4.0 ohv cracked head pictures anyone??

[joe doe]

just wondering if anyone has any pictures of thier cracked head?a actual picture of where it cracked?
just curious.
would a small head crack be noticeable to a mechanic while changing out head gaskets?thats what i,m wondering.
i had all my upper gaskets redone from the heads on up but i still had a cyl4 misfire after that(original plugs from befor the gasket changes were still in there )
after changing that plug with a new one the misfire went away .come to find out the porcelin on that plug in question was cracked .
some say this happens because of a cracked head leaking a tiny amount of antifreeze into that cyl and it eventually cracks the porcelin.
also could be the cause of that cold start stumble in the morning that clears up after a few seconds .

so i have to wonder if after all this work i had done is it possible my mechanic could have not seen a small crack in the head while it was off?

any pictures of these cracks in a head would be great .

thanks guys.

 

[Maniak]

We have had cracks between the valves, between water jackets, and one of the "humps" on the top of the head has had a crack.

Heck, one of them had a crack between a water jacket and the cylinder.

Short answer, No, a mechanic may not be able to see the cracks. The heads should always be magnafluxed and if possible pressure tested.

If you really want pics of cracked heads I still have 4 of them in the shed. I don't know how the cracks will show up but I could dig them out and take some pics if you want.

~Mark

 

[ranger7ltr]

I have seen cracks all over in these heads...

But I don't think they were visible to the eye either...The last Ford engine that I had cracked heads on the outside of the heads in the exhaust port area started showing oil seepage... That was due to my coolant bypass line splitting on my Scorpio and the coolant going bye bye in less than 10 miles...

I have a pair of heads from my 99 OHV that are not cracked that I removed this summer sitting in my garage as well...They would need reworking to make sure they are straight and not cracked though...I did not see any evidence of cracking when i pulled the heads though...

To the misfire at cold startup does the engine do that only at cold startup? Like if the engine has been run and then sits less than say 2 hr does the engine run fine at that point? I DID have that problem and I could make it less by running a can of Berryman B-12 in the gas tank BUT I could only make it go away but replacing the injector...I had all 6 injectors remanufactured and at least 2 were partially plugged up.. All are flow matched to spec now and the cold misfire is a thing of the past...

 

[joe doe]

We have had cracks between the valves, between water jackets, and one of the "humps" on the top of the head has had a crack.

Heck, one of them had a crack between a water jacket and the cylinder.

Short answer, No, a mechanic may not be able to see the cracks. The heads should always be magnafluxed and if possible pressure tested.

If you really want pics of cracked heads I still have 4 of them in the shed. I don't know how the cracks will show up but I could dig them out and take some pics if you want.

~Mark

when you have the time i wouldnt mind seeing them .i am sure alot of folks would like to see as well.thank you

joe

you can email me them if you like "joe3857@aol.com" or post them in this thread.

 

[joe doe]

To the misfire at cold startup does the engine do that only at cold startup? Like if the engine has been run and then sits less than say 2 hr does the engine run fine at that point? I DID have that problem and I could make it less by running a can of Berryman B-12 in the gas tank BUT I could only make it go away but replacing the injector...I had all 6 injectors remanufactured and at least 2 were partially plugged up.. All are flow matched to spec now and the cold misfire is a thing of the past...

i just checked this morning when i went to the post office and i did not notice the shake.
befor i replaced the bad plug the shake was there .you can see the crack in the insulator here.(hey i didnt know i could put pictures in a thread...lol..thought that was for elites?)


i will continue to monitor it though as i swore i felt it a little the other day.

i still have more work ahead of me .just replaced my swaybar bushings again .watch for my moog bushings post.
got a fuel pump to do and a filter too yet .then maybe after all that we will see about those injectors.
its been a long costly last few months .this past year i dumped about 2k into this truck fixing everything.its been a good run for about 7 years with just oil changes,brakes and tires and things but now time has caught up with it and it needs parts faster than i can supply them .

i still love my explorer though!!this is my 3rd one and we have it since it was off a 2 year lease with only about under 30,000 miles on it .so we have put 100,000 on it just ourselves.
thanks for your reply

joe

 

[Maniak]

(hey i didnt know i could put pictures in a thread...lol..thought that was for elites?)

Only elites can upload the photo and have it hosted within EF. Anyone can hotlink an image by putting the direct URL within the tags.


I'll dig out the heads and take some pics. I have 4 cracked heads on the shelf.. Hopefully some of them are visible cracks..

~Mark

 

[joe doe]

waiting on those cracked head pics......

 

[Maniak]

I knew I forgot something. I got distracted saturday when the a/c at the house died. Took me working on it, then a pro to get it running (< $150 total to fix though)..

I'll see if I can pull them out of the shed tonight..

~Mark

 

[joe doe]

well heck i understand .having a/c sure is important this year.its been hot!!

on another note i just read that the cold start idle issue could be a bad injector?

i am just hoping that after getting my head gaskets replaced i dont have a cracked head .
i noticed the shaky cold start today for a couple seconds then it went away.
i guess i could pull the plug in the morning and look for??what??its always that number 4 cyl .

 

[lugnuts55]

Cracked heads

joe doe, I replaced the heads on my 96 EB with 4.0 OHV a couple months ago. I was trying to find a misfire and decided that at best, the head gaskets were bad. At worst, the heads were junk. When I got the right side off and on the bench, I noticed the exhaust valve in the center cylinder was higher than the rest. It was 7/32nds higher in fact. That was my misfire. The seat was worn into the head. I found the same thing on the other side. I called a friend who is an automotive machinist and he said this is a common thing on these heads and I would need new castings. When he saw the heads, he immediately saw cracks on both heads between the valves. I didn't notice it because I wasn't looking for cracks. I took some pictures to show how the seat wore out. If you look closely, at the left cylinder, you can see a crack between the valves. If you are having this done instead of doing it yourself, try to be there when they get the heads off so you can look for cracks. It is not as hard to see on the actual head as it is the picture. If I had seen the crack, I would have gotten better shots of it. I think you can zoom in if you put the cursor on the picture and click. This is the best shot I have of it. I hope this helps.
Mike

 

[Maniak]

Here are pics of the 4 cracks I could see on my old 4.0 ohv heads. Thats one crack per head.

They are all 93tm heads.

If you want to see the full sized pics you can find them here http://www.flickr.com/photos/10384420@N03/sets/72157603245294946/

You have to click on the pic and choose "all sizes" to be given the option for the full size pic.

~Mark

 

[joe doe]

those are pretty noticeable ,if my head would have a crack like that i would think(hope)that my mechanic would have spotted it .
my mechanic use to be on the mustang 5.0 circut and was featured in fast fords and muscle mustangs some years ago.he had a sweet funnycar too.so they both know thier way around engines.thats why i take all my vehicles to them.
he no longer races and sold the funnycar.they used to put 5.0 mustang wrecks back into service too.
i used to have 5.0 mustangs befor i started on the explorers,they actually got better gas mileage then my 4.0 ohv.sad but true...lol.....
thanks for those pictures i will be saving them over here.

 

[Maniak]

Keep in mind, all of my cracked heads have been pressure tested and then magnafluxed. Magnafluxing seems to breing out the cracks, making them much easier to see. It even changed the color some around the cracked areas.

~Mark