Head Assessment....

[arnott1t]

So I managed to remove the head from my 2H last night in Calgary and am now faced with a dilemma. I have a trip to Moab planned in the next few weeks. Prior to me disassembling the head The truck functioned A ok except during periods of WOT. I just drove the trip for mac to cow town without issue like many others I've done in the recent couple months.

After removing the rocker arm assembly it appears each rocker arm is badly pitted from the push rod. All but one has some form of a pit with a couple likely being close to 1/16th of an inch even. I'll need these resurfaced and repaired or simply replaced…

Initial removal of the head went pretty well. The original gasket looked good. No obvious signs of failure in one around any of the sealing rings around the cylinders. Also no obvious leak paths into the coolant jackets. I'll take a closer look again today and tomorrow but with nothing jumping out at me it looks like the gasket was not the problem.

The head it self has cracks, Cylinder 1 and 6 have cracks between the valves and other cylinders have cracks starting at the edge of the pre cups and running towards the valves. The worst crack seems to be in cylinder one between the valves. Every pre cup is cracked. Some worse than others.

So after all this what should my plan be. I need to get this true together one way or another. What are my options? I see them as this:
1. Have head repaired, cracked welded, new pre cups, rockers ground and reassemble. ~1000-1500$

2. New pre cups, rockers ground reassemble and a can of steel seal or similar….~600$

3. Rockers ground and reassemble….. ~300$??

4. Reassemble….


Trouble is it looks like I should be looking for an entire new engine. Mine has some miles and has been turbo'd and worked for the last few years. I'm pretty good with maintenance for the most part but this engine is still showing obvious signs of wear and has a appreciable amount of blow by. Do I put any cash into this engine or save it for a replacement motor….

Decisions decision..

 

[arnott1t]

Other cylinders. 4 5 6

 

[gerg]

Steal seal is not a long term fix but it will help alot with those cracks inbetween your valves. I would not use it if your head is already off though, just replace the head or fix the cracks, and for sure replace the pre cups. All of the valves in my head had nasty cracks and leaked so, just before I was going to completely tear my head off again, I used steal seal and it did work. It works quite well actually and has held 25 pounds boost for long periods of time over the last 8 months or so. It however, did the one thing it was not suppose to , it completely clog my radiator which I had to replace. At least its holding for when I can change my head out later. Just an fyi.

 

[meridian]

seems the valves show some where on one side.

 

[TurboDiesel69]

From all I've read on here that looks completely fine.

 

[amaurer]

From all I've read on here that looks completely fine.

I'm not sure I'd use the word "fine"... but indeed its not entirely unusual. I'm running a head presently thats about half that bad.

The cracks between the valves are quite common.

The ones moving from the precup to the valve strike me as a little more worrisome.

 

[Jan-78FJ40]

From all I've read on here that looks completely fine.

LOL, no.
It's not fine at all, but worked. If it will work again when you put it back on is another question, as you disturbed the (probably rather fragile) equilibrium in there.
From all measures of evaluation, that head is trash-the head is cracked in multiple places, the precups are cracked, the valves are worn, the rockers need resurfacing (don't forget to harden them after resurfacing)...
Again, that does not mean it won't work for a little longer, but no one can give you an estimate whether that will be 2 hours or 10 years.

It really comes down to what you want to do. You can slap it back on and drive till your engine fails, or you can take care of the problem. I would not waste money on having a head welded that is cracked that badly-I'd either run it into the ground or address the problem correctly, with new head, new rockers, ground valves, new valve seats and new precups. But it's up to you.
One thing is clear, this does not look 'completely fine'.
cheers,
J

 

[arnott1t]

Took the head into chinook industrial. They mentioned it was not a salvageable unit. I think I've sourced a lower mile crack free replacement. Hoping to have it for this weekend so I can get it all bolted back together. I may look into some exploratory grinding and such just for fun....

 

[rchalmers3]

Probably the "lower mile crack free replacement" is a repaired head that had cracks. I'd ask more questions before pulling the trigger on that. You should explore the value in a ready to go repaired unit vs having yours dressed up to look like it's not cracked! I think that's the real decision you are facing.

As for resealing the top end when the bottom end is wheezy, I don't think that will be a good decision if you already have evidence of combustion pressures es-caping past the rings. These motors are easier to refresh than the newer stuff: Why would you not go ahead with a deglaze, pistons, rings and new bearings?

Rick

 

[Rigpig]

That's pretty good considering you do drive the bag off of that thing! LOL I do still have a bag of new Toyota stuff for the 2H, valve cover gasket, throwout/input bearings... or let me know if there's something my way you might need.