I noticed that antifreeze was leaking from my block, took a look underneath and the 2cnd freezeplug from the back was leaking, so iIreplaced it. Then I noticed that there is a small crack between the second and third freezeplugs. Any suggestions on a good repair? Can't afford a new block, but there has to be a way to fix it. jb weld? welding? Any ideas would be extremely helpful. It's my daily driver, but as of right now it isn't driving anywhere. My fiancee' and i are having to use just her car to get around and our schedules are conflicting. Can't drive it the way it is, the crack is leaking also.

 

that is the first cracked 4.0 block i 've ever heard of like you're saying. wonder if it had water and froze or something. there is no real fix, its junk


a cast block can be mig welded, but its debatable. to do it properly you are supposed to drill a hole on each side of the crack, and then mig weld the crack. that might be able to be done in the jeep with the manifold off. but its still not a proper fix.

 

the best temp fix that i can think of is fill the crack with weld prefer tig then grind that down and then tig weld a plate over that but id just get a new engine but i bet that if you weld then plate it that it will hold up for a while

 

we JB welded our 1950 Chevy p/u, 6 cylinder, years back and it still holds till this day. [we left water in the block]. this is NOT a daily driver by no means, it's a farm truck. So go with another idea if this is something you depend on.

 

a cast block can be mig welded, but its debatable. to do it properly you are supposed to drill a hole on each side of the crack, and then mig weld the crack. that might be able to be done in the jeep with the manifold off. but its still not a proper fix.[/quote]
i have herd this also about drilling and using the mig. i don't know if you can tig cast or not but the drilling will stop the crack from spreading.

 

actually i mistyped, tig is the better route to go. mig can be done with the right wire. but tig is better, sorry for the misprint. and yes, they say without drilling the hole, the crack will spread. drilling a hole on each end, and then filling it with the weld will prevent it from spreading.