Need advice - Hairline Crack in Aluminum Head

[Samplingman]

Working on my son's Honda Prelude (again!). He overheated and warped and cracked the head. The crack is pretty severe it runs through from the exhaust valve to the water jacket. I went out and found a used one. It's not warped, but after a thorough cleaning I noticed a small crack in the same spot, although it does not appear to go through to the water jacket.



Do I just go ahead and install anyway, or is this doomed for failure? I only need another year out of this car, but I'm thinking now it's headed for the scrap yard with a new clutch, flywheel, axels, brakes and radiator....

 

[68plymouth383]

I'd get a good used head from picknpull or your local equivalent. I would not mess with reinstalling, or trying to repair it. There's a good chance it's warped now also.

 

[300Nutter]

Aluminum heads...sigh

Hondas are famous for that kind of problem.

Practically everone I know who drove a Honda with over 100k miles has to deal with a head replacement at some point.

Not to knock the cars, its just a place you can expect to see that kind of failure.

To be balanced, Chevy has had many aluminum heads crack on their SBC V8s, too.

 

[barnfind]

Jack up that radiator cap and replace the bigger piece!, wIth a cool mopar of course!
Theres a place out of washington state that has import heads reconditioned reasonable

 

[Samplingman]

I'd get a good used head from picknpull or your local equivalent. I would not mess with reinstalling, or trying to repair it. There's a good chance it's warped now also.

Yeah, this was the "good used" one. This one was $100, the reconditioned ones go for about $350. The radio is worth more than the car at this point. Indeed, everyone who loves thier Hondas only keep them until the lease expires. I keep telling him, no more rubber band powered cars!

 

[65 500]

Indeed, everyone who loves thier Hondas only keep them until the lease expires.

Honda should put a recycling center at the end of all of their assembly lines, and turn them into something useful, like 2-liter bottles.

 

[72Fury]

Like it or not, Honda builds some of the best cars ever built. I bought a Pilot in 2005. Over 200k miles with only general service. Most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. I would buy a decent head & go with it. Resale wise, you'll get your money back vs just a pile of parts/scrap. The head you have will let go 10 minutes after you put it back together.

 

[65 500]

Thanks but no thanks. I've worked on them, I'll never own one.

 

[73Coupe]

I'd get a good used head from picknpull or your local equivalent. I would not mess with reinstalling, or trying to repair it. There's a good chance it's warped now also.

X2. I'll be there's a lot more cracks you can't see. If you've got that much into new parts on the car, get a reconditioned used head and get some value outta the car before you scrap it for good.

 

[300Nutter]

When you put aluminum and iron or steel together in an engine...no telling what you will run into.

I had a '98 Plymouth Breeze that had an SOHC four cylinder with an aluminum head...and a cast iron block.

VERY similar to the Honda four bangers of that era, and often used in the Neon....many of which are still on the road!

The aluminum head didn't crack, but when you have that combo of metals....Chrysler found it was VERY hard to get a good head gasket seal. SO, you had a continual oil leak (if you were lucky) and occasionally a coolant leak into the oil pan (if you were unlucky).

Took Chrysler a few tries to fix that head gasket and find a way to seal the two metals. They actually copied the Honda approach...using a multi-layer steel gasket...and that finally fixed it.

But early owners of that engine were stuck with the bill if they wanted it fixed. Because once out of the 3 year/36k mile warranty, Chrysler did everything they could to say it was "not a problem". BALONEY!

*rant mode off*

Apologize for the mild thread-hijaaking.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Have your head welded and rebuilt if a shop says they can't do it, hang up call the next one, if you were local here I know exactly where to send you. The good shops are out there you just have to find them, a properly welded aluminum head will never crack in that spot again.

 

[Samplingman]

Have your head welded and rebuilt if a shop says they can't do it, hang up call the next one, if you were local here I know exactly where to send you. The good shops are out there you just have to find them, a properly welded aluminum head will never crack in that spot again.

Thnaks Dave, that's what I've been reading. I'm brining it in for an estimate to the same place Gary (Nport70) brought his heads for rebuild, the Engine Shop in Collingsdale PA. A reconditioned head would run $350, probably should have just spent the cash for one up front!

 

[70bigblockdodge]

I have learned from these big trucks always rebuild your stuff buying used and reman swapout parts always comes back to haunt me at least I know what my junk has been through while I have had it. The guy locally here that I was referred to told me sure he could weld it and it will never crack again as I handed the head over that 2 years previous had come from a rebuilder. I thought he was just patting himself on the back, whatever. 6 mo. later my sister overheats the damn van warps the head, back off expecting to see same cracks..... Nope had it pressure tested to make sure, cut it flat back on again for a 4 year stint till the final drive came though the case, my dad finally had enough of that minivan.

 

[Samplingman]

Just got back from The Engine Shop, cool place they have there! $425 to repair and recondition the head. I got to thinking, we cooked that motor several times trying to resolve the overheating issue, I don't really know if there are internal issues that haven't been revealed yet. I've still got to talk to my son, but I think we are going to cut the losses and part/scrap this thing out.

On a side note, they said they could rebuild my 440 completely stock for $2500. Let's see, spend the next 6 months in the garage breaking things and spending money on parts, or get a professional rebuild in about a week in the spring....

 

[saylor]

i havent had to deal with this for a long long time, but here is what i did, and i hope it helps you out.

here in dallas, 25 years ago? (sheesh) there used to be some shops that have whole engines from japan. the story they told me back then (maybe still?) was that in japan, around 35k miles, there is some inspection, and its easier to pull the motor and start over than it is to meet the inspection requirements. so these dudes buy these motors and sell them here slightly used.

i got a replacement whole top half for a 1984 crx engine this way.

eric japan - i just googled it and it still exists.

there was another one - like all east engines or something,, but eric japan is the place.

- saylor

 

[Samplingman]

i havent had to deal with this for a long long time, but here is what i did, and i hope it helps you out.

here in dallas, 25 years ago? (sheesh) there used to be some shops that have whole engines from japan. the story they told me back then (maybe still?) was that in japan, around 35k miles, there is some inspection, and its easier to pull the motor and start over than it is to meet the inspection requirements. so these dudes buy these motors and sell them here slightly used.

i got a replacement whole top half for a 1984 crx engine this way.

eric japan - i just googled it and it still exists.

there was another one - like all east engines or something,, but eric japan is the place.

- saylor

This is true and still available. A co-worker of mine has been doing this on his Subaru's for the past several months. Unbelievable, but for less than a grand he replaced his 100,000+ mile engine with one with half the milage for about the cost of fixing the head gasket (the original problem). I'd consider it, but the body on this thing is rough, lots of metal missing around the wheel wells, and every panel is dented. The radio is really worth more than the car. On the other hand, I may be doing this to my daughters 2002 Corolla, which is pretty much rust free.

 

[barnfind]

In Japan (where these engines are imported from) 35k may not be alot of miles but they do have alot of idle time on them FYI.

 

[300Nutter]

My brother in law does a lot of Japanese repairs out in Oregon.

He has used the low mileage engines that get shipped in there by the boatload and he usually has good luck with them.

Higher shipping costs over the last ten years has made them less of a bargain than they used to be, but depending on what you need, sometimes they are the only option for a Japanese car.

Everything already in the US in yards tend to be wrecked badly or super high miles and need a rebuid.