Cracked block, now what?

[westmich]

1997 Mercruiser 3.0 Alpha, didn't winterize properly so it froze and now have large crack in block. External crack only as far as I can tell--no water in oil, just in bilge area.

Crack is right between exhaust manifold and block. Manifold is off. Plan to grind surface down to clean metal and clean with acetone.

Question: Line welder or JB Weld? Have both ready to go right now.

Any tips in general based on experience?

Thanks. Jim

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: Cracked block, now what?

at work the welders use high nickel rod and preheat area and slow cooling as for will it fix your block i dont know.

 

[diehard]

Re: Cracked block, now what?

that sucks it's hard to weld cast anything if you use jb weld you will be only fooling you self when the moter heats up and metals exspand the jb weld will not flex the same i would save your money on half *** repairs and find new used block a lot of your parts are still good put together engine ...hope you make out ok

 

[westmich]

Re: Cracked block, now what?

that sucks it's hard to weld cast anything if you use jb weld you will be only fooling you self when the moter heats up and metals exspand the jb weld will not flex the same i would save your money on half *** repairs and find new used block a lot of your parts are still good put together engine ...hope you make out ok

Thanks for the reply. No question it's a half^&# repair, but I don't have the 3-4k to replace block/engine. Engine runs like a top other than the crack.

Serious question: If the JB fails, what's the harm? Seems to me that I would be back in the same place I started with a cracked block, but with a chance that the cheap repair will work. I have read/heard many success stories with the JB repairs for external block cracks.

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Cracked block, now what?

I feel your pain- just discovered an undisclosed crack in a block that was repaired using some epoxy by a previous owner. Good thing is that he bought it that way from the another guy in '99 and it just failed this month, so a little less than 10 years for a bubble gum repair.
I used Marine -tex after lots of prep and hope for some success until I can get another block.

 

[garyoNC]

Re: Cracked block, now what?

I've seen something called JB Marine, is it different than regular JB?

 

[rbh]

Re: Cracked block, now what?

$7 dollars or 3,4 k
I would go for the $7 and see what I get.
rob