Welding a cast head

[Poorboy04]

My head cracked on my 2000 Tc35 . (Ran straight water and it froze in the winter not my doings purchased it like that). I was wondering if it could be welded and how well would it stand up. It's a cast head not aluminum. I will attach pictures.

 

[flusher]

How deep is that crack?
I'd do a spark test first to see if it's cast iron or cast steel. Search YouTube for "Cast iron spark test".

How To Weld: Basics of Spark Testing - YouTube

Cast steel is much easier to weld than cast iron.

I've welded a broken flange to a cast iron block using high-nickel content stick welding rod. Not too difficult.

Good luck

 

[Shaneard]

If the whole engine had water in it that's not the only crack, guarantee that.

 

[George2615]

Looking at your first pic it seems like the crack extends into the valve seat. That will be very hard to repair. I recently took a cylinder head off of a straight 6 truck engine and took it to a machine shop to have it resurfaced and valves / seats reground. The shop took it apart and magnafluxed the head. The head had cracks in every cylinder. He said they could be welded but there was no guarantee. Especially where some cracks went into the seat area. His first suggestion was to bring him the block so he could check it for cracks before looking for another head. That checked out OK so he said to find a new (or used) head without cracks.
I'd suggest you do the same. Have the head and block checked by a professional.

 

[flusher]

You're right about cracked valve seats. All you can do is have the seat bored out for an insert.

 

[yomax4]

I've repaired a ton of cracked cast pieces from old ornaments to Corvette engine blocks. A combustion chamber has always been a no do. I love fixing the stuff but wouldn't mess with that.

 

[TMGT]

Being that it appears to extend from the valve seat to pre-chamber makes it a difficult repair and not one I would try as a diy. Can it be repaired? Yes, but would be a better and possibly more cost effective to find a replacment.

Only time I've had repairs done to somthing like that is for obsolete parts that couldn't be replaced, and they were sent out to a company that specializes in cast repair.

 

[brain55]

Throw it away. I've seen a bunch of people send those out to their "guy" who swears they've fixed a lot of them with no problems. I don't think I've seen one last much past start up. I've tried to warn them that it can't be fixed. But there are those that insist on trying to save a few bucks and end up paying to do it twice.

Brian

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

It's a cast head not aluminum.

Every aluminum head I have ever seen has been cast.

Casting is a process, not a type of material. Iron, steel, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, brass, copper - it can all be cast.