whistling while I worked on cleaning off the old gasket, my jaw dropped upon discovery of two radiating crack lines from the upper head bolt between cylinders 4 & 6. After pulling the head on this side, this was the only bolt hole full of water, which at that time, struck me as odd. Now I know why.

What do you folks think? Junk or is there a fix? I definitely won't ignore it as I have new 1.9 Ram Irons, SS rockers, Hughes cam & Air Gap and a PATC Viper tranny going into this rebuild.

Also, any idea what might have caused this? Everyone here says these blocks are bulletproof. This motor is a 2001 5.2L with 92k mi. and this is the first time it's been opened up that I know of. I bought it with 19k miles on it.

 

well that sucks..... why dont you send all those goodies my direction i'll put em to good use.

 

yeah dude.. that sucks hugely..

I'm all ears to hear what caused that too.. over torquing? doesn't seem reasonable though.. getting really hot does- but you'd have known about that.. I'm curious too.. please keep us posted!

 

I would not trust it. I doubt you are going to be able to get/keep an accurate torque with that bolt hole, and if it is already cracked there, it is only going to get worse. You have a lotta bucks wrapped up in go-fast goodies, don't take a chance on trashing them on a questionable block. Replace it. Many options to look at there. Figger out what fits with your desires/budget, and take it from there.

 

if it were me i'd be looking for another block or short block checked out by a machine shop for cracks

 

Thanks for all the input. I'll need to start looking for a short block. I don't trust junkyard options, not with trying to build a fun, quick, dependable motor. I'll give Hughes a call tomorrow to see what they might be able to do. Any other pointers would be appreciated too.
This truck was Hecho en Mexico,,,,maybe the cause. Other than that, I haven't a clue why this cracked.

 

"dont scrap it.....JB it"

 

Sadly, I dont think jb is proper for this application.

 

no its not but i was about time for some humor

 

Figured it was sarcasm lol; just trying to point out the obvious