Cracks in head OK?

[JKnowledge]

I pulled the head off the 1.6L in my caddy on Saturday to replace what I thought was a blown head gasket, only to find that the head is cracked between the valves on all 4 cylinders. I have sourced an entire engine/trans/injection pump locally, but it has been sitting for 16 years. It has been in storage, not out in the elements, but I was wondering what parts\seals\gaskets. I should go ahead and replace before I drop it in the truck.

I did a search, but didn't come up with the information I am looking for.

Thanks.

Jeff

[zooky]

cracks are normal, how bad are they?

[JKnowledge]

They are from valve to valve, all four cylinders. I will take pics when I get home this afternoon. Thanks for the Reply!

[JKnowledge]

Here are the three worste cracks.








Is this head usable? I would have thought because of the location of the cracks, the compression would be way off. I don't have a high pressure compression guage to tell, though.

[tylernt]

Cracks between valves are very common and are harmless unless they penetrate to the water jacket. The steel valve seats are not normally affected by the cracks in the aluminum head, so compression is usually not affected.

There have been some folks that have welded the cracks, but I would only consider it worth if if you were pushing the limits on a turbo diesel. For a N/A, why bother.

[tylernt]

Here is a cross section of a crack, FYI:


So, they're usually harmless.

[JKnowledge]

Thanks for the info!!  I guess I'll just get a new gasket and bolt set and put it back together!

[hillfolk'r]

yea thats "normal" i think the bently says somethin about cracks no wider than .020 thou,but its kinda hard to measure it accuratly,throw a new gasket+bolts+stuff at er and run er

[fspGTD]

Moved to troubleshooting.  IDI engine is for power enhancement related discussion only.