For brevity, I will leave out how this happened. Suffice to say I need a bit more practice re-tapping bolts. My hope is for some ideas regarding solutions because I don't trust shops and I especially don't like going to shops uninformed.

My questions are as follows:

• Can this be repaired?
• If so, how much should I be expecting to pay?
• If it can't be repaired what can be done?

Any advice moving forward would be much appreciated. As I stated above, I am not used to taking my car somewhere. Welding is one of those bucket list items I have yet to delve in to.

Thanks in advance,
Matt


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Luckily that's only the outside, but you sure put yourself in a predicament, the only thing I can even think is that you would have to drill it oversize and place a threaded insert, otherwise prepare to have your VTEC solenoid hemorrhage oil, and that's only if you haven't damaged anything in the head internally. Welding "dirty" aluminum is very very difficult to do properly. If worse comes to worse you're better off just getting a used head.

 

It can be welded, but it should be removed so it can be cleaned properly. You will need to find a talented welder as cast aluminum can be tricky to weld on due to all the different materials used in the alloy.

 

My car is in storage right now so I can't look at mine but would this work?....

Use a dremel to "notch" the crack out a bit to give it more surface area and then use JB Weld along the crack. Then drill out the threaded part to the next larger size and use a long bolt with a washer and nut on the back side.

Not sure how much force is applied to this area and whether this would be an option if the OP didn't want to pull the head right now for a "permanent" fix by having it welded....

 

Everything seems to be fine aside from the hemorrhaging, as you suggested. It's not to bad but it's not something I am comfortable with. I'd really hate to replace the whole head just because of that little crack though.

Alrighty, thanks. And as far as retapping or adding a thread... Would the correct way to approach it be to simply weld a block of aluminum onto that area and then retap it?

This may work as a temp fix as you suggested but those threads are ruined. So much so that I am not sure how much this would do to solve the actual problem.


I was thinking about using a small C-clamp to help support the solenoid while I work out a solution. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks again guys,
Matt

 

I would just bolt in the solenoid as usual and chase the back side with a nut and call it a day. You should have enough room there to get a nut in there and it'll allow you to get proper torque on the bolt. You may want to drill out the threads, since they are screwed up anyway, to allow the bolt to slide in freely then use a wrench on the nut on the backside and torque as usual. Good luck.

 

Agree---this is what I was trying to say in my post as well as putting JB weld along to crack to strengthen it.

 

or, you can use helicoil.

 

Helicoil won't work properly since the threads have already been compromised by having a crack run all the way through them. Proper torque cannot be achieved and/or guaranteed to hold up.

 

-Tapping the hole out larger for an insert will further weaken the area.
-Judging from the gasket marks, the threads are outside of the pressurized oil zone, correct?
-You need a solution that will allow proper compression of the gasket without further compromising the cracked area, correct?

I'm going to suggest you start with Jordanksartell's suggestion of drilling the threads out and using a bolt-and-nut arrangement. That will provide adequate clamping force for the gasket. It also does it without spreading the crack, because the threads of the bolt are no longer applying a wedging force to the cracked boss. You can run the bolt in from the front or the back of the boss. It may be easier to tighten it if the nut is in front.

Welding the crack would require extremely clean metal not likely possible with the head still on the engine. Any adhesive would be put into tension, when it's really better at holding shear forces.

If you are concerned about the crack growing, I suggest either fabricating (or pay someone to fabricate) a partial metal "box". The box will have 3 sides and one end. The end of the box will have a hole for the bolt to protrude through at the rear of the cracked boss. The 3 sides will contact the top/side/underside of the cracked boss to help hold it together, and the bolt & nut will hold it in place. I have in mind ~1/8" plate, folded into the shape with edges welded.