ok, so i went to the track today, got one run in. sitting in staging someone tells me im dripping water. flip up the front end, and i have a 3-4" HORIZONTAL crack on the block with coolant coming out of it. its a few inches down from the deck, and dead center left to right. it runs throught the two webbings by the oil dipstick. i'll get pics tomorrow, anyone ever had this happen.? ITS a B16A block. no coolant in the oil, runs perfect, there is just coolant leaking out of my block. im at a loss for words






Modified by Garage 808 Hatch at 11:08 AM 4/27/2008

 

Did it freeze over the winter?

 

no, it was fine 2 weeks ago when i went to the track

 

Was the head ever off? the head bolts could have hydro-locked on reinstall, stressing the block and eventually breaking, or in this case, cracking.

I would check that head bolt to see if it is still torqued down properly. The few Honda blocks I've seen resurfaced warp downwards in the center, which would further complicate an overtightened head bolt.

 

the head had been removed and replaced, but was never ran with the old head. studs were never removed. it had been through 50ish dyno pulls and 5 passes before this day at the track

 

Cycles of heating and cooling could have been the culprit to a faulty head bolt install. Expanding and contracting, coupled with the blows of combustion finally did it in. In a way its like installed a new head gasket on a warped head. It might not leak today, or tomarrow, but someday, it will.

You said stud, ARP I assume? I hope whoever put it on was modest with the moly lube that comes with them. Too much and you'll net the same results.

 

i installed them. maybe i did use too much lube? who knows

 

I had a similar problem in almost the same spot on a b18a block one time. The block was sleeved by ***** from here and it had a problem leaking coolant around the sleeves into the oil pan.

I sent the block back, they pulled the sleeves and reinstalled the same sleeves into the same block with better sealent. It didn't leak coolant now but it there was this little crack on the front of the block.

It actually leaked oil instead and after 2 days at the dyno with 650whp the crack got bigger and was in the same spot all the way across the front behind the dipstick. I spent weeks trying JB weld or some other liquid weld crap! I ended up taking it to the local machine shop and pulling the dipstick so they could weld all the way across the front of the block. I sold the block but never heard back from the guy who bought it. It had perfect compression, no smoke, no problems but that.

 

hmm, i have no coolant and oil mixing problems, it just leaks coolant out the crack

 

There is no oil orifice in the front of the block, its on the intake side, so that would be normal. If it was leaking into the oil, to would be because of the sleeves leaking, not really too many other possibilities that are far fetched.

 

ya, i think we are gonna drill the ends, grind a small vee into it, prep it hella good, and tig it back. layer a couple of beads on it, and maybe some vertical braces if it is indeed pulling the block from pressure. wish me luck. oh ya, it did run a 10.55 @134 on only 20lbs when this happened. we'll see what the 6 more psi its tuned for will do.

 

a little update. got the block all prepped for welding. pulled the front, center head stud out. the stud wasnt buried in the block, came out with a allen head no effort. didnt pull threads. all nuts were still torqued etc... so we'll weld it up tonight, weld in some extra gussets and see what happens i guess

 

If the welds are good you should be fine.

 

ya, we're gonna pre-heat the block with a little torch action, i also just got done cutting out some 1/4" thick 6061 gussets to weld on after we weld the crack

 

well, welding it was unsuccessful so i may just say screw it and part the whole car out, idk yet

 

and why was it unsuccessful? take it to a good welder.

 

it worked outside of the webbing, but between the webs, the filler wouldnt adhere. pretty good welder, he fixed my fuxored head and a street bike case, yesterday

 

JB weld held up to a few heat cycles, an anti=lag test, and 3 dyno pulls so far. off to the track next saturday

 

you don't have AEBS head studs, do ya? or any head studs with pointed ends? I just cracked my block in the exact place, exact length and it was cause by the head studs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbodGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you don't have AEBS head studs, do ya? or any head studs with pointed ends? I just cracked my block in the exact place, exact length and it was cause by the head studs.</TD></TR></TABLE>

headstuds should only go on hand tight. so if so then it was your fault.

 

no, i have ARP studs, and when i took them out they were still only hand tight. i have come to realize mine happened from trying to compress water. my air to water IC was leaking

 

yeah 10 ft. lbs. I had the block dipped and cleaned, all threads chased, torqued studs to 10 ft. lbs. put head on and torqued to 35 ft. lbs. then 65 ft lbs and heard a pop. looked down and had a crack similar to 808's.

 

ya. do NOT tighten the studs