Cracked Head, Other Assorted Problems

[VirginiaBronco]

Hey guys,

I have been posting a lot of questions lately. I promise I will slow down!

Before I go to buy this Bronco that I have been talking about...I want to make sure that it is not a cracked head, a burnt valve, a blown piston, a cracked cylinder. How can I figure this out? I don't have a ton of money right now...and I cant afford a full rebuild or anything like that.

Sincerely,

Mike

 

[Justshootme84]

Take a quick look at the oil for water (milky color) or fuel (gas smell).Smoke from the exhaust is white if coolant is getting in the cylinders. A compression test is the best way to tell, and well worth paying ashop before you buy a vehicle.

On a related note, one of my buds bought a 86 F-350 for $500 for a 460 swap and 1-ton SAS (solid axle swap). After pulling the motor, we sent it to a machine shop to get rebuilt. Just found out last week that the heads are cracked in 4 places. Putting on my spare set of DOVE heads for now, but it brought up an old discussion about reapiring cracked heads. Back in the good ole days, many shops would reapir a crack by drilling a hole, inserting a slug and welding the crack. Most of the time, this would hold nearly as good as original. It's getting much harder and more costly to find a shop that will even do this nowadays. It's also some debate on how well the repair holds, depending on the location of the crack. IF you buy a set of used heads, don't just throw them on the motor. Have a machine shop MagnaFlux them and inspect them thoroughly for cracks, and check that the mating surface with the block is not badly warped so your head gaskets seal properly. JSM84