Ford 4600 head gasket?

Hi people this is an update on a post from a while ago, about my Ford 4600 that i had the fuel pump turned up on and it drank the radiator in 5 minutes and stuff, anyways we tore down the engine and the head gasket was in great condition, the head block was not cracked no blocks were cracked, we pressure tested the system and we found that the block was porous, and that there was a cavity in the block, it had well water mixed in with full strength antifreeze to make 50/50 every time the coolant had been changed, for its whole life. we looked up from the oil pan into the block and the middle cylinder was the one with the little cavity in it, it was right between the liner and the block, the sleeves look SO thin from the bottom. if there are any it seems like they should be a whole lot thicker, but anyways yesterday my dad just told me that he remembered 10 years ago before i even started driving this tractor and before the fuel was even turned up, he had this same exact problem and he remembered he put this cheap sealer in the radiator to seal it from leaking into the block, and when we took the head off today , it looked like someone had put sealer in it before plus one of the coolant ports was plugged with this battery post corrosion type material, but the fact is , is i wonder if mabey 10 years later the seal just kind of broke or wiggled out of the cavity hole, but did that happen from to much fuel or something I DONT KNOW, but I'm thinking if i put new gaskets on it and put it all back together and buy some really good expensive sealer and try to reseal that back up. i would have to do a couple of oil changes to get all the coolant out that does leak into the block while i flush the sealer throughout the radiator "oh yea all crank bearings are good" . SO ANYWAYS, i think it was just a defect in the block, a bad block that came from the manufacturer , I don't know, but apparently this tractor had this problem before i even owned it. if it is possible, i would like the same people who were on my old post to post on this one too, too see what they think, AND all new people that see this post to.

cavitation ?

You are fortunate, and I applaud you for the tear down, its some work for sure. The hole is from cavitation. Porous block, can you post a photo of it here ? It would be helpful to see it, and for others to learn from it.

You would think it would cavitate through the sleeve to the combustion chamber, but I'll refrain from comment there not having torn one of these down or seen one apart since we sold the previous series tractors new. We used to get some of these in from Canada with cracked blocks sometimes.

Well water is not advisable to use in a coolant mix on these, reiterating the earlier post by stating that, distilled water and the proper coolant with the anti-cavitation additive or the pre-mix.


I would not trust any snake oil fix for that block, because you'll eventually miss the coolant in the oil and the damage it will do, sooner or later it will come back to haunt you, but the real question is, what is the best fix for that block, thats an interesting one and it would be great to see some photos of it.

Good thing is you took it apart and know what it is, you are lucky on the oil contamination given the tough pulling it was doing and that it was getting hot.

Coolant port/jacket being blocked is not a good thing, while sealants work, I for one don't care for them. I had to use it in a 4 cylinder 172 ford motor with a porous block, darned thing leaked coolant like yours externally, nothing in the oil pan, all on the floor,, sealant worked to reduce that leak to something much more manageable, but it did clog up the LP vaporizer on this one, but that was about the only option and this engine is sleeved being the year it is or should be, who knows it may have been swapped out just the same. I thought it to be head gasket too, but there was no sign of it, further investigation proved it was actually the block casting itself,

Ok thank you, I will do the best i can to get some pictures tonight, don't know how ima get camera up there, mabey ill buy one of them things with the camera on the long bendable stick, ill figure something out. at least to wasn't cause from it being ran hard. unless mabey thats what caused the cavity hole sealer to come apart or what ever. we'll see. thanks for your thoughts

Aren't many of the Ford engines NOT sleeved from the factory ?
If it has sleeves replace them and if not get some put in it. A good machinists will be needed.

That style Ford diesel is known for cavitation issues. They are parent bore block, no sleeves. Most good engine machine shops won't even bore those Ford diesel engines unless they bore and sleeve them first, then rebore the sleeve. Last one I did was $90 a hole labor for the first bore, sleeve install, second bore, and finish hone. Those need to have the proper PH of the coolant, and you should add a DCA or SCA. I like to use the IH coolant filter base to add a coolant filter with SCA to any of our working diesels that didn't come with one.

Ross

note that this is a 1981 ford 4600 late model.

If you already have a hole in the block, why on Earth would you want to put it back together and try to rely on the "mechanic in a can" fix?????

Spend the extra money and get it fixed right. The risk you are taking is saving a couple of bucks on machine work versus ruining the engine.

Don't be such a cheapskate or so lazy. Do it right and do it once.

oh yea i know, but i didn't not even know there was a way to fix that, should i take it to someone who can fill in or weld on cast iron, to fill in that hole.?

As others have posted. take it to a machine shop and have it sleeved and re-bored to standard dimension. Worth the money in the long run.

I will second having the blocked bored out and a sleeve installed to seal the casting hole. This sleeve would just get that hole back to where you would put a standard sleeve inside of it. Your seeing a cavitation hole in the original block. That is why many of us on here are telling people with diesel engines to use coolant additives regularly in them. Also NEVER use well water in any engine. If you want to MIX your own then at least use distilled water with new antifreeze. I still recommend buying the premixed products, such as JD Cool guard. It is more than just distilled water. I will just be glad that you would use distilled water. The antifreeze part never goes bad. The additives go bad with TIME not usage. That is what the coolant additives put back in the cooling system.

This is not an uncommon issue with the three cylinder Ford tractors. I have done 3-4 in my life time and I am not in a heavy Ford area. In every single case the old coolant looked like rusty sludge when I cleaned the block out.

I didn't see this post earlier...... but don't even THINK about putting that time bomb back together. Tear it down all the way and send the block out and have ALL 3 HOLES BORED AND SLEEVED. That is assuming that the hole is in the cylinder wall. If it's in the bottom of the water jacket it may not be repairable.
There is no need to even think that some snake oil will repair this problem. You need a good machinist who is familiar with boring Ford Basildon engines.

Rod

Ok thanks i was thinking about doing that and when i saw your post, Thats what i decided to do, i already have the block on a trailer. The sealer my dad put in it 10 years ago some how stopped it till now , but now the hole could be even bigger, so thats what ill do then . thanks man. Wellll, ya know, i do have a 466 IH hagin around at the scrap pile behind my house that still runs, (wink wink) . won't ever have to worry bou't motor problems again you know, lol