Small crack in head... what to do?

[Stockli]

Took the head to a machine shop today. The guy found a really small crack in either cylinder 2 or 3. I'm getting him to run a pressure test on the head. If the head fails the test, is there anyway to repair this crack? How much am I looking at spending on a new/reconditioned head?

I just got the car a few weeks ago, hasn't been started in almost 2 years. Was told it had a blown head gasket. When I pulled the plugs, 1 and 4 were a gray color, 2 and 3 were a brownish red with small green specks. After pulling the head, cylinders 2 and 3 had fluid in them (slightly orange chocolate milk look... oil & antifreeze I suppose)

Pictures:

http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?t=45334

[Vanilla Sky]

buy a mare head and rebuild it. i have one with all of the parts sitting here that iw as going to port out for a mild race head, but i'm willing to part with it. name a price shipped and we'll talk turkey.

[BMS]

looking at the pic it looks like there was some sort of bleed through on the head gasket. maybe it was just you that got it wet though. if does fail you should buy one form someone on here. it'd be cheaper and you know it's not cracked/warped.

[geesnow]

damn- i can relate... my 88 lxi sedan blew a head gasket 2 weeks ago. i have a complete gasket set (head, intake manifold, etc..) and i need a head. what else do we need to check? (what else could be screwed up?) thanks!!! also, if someone on here has a head, give me a price shipped.

[Stockli]

What do you mean by bleed-through? I didn't notice any blatant holes or cracks in the head gasket, the bottom surface was a bit rough and chipped in places, but that may have just been from taking it off as I had to scrape remnants from the block.

Vanilla Sky, you have PM.

[BMS]

yeah so then it was probably you that did it. in the pick the portion of gasket near the top of the second cylinder looks like it's been contaminated with whatever got in the cylinder.. that's also the cylinder that is pretty dirty. It kinda looks like the gasket got wet from whatever the source of the water in the cylinder was. I was pointing out that if the gasket were in fact bad then that would explain the water in that particular cylinder.

[Stockli]

Gotcha.
Yeah, it was probably me. I missed a few vacuum lines when trying to remove head/intake manifold so it was lifted and set back down a few times.

[Oldblueaccord]

What do you mean by bleed-through? I didn't notice any blatant holes or cracks in the head gasket, the bottom surface was a bit rough and chipped in places, but that may have just been from taking it off as I had to scrape remnants from the block.

Vanilla Sky, you have PM.


depending where the crack is it can be welded. thast the nice thing about aluminium its fixable where cast iron would not be.


wp

[88Accord-DX]

Get an estamate on welding the crack. With most heads, replacement is more cost effective. With more exotic or expensive heads, welding may be desiarble.
Aluminum heads can be welded using a gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process.
Note- Crack repair on heads and blocks should be done by an expert, Special welding skills are essential..