Cracked engine block repair

[lincoln17]

Hello all, I looked at a job today for a customer of mine, its a crack in a perkins engine block on a 60 KVA genset in a accoustic enclosure. The crack is around 5 inches long and runs from a hose tapping for an oil cooler through the rivets that located the engine number plate. Its on the injector pump side of the block around 1 inch below the head gasket face and runs parallel to the head. Access is good when the fuel injector pipes are stripped. I thought I would grind it out, drill the running end of the crack , preheat, stick weld it and postheat it. I have 3.2 cast rods and 3.2 cast-steel disimilars. I plan to do it on site without stripping the engine/head as I have nothing to lose by trying it. The engine has been roasted as there was also a blown core plug on the starter side of the block. I have MMA, Tig, Mig, oxy/acetylene so if anyone has done a repair like this I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks

Regards James

 

[the snooper]

as it is a genset the owner could well do to remove the avr unit from the genset and any other sesetive electronic equipment when you will be welding it or it may not work afterwards.
the only things ive ever seen push out a core plug and crack a block is ice sounds like he had no antifreeze in it to me

 

[rtbcomp]

Metal stitching might be another option - do a Google.

 

[aametalmaster]

If it was mine and stitting in front of me here in the US. I would remove the extra parts vee it out, give a little preheat, and stick weld it with Crown Alloys 255. Then wrap some fiberglass insulation on it and let it cool. But thats just my way how i have been doing them for 33 years. Here is a little cast job i did a few years ago on a tractor radiator part that froze and broke. The owner ground all the way thru and was going to braze it but chickened out...Bob

 

[busa]

Hello all, I looked at a job today for a customer of mine, its a crack in a perkins engine block on a 60 KVA genset in a accoustic enclosure. The crack is around 5 inches long and runs from a hose tapping for an oil cooler through the rivets that located the engine number plate. Its on the injector pump side of the block around 1 inch below the head gasket face and runs parallel to the head. Access is good when the fuel injector pipes are stripped. I thought I would grind it out, drill the running end of the crack , preheat, stick weld it and postheat it. I have 3.2 cast rods and 3.2 cast-steel disimilars. I plan to do it on site without stripping the engine/head as I have nothing to lose by trying it. The engine has been roasted as there was also a blown core plug on the starter side of the block. I have MMA, Tig, Mig, oxy/acetylene so if anyone has done a repair like this I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks

Regards James

Definitely a stick weld repair. Cast iron can be welded with or without preheat. If you use pre heat then it should be hot and kept hot, if not using preheat the job should be cool and kept cool, make a choice and stick with it. On something like an engine block I wouldn't bother with preheat other than just sufficient to remove surface moisture. Grind the repair out ensuring that you get all of the crack at both ends of the repair. Weld using short runs of about an inch or so in length and keep the heat down, if you have opted to weld without preheat then it is important the keep the job relatively cool, peening can be helpful between runs. Once the repair is complete wrap in something to slow the rate of cooling.
This is the way I weld cast repairs, others may approach it in a different way.

 

[aametalmaster]

This is the way I weld cast repairs, others may approach it in a different way.

Yup same here...Bob