I have a Vermeer 1250 with a Perkins Diesel engine on it. We discovered a crack in it today. It was leaking coolant out of a tiny spot on the side of the engine. We took it to Vermeer and they told us to try and get it welded. So we took it to a welder and he told us that he would need the engine out of the machine to weld it and even then he could not promise a perfect weld. We figured we would just get a "new" engine put into it. The mechanic at Vermeer also said we could try some leak stopper as a fix. I assume this would just be a temporary fix. I guess we are looking at about $5k for a remanufactured engine plus labor to put it in. Any thoughts of different solutions to my problem? And getting a new chipper is not a choice right now.
Cracked engine block, now what?
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ShoerFast
Tree Freak
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Find a welder that will try fixing it where it is.
Start looking for a good-used engine and if you can weld it it would be a good spare.
Sealers are worth a try, might buy you time, but a crack is a crack, whats the chance that it will not get bigger?
Start looking for a good-used engine and if you can weld it it would be a good spare.
Sealers are worth a try, might buy you time, but a crack is a crack, whats the chance that it will not get bigger?
DroppedP51
ArboristSite Operative
im a welder
put up a photo of the crack
You could drill and peg it or drill and tap bolts into the crack overlapping each other
Why did it crack? missing bolts? I have seen loaders with holes in the block fiberglassed up and the owners never knew untill they were blasted and painted
Some castings were made of better quallity cast International tractors etc Ive welded them with a low hydrogen electrode
Try a few other welders and get there opinion
All the best D
put up a photo of the crack
You could drill and peg it or drill and tap bolts into the crack overlapping each other
Why did it crack? missing bolts? I have seen loaders with holes in the block fiberglassed up and the owners never knew untill they were blasted and painted
Some castings were made of better quallity cast International tractors etc Ive welded them with a low hydrogen electrode
Try a few other welders and get there opinion
All the best D
weld
find the best welder you can weld it in place then put stop leak in it been there done that it worked howd it happen?
find the best welder you can weld it in place then put stop leak in it been there done that it worked howd it happen?
I will try and get pics soon. Thanks for all of the responses so far. I really appreciate it. As for why or how it happened.... I am not really sure. The biggest kicker out of all of this, we just bought this chipper in spring and it was totally reconditioned. I don't know the history of the chipper, but the Vermeer dealer told us that whoever did the reconditioning did a great job. Vermeer also told me that cracks like this can just happen with age and since the chipper is 15 years old it may have just been its time. The crack is very is fairly long (6 to 8 inches) but it is only weeping coolant out of a very small spot. Do any of you have any thoughts about using it for a week or 2 before we can get it fixed?
OK, a couple of really stupid questions.... please don't laugh. What kind of metal is the engine block made out of? I understand its cast so is it cast iron or steel? Also, where does one start to look for a used engine?
cracks
not so sure this is the end of the world scenario i had one bust wide open huge gaping hole maybe 10x 4 inches rectangular hole had it welded and a tiny bit would leak but put aluminum type powder sealant from napa in and fixed it ran for a year before i sold it find a really experienced welder that will make the difference.
not so sure this is the end of the world scenario i had one bust wide open huge gaping hole maybe 10x 4 inches rectangular hole had it welded and a tiny bit would leak but put aluminum type powder sealant from napa in and fixed it ran for a year before i sold it find a really experienced welder that will make the difference.
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stop leak
i don't know technically but it works better you may need to add a few as you watch the leak add as needed not a huge amount 3 - tubes or 4 not sure see the weld may have some porosity in it just pin holes .let it warm up a couple hours see how one or two bottles do.btw i had mine crack cause low antifreeze be carefull with that. it was welded i put in some alum leak sealer and good to go after that also i just thouhht put some jb weld over the weld after you clean it up take time do good job and i think unless thers more cracks you dont see you will be good.let us know how u do im sure this is stressing you out stuff is expensive also maybe a plate over it after its welded to keep from spreading you just need a pro . good luck lone wolf
i don't know technically but it works better you may need to add a few as you watch the leak add as needed not a huge amount 3 - tubes or 4 not sure see the weld may have some porosity in it just pin holes .let it warm up a couple hours see how one or two bottles do.btw i had mine crack cause low antifreeze be carefull with that. it was welded i put in some alum leak sealer and good to go after that also i just thouhht put some jb weld over the weld after you clean it up take time do good job and i think unless thers more cracks you dont see you will be good.let us know how u do im sure this is stressing you out stuff is expensive also maybe a plate over it after its welded to keep from spreading you just need a pro . good luck lone wolf
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pics
Here are some pics of the engine. Once we had the paint ground off you could hardly see the crack. Here are some pics.
Below is our JB Weld job
If you look in the center, in the shadow you can see the crack.
Another, sorry about the poor quality, its hard to photograph your engine.
If you look real hard in the center of the cleaned area you can make out portions of the crack.
Here are some pics of the engine. Once we had the paint ground off you could hardly see the crack. Here are some pics.
Below is our JB Weld job
If you look in the center, in the shadow you can see the crack.
Another, sorry about the poor quality, its hard to photograph your engine.
If you look real hard in the center of the cleaned area you can make out portions of the crack.
cracks
not much of a crack is it i would get it fixed so it dont spread
not much of a crack is it i would get it fixed so it dont spread
cracks
keep us posted
keep us posted
plumbcrazyjr
ArboristSite Operative
there is a process called lock-n-stitch that works very well if you can get to the crack i belive that they have a web site that might help
Try and find the ends of the crack then drill and tap and plug with threaded bar or bolts. Grind off level. This will stop the crack getting any longer. Access can be a problem with this. As it doesn't look too bad there is a good chance JB weld will seal the leak but it won't stop the crack growing.
The chipper has been repaired and is ready to go. We ended up taking it to a shop that works on just about every type of engine on the road. They had to take the engine off of the chipper and they were able to drill the ends of the crack..... just like mentioned above, and plug the holes. They also did some stitching along the length of the crack. They then finished buy putting a JB Weld like material over it and painting it black to match the rest of the engine. They told us that the crack was only about 1.5" in total length. The repair was pretty expensive, about $2500. Most of the cost was in labor to remove and replace the engine. The final bill is actually reasonable considering the only other option given to us was to replace the engine with a remaned one from Vermeer. They wanted $3500(I think) for the engine and at least $2000 to install it. They told us that it wasn't the exact same engine so they would have to mod our chipper. They were not sure exactly how many mods they would have to make so the installation price was likely to go up. Before getting our chipper fixed, we took it to several places and nobody wanted anything to do with it. Vermeer was not able to help us with the repair because they didn't have the skills or equipment to weld or stitch it, but they were a great help with all of the info they gave us as well as locating a new engine for us. I hope that this thread can help some in the future with a cracked engine block. It was not fun trying to a fix when mechanics and welders are telling us "no" but many people online are saying "yeah it can be repaired". Now I just hope the fix works, but only time will tell. Thanks to everyone who posted on this subject.
lawson's tree s
ArboristSite Operative
glad to here you got it fixed i had a vermeer 1230 with the perkins 85hp engine it had a crack on the left side of the motor had to have it fixed too. ended up selling it and buying a 14 inch morbark blizzard with a john deere deisel.
treemandan
Tree Freak
Boiler sealer. Head on down to a plumbing supply house and try a bottle. Its like all those other types of sealers but a little tougher. Don't be surprised if it clogs the water pump or radiator so you might want to take them off and clean them out after the application.
I had a chevy 2.8 with a cracked head and put on 70k miles after the fact. Now the real fix is a new block.
Also look at the radiator cap, if it tells you how many pounds it has you can get a lower rated cap to help reduce pressure build up.
treemandan
Tree Freak
ooops, to late.
lewis16
ArboristSite Operative
what about pollyfiller? lol
