Cracks or weird casting marks?

[16vCorey]

So I got this engine from a guy who said it was in a car that busted the oil pan and ran for a few minutes with no oil. They put another engine in the car and I traded him some other parts for the engine they pulled out. He had already pulled the head off, and he told me the head didn't show any signs of damage. Anyway, the pistons definitely scored the cylinder walls, but everything else looked fine with the engine.

Until I started taking the head apart. I noticed what looked like a crack going across the cam journals. I've never seen one crack here. Could it just be a bad casting? And it's only on two of them, but it follows a straight line, as if it's actually a continuous crack/casting mark. What do you think?

[redlightpete]

That's what you'd call a cracked m20 head. Maybe it hasn't cracked into a coolant passage yet, but you definitely wouldn't want to use it.

[15Michaeljoseph]

from my limited experience.... I don't think those are casting marks


--Mike

[spdracrm3]

definately cracked, look like it froze and lifted the center of casting upwards causing the cracks (you can see it continue outside the journals also ) probably not even worth the money having it pressure tested

if you clean the oil residue away and hit the crack with a torch you will see it become more defined as the oil in the crack burns/carbons confirming the crack ,boat anchor now

[16vCorey]

OK, that's kind of what I thought. Bummer.

[Old city bimmer]

Yeah that's defitnetly the starting of a crack head.


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[ForcedFirebird]

Very common crack on m20 heads.