Well my father-in-laws 94 4.0 gave up last week with milky white oil. Well I got the engine torn down and was cleaning it and getting ready to put it back together, and I found a nice 2 inch crack in the passenger side head.

Can the head be fixed or are we out of luck?

 

Dont hold me to this, but I think it might be possible to weld the crack. Though considering 4.0 ohv's are a dime a dozen it might be worth just getting a new one to be safe.

 

I figured that I would probably have to get a new one, but I really didn't want to resort to that. I was trying to save them money by changing the gaskets and fixing the motor.

I guess we will have to call around on monday and see how much a used OHV is going to cost and then tear that one down and replace the gaskets on it. Then i will get someone else to swap the motors, lol, b/c I am not looking forward to doing that.

 

Call a machine shop, they can tell you if it can be fixed, and if not can line line you up with heads for a good price. You don't wanna skimp out here as it will make all that work worthless.

 

You don't need to replace the whole motor. Replacing the heads will be so much cheaper. They can be picked up from a good junkyard motor or found all over the internet.

 

I am not going to replace the motor, I just need to find the head for sale.

I am calling a machine shop on monday to see how much they charge.

 

I would just buy a new head. I picked one up for $230 from "Ideal Cylinder Head" for my 99' fully assembled with valves & springs. I called around to the local shops and they all wanted $100-$150 for a used head that would automatically require magnaflux to determine if it was OK to use, and milling work, so I figured screw it and I ordered a new fully assembled head that was ready to drop in.

 

Well we got two new heads fully assembled for $400.

Well I am about to put it back together and I think I found the start of the problem. The front right piston is broken and missing a few pieces. Looks like it was only a matter of time before it died.