Re: Cracked Powerhead
From the outside, it's tough to tell the difference between bad gaskets and a crack. Once you buy it and tear into it, it can still be difficult. There's a dye process that's used on aluminum to check for cracks and that's about the only way to be relatively sure. I had a block tested last year and it checked out fine but they missed a casting sand hole that looked like it was supposed to be there. After a lot of frustration I took it apart again and took it back to shop. We called Merc when we decided the hole was where the problem was and they said it didn't look normal.
We welded it up and it's was fine after that.
If you buy used from a seller that you don't know, it's a crap shoot. Most of the time the seller doesn't know.
