John Deere X585 Cracked Engine Block

[WranglerBowman]

I have a John Deere X585 that I picked up knowing it had issues but figured they wouldn't be too hard to fix (fuel sending unit, power steering, missing parts). I went to drain the oil yesterday only to discover that there wasn't a drop of oil in the engine at all which had a lot of bad thoughts running through my head. I know the engine is not seized as it turns over but never starts. I poured a little bit of oil into the oil filler inlet and noticed that oil was leaking from the bottom of engine. After careful inspection I found that there is a hairline fracture on the very bottom of the engine block. The engine is a Kawasaki 745cc twin cylinder engine. I wanted to find out what people's opinions are on repairing this crack which is about 3 inches long, I'll add some pics later so you can see where it is. I believe the block is made of aluminum and after looking at diagrams of the engine buying a new block and rebuilding the engine is not something I'm willing to do, especially considering the tractor only has 330 hours on it. Please let me know what you recommend as my initial thoughts are finding a good welder who welds aluminum. Thanks.

 

[Dutch445]

have you verified the crankshaft/connecting rods are all ok? the crack may have
come from an internal failure, in which case it's usually terminal...
do you have compression in both cylinders?

 

[WranglerBowman]

It has compression and the engine will run if I spray a little carb and choke cleaner into the air intake. I added a picture above, the crack is on the otherside of the center fin that hangs down from the bottom of the engine. The block bulges out slightly right at the point also like something internal pushed it out and cracked it, but the engine runs! Could it be heat related? or someone overtorqued the bolts on the bottom of the block and split it? I'm really scratching my head on this one on how it happened and how to fix it.

 

[orangeandgreen]

If there is a bulge near the crack, something probably "let go" inside the engine. Don't try to run it any more or you are asking for trouble. Did you check compression on both cylinders?
Remove spark plugs and use a screw driver to make sure both pistons are moving up and down as the engine is rotated by hand.

 

[buickanddeere]

Repower John Deere X585

 

[WranglerBowman]

Both pistons are moving up and down, it's got to have at least decent compression if it was running on carb and choke cleaner, I can run a compression test this weekend. I took a few more pictures of the location of the crack and a decent one of the crack itself. It's about 4 inches long. I bought some hi temp liquid steel the other night, that's made for aluminum, and plan to use that with a syringe to try and force it into the crack. I'm also going to use a space heater to warm up that area to about the engine operating temp when I do that. Let me know your thoughts.

 

[buickanddeere]

Total waste of time and money trying to glop the crack.
The engine has to come apart for an autopsy. Odds are you will find something an external patch will never solve. Who knows, maybe the oil was never changed or the level kept up since new and she blew up.
Given the bluebook price of the tractor . It's still a value with a new engine . By the time a part here, a part there, some machine work etc. there will be as much into the busted engine as a new engine costs.

 

[Gator6x4]

Total waste of time and money trying to glop the crack.
The engine has to come apart for an autopsy. Odds are you will something an external patch will never solve.
Given the bluebook price of the tractor . It's still a value with a new engine . By the time a part here, a part there, some machine work etc. there will be as much into the busted engine as a new engine costs.

Agreed. The engine has to come out and be disassembled. A welding shop could then weld the crack and prevent future expansion. Dabbing the hi temp liquid steel on the crack would probably stop the leak in the short term, but the crack will continue to expand and grow.

 

[WranglerBowman]

Really wanted to avoid removing and dissassembling the engine at all cost due to my lack of available time. This is not a weld that could be made while the engine is still in the tractor? I was also reading about HTS-2000 aluminum brazzing rods and was wondering if something like that could be done without removing the engine?

 

[Dutch445]

i agree with the other 10+ year members in getting inside that motor to see the other side of the crack.