Slight leak in block

[Tractor Rod]

I just bought a Farmall B and after running it for a little while I have noticed a slight water leak in the block. It looks like somebody tried to patch or weld it. Is there anything I can do to keep it from leaking……Or is the block toast and I was taken advantage of?

Thanks.

[Bob McCarty]

Can you clean off the paint and see what's underneath?

[Jim Becker]

Where on the block is the leak? I assume hidden behind the carburetor.

[Tractor Rod]

Yes the hairline crack is right at the carburetor. I cleaned it off and attached another picture. Thanks for your advice.

[outdoors4evr]

Paint it with Drylok! No, it doesn't work that well in basements either.

[Tractor Rod]

Thanks… I’ll try the drylock. It was my fault for not catching this before I bought it. I was hoping there was something I could do besides having to replace the whole engine. I guess the old saying is true about live and learn!
Thanks everyone for your assistance.

[outdoors4evr]

Don't waste your time with paints.
Some people groove it and braze (or weld) the cast iron. I hear it takes a lot of heat to get the cast iron to accept a weld.

[Jim Becker]

I'd groove it a little, then fill the groove with a filled epoxy like JB Weld. You will have to drain the coolant so you can dry the crack. Otherwise it can be done with no preparation. Prep'ing and heating to braze or weld is a major effort.

If JB Weld doesn't work, you still have the braze option.

[Tractor Rod]

Thanks. I can use a Dremel and run a small groove and then fill with JB Weld.

And like you said if that doesn’t work I’ll find somebody that can braze it for me. Thanks again everyone for your suggestions.

[tst]

V it out and weld it, modern welders can do that easy with the right person using it, drill a small hole at the ends of the crack to keep it from cracking more

[Tractor Rod]

As suggested I drained the block and let it dry out and then put JB Weld on the outside and stop leak in the system. I still have a slight bit of seepage from the crack and was wondering if I should drain it, flush, dry and put stop leak in again?

Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

IMHO, drain, flush, and dry are parts of the JB Weld patching. No point unless you are going to try again with the JB Weld. Have you run it enough to get it well warmed up? If not, try that. Maybe try it again. The stop leak really won't circulate to where it is needed without the coolant circulating.

[Tractor Rod]

I ran the tractors for 30 minutes and it still had a slight seepage. I’ll try the JB weld process again and do a stop leak process for a 2nd time.
Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

When you warm it up, cover the radiator with something like cardboard to help push the temperature up.

[Dave F.]

TractorRod, Which JB weld did you use if you used the kwick weld, It's not very good in my opinon, get the orginal JB weld & follow the instruction to the letter, And let it cure for 12-24 hours I fixed a leaky cub cyclinder head probably 18 years ago & still no leaks as of today. Dave F.