Pics of early 6.9 crack around block heater?

[bagpiperjosh]

does anyone have any pics of that?
I tried to look at my block around where the element goes in (at operating temp) and i didn't notice a crack. it was a bit rusty around it though.
Are these cracks really obvious?

 

[redneckaggie]

do you lose coolant and was there any coolant beads around that area

 

[Black dawg]

The crack is usually pretty obvious, and leaks coolant. We had an 84 van when I was a kid, that cracked there and leaked. It leaked for the ten years we used it (everday and lots of miles, probably 40k a year). The people we sold it to got another 5 year out of it, but killed it with no oil. It would have been cool if it had an odo that showed the actual mileage, because it would have been in the 500-600k range.

 

[bagpiperjosh]

do you lose coolant and was there any coolant beads around that area

not that i could tell. its hard for me to see in that area. it looked dry, but a little rusty.. I havent been losing coolant as far as i could tell

I just worry beacause i hear all these horror stories of the block cracking there, I dont want to dump a ton of money in it and have it be cracked or crack down the road

 

[icanfixall]

Post up the serial number of the block. We can tell you if thats a *******...

 

[bagpiperjosh]

Post up the serial number of the block. We can tell you if thats a *******...

its an 83... werent they all at least prone to it if the block heater was used much?

 

[bagpiperjosh]

A155ha

 

[dgr]

You could go crawl under my truck and see the recently discovered little drip from my leaking heater. Grrrr

That doesn't rEally help you out. I would expect that if you havecrack, you would have a leak while the opposite may not be true. If it doesn't drip, you should either see or feel moisture our see what appears to be hard water staining. Don't be afraid to rub around there and taste it. Zen and the art of motor fluid identification

 

[icanfixall]

Yes.. The early engines made in 83 had an issue but as we all know... Any idi block can bolt into any pickup truck. So once again the serial numbers will tel what year the block is. The block could have been replaced and the owner at that time never knew about it. Ford knew about this crack issue after a few thousand turned up with it. Thats why international "fixed" the problem... Even the early heads had crack issues. That problem gave all the idi heads a wives tail problem.. Once it gets started its hard to stop.

 

[smolkin]

A little googling found this small but scary pic of one (if you have children, cover their eyes):

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[bagpiperjosh]

A little googling found this small but scary pic of one (if you have children, cover their eyes):

You must be registered for see images attach

link doesn't work for me

 

[bagpiperjosh]

Yes.. The early engines made in 83 had an issue but as we all know... Any idi block can bolt into any pickup truck. So once again the serial numbers will tel what year the block is. The block could have been replaced and the owner at that time never knew about it. Ford knew about this crack issue after a few thousand turned up with it. Thats why international "fixed" the problem... Even the early heads had crack issues. That problem gave all the idi heads a wives tail problem.. Once it gets started its hard to stop.

its the original motor without a doubt. i have a book of everything that was ever done to that truck... I would imagine if the crack isn't there now, it probably will never show up. i think the original owner rarely used the block heater. the truck has 99k mi in 30 years... heck he hardly used the truck at all

 

[Dieselcrawler]

atleast ours wasnt as bad as some other engines.... cough cummins cough

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

its the original motor without a doubt. i have a book of everything that was ever done to that truck... I would imagine if the crack isn't there now, it probably will never show up. i think the original owner rarely used the block heater. the truck has 99k mi in 30 years... heck he hardly used the truck at all

My 1985 van (built in Jan/85) has a new block heater in it, cause the owner told me it was used pretty much every day in winter cause he didn't wanna wait 10 min for it to warm up in the morning.

Block ain't cracked, but I refuse to use it just incase. I'd shoot some Ether in it before using that block heater!

 

[bagpiperjosh]

A little googling found this small but scary pic of one (if you have children, cover their eyes):

You must be registered for see images attach

yea, mine looks nothing like that. not a speck of white on mine