Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum banner

Cracked heads. Ugh.

1K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Tuscany 
#1 ·
The title says it all. Just got a call from the machine shop. Both heads have very small cracks in non-critical areas, he said.

Machine shop guy told me he has seen heads with very small cracks like mine go back on and never have a problem, but he wouldn't guarantee anything. I found heads online for $1400 each. So, if I buy new heads, add $3000 to the bill. Sigh.

What would y'all do?? Anyone know where I can get OEM heads cheaper?

This blows.
 
#2 ·
Run them, I know a few people that had similar cracks and are still running fine. You could buy new oem heads for all that money and they will end up cracking eventually anyway. There was someone on here that was machining the valve seats out and fixing cracked heads, try a search.
 
#3 ·
Run them, I know a few people that had similar cracks and are still running fine.
Really?

That's good to know.

I am already $5000 into this rebuild. I hate to spend another $3k! But I also hate to spend all this money and then put the old heads back on only to have them fail later. :dunno:
 
#5 ·
I didnt know heads had non critical areas.
Look what notches in material can do. Notches are the beginning of...............you guessed it, cracks.
Notches a responsible for much damage in many components. A notch produces local stress concentration points and promotes the formation of service fatigue and stress corrosion cracks. At the same time a notch can produce a 3 dimensional state of tensile stress that restricts the plastic deformability and favors cleavage fracture. The stresses can then stretch the lattice of the material and promote hydrogen embrittlement. Fatigue fractures can be initiated by these notches.

Sent from my SCH-I500
 
#9 ·
Or buy them from jj for $1000 for the pair and know you are dealing with a reputable shop not to mention the OP is in SC and dozers is located in NC so he will get them quickly
 
#10 ·
ask the machine shop where the cracks are and if they are in the valve seats call tucker valve seats out of texas (432) 362-7321 give them a call and you can order new valve seats for these heads for $7.19 a piece you will need 16 of them.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top