Cracks

[Gregor 4,847]

Hello all, it's been a while. I have been working on some major, non Wheel Horse projects as of late. An '89 Camaro, a '767 El Caminoi, an '88 Chevy truck, to name a few. Good luck with some, very bad luck with others.l Some things even I find hard to believe. I do have a question though. I remember talk on here, I think, about someone explaining how to find, and verify a crack in a cylinder head or block. This particular block has 8 cylinders, but a block is a block, right? Anyone else remember anything about this? Thanks  Greg.

 

Hope everyone is doing well, and some day, I will get back to tractors, I hope.

[squonk 42,916]

Spray carb cleaner on a suspected area and let it air dry. Cracks will show up in cast iron. 

 

In the late 80's on carbureted Chevy's that were losing coolant, we would pull the intake manifold and spray the cleaner in the lifter valley. Go have coffee. Come back and we would see the cracks in the cylinder walls.

[ri702bill 9,091]

Mike's approach makes sense. I have used a commercial product called Zyglow - spray it on and using a blacklight, any cracks will jump right out at you....

[8ntruck 7,487]

Dye Check is another product to expose cracks.  3 step process - spray cleaner on the part to remove surface gunk and oil, spray penetrant on the surface, give it a few minutes to soak in, wipe off, then spray developer on to expose any cracks.