I found this on a set of heads I picked up and not sure what to think. This happened on 2 water ports on each head. My first thought was incorrect coolant ratio but then there would be more pitting other places. My next thought was head gaskets starting to go or a pocket of coolant trapped there between gasket and head. What are your guys thoughts. Should I do anything about it?

 

Casting imperfections?

 

interesting, looks like head gasket failure.. may have been the wrong type of coolant possibly contributing but I wouldn't be using those heads. they don't look like they will seal properly. anyone else have this problem ? these are aluminum heads right ?

 

Yes they are edelbrock aluminum heads.

 

looks like they were severely overheated or undertorqued maybe for sure mistreated in some way. I would send them back and save the heartache of trying fix someone else's screw up.

 

I have seen aluminum corrode like that over time with or without the correct coolant. it all tends to turn acidic over a couple years time and needs to be flushed to prevent this type of gasket failure. so if they ran them 5-6 years without changing it could cause similar damage.

 

Can't return them. Looks like I'll be using some JB weld to fill in the pits when I get ready to use them.

 

Can you get them lightly resurfaced?

 

have you checked them for warpage ? these would be scrap if I pulled them off a new car under warranty and I wouldn't use them otherwise either. my bet is you will find they are also warped. best thing is to resell them then if you can stand it, unfortunate but just ignoring there is a problem will just cause more damage. best to step back and think about it before just throwing some JB on it and go. btw I love that stuff .. it works pretty good but I doubt it will be good for that.

 

Hydrodynamic cavitation and/or acidic coolant.
As mentioned head torque. It is my experience that Aluminum heads need to be checked periodically(especially aftermarket). What coolant are you using and at what concentration?
Were the head gaskets compatible with the aluminum heads?
All else fails give Vic and Camee a call and ask. Their tech support is great.

 

We used to have Rover Straight 6 engines built up again by a specialist welding firm. They were notorious for head erosion and warping problems, mostly stemming from poor quality metal.
I dare say you will find someone who can do similar work over there, but whether it is worthwhile, or just easier to get new heads I couldn't say.

Roger.

 

Sadly I don't know any of the information you asked. They came off a motor in a trans am that the guys was switching back to stock before selling the car. I haven't checked them for warping or anything yet. I'll take them to a local machine shop and see what they say. If they can be cleaned up, then some JB weld should be just fine to fill in the pits. They are not going on an immediate build so I have plenty of time.

 

Guy said he had head gasket failures twice with the heads using a felpro gasket. The studs starting pulling from the block the last time and he had to run only water in it to get it home. Heads have around 2k miles on them.

 

They recommend using the Fel-Pro #1155 gaskets and they also say you have to use their head bolts I assume because they are a little longer. torque to 85 ft/lbs for 7/16 bolts or 90 ft/lbs for 1/2 bolts. and always re-torque after warm-up and waiting a good period for cool down... couple hours or so then re-torque.

 

a lot of people don t know it but you should use dex cool in your engine when you use alum. to cast. and always use distilled water because it does not have minerals in it. good luck with those heads.

 

yes that would be a good one, I think they came up with that to use with their new aluminum blocks and heads they cast using that loose cast method or some such if you look close at the stuff you can see it has major porosity issues. looks like Styrofoam lol I know if you don't use Dex-cool in those they will leak .. all over lol. Distilled water is also what Ford states to use and they have several different coolants for different engines.

 

Yeah he said he retorqued them a few times as well. Its just seems like that pitting occurred really fast.

 

looks pretty bad in the pics, you can only guess at how it happened now. you can access a copy of the installation instructions for those heads online. make sure you have the correct head bolts unless you use studs then you should be ok. I would recommend Studs myself.

 

You need an antifreeze compatible with aluminum engines, Dex-cool is probably the best known brand name and may be a generic term in the USA.
I dare say other brands are available. Very few modern European cars have iron heads nowadays but the brand name Dex-cool is unheard of over here.

Roger.

 

I'll remember the Dex-cool for when this engine gets built along with probably using studs.