline crack between water passage way and # 2 cylinder. The cylinder has been sleeved and the crack has been repaired by drilling it out and installing stud; anyway that's what it looks like to me. Is this the end of the road for this block? I pulled the heads because it had low compression on all cylinders after rebuild.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

Frank Casey could probably pin it, he's done several for me and we didn't even have to sleeve it. How far into the valve pocket does it go?

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

Ol'Ron, the crack doesn't extend into or towards the valve pocket; it runs to the cylinder sleeve and the other way up to the head stud.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

I'd run that.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

to me it looks like the crack ran to the cylinder but was sleeved to repair it, its fine just find why the low compression, bad rings or burnt valves, either of those are your problem

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

Ken, value your opinion and thanks for responding. I was hoping the general consensus of those responding would be encouraging & positive. Upon pulling the aluminum heads there appears to be an electrolysis problem as there is some erosion in the mating surface of the heads; just read on this site the heads can be pressure tested and that may be my next step when I'm totally confident in the block.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

WestCoast, I like your opinion on the crack; I also thought that it was repaired in the manner you described. You must also be psychic, it does suffer from low compression!

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

Any idea of how long ago that cylinder was sleeved? Or how many miles it has gone since? Chances are that repair could have been done over 60 years ago.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

This type of crack is not the end of the line for this engine. It looks like a nice repair job. The sleeve was probably installed because the crack did run down into the cylinder and the sleeve guaranteed a good final repair. I too would run it.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

Looks to me like you have some kind of head gasket problem. There should be no coolant in the area that shows corrosion, therefore there should be no electrolysis in that area.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

The cylinder was sleeved in '98 or there about, am thinking the crack was repaired way before that. the engine has less than 400 miles on it.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

At assembly I used sealant on both sides of the head gasket and used correct torque sequence, re-torqued heads after 2 heat/cool cycles.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

May be a problem with the head or the block surface not being flat. I would have them both checked.

Re: Crack between water passage & cylinder death knell?
 

Have heads checked for warpage and then resurface anyway. I think you will find warpage.
With modern antifreeze there is little concern with electrolysis.

R