The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 250 water in oil

I bought a 66 c10 and the 250 had water in the oil Pulled the head and saw this[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51789678137_2f142d2bdc_t.jpg[/img]IMG_4720 by Daniel Crymes, on Flickr

Is the crack the problem or should I look for something else?

That would do it!

Ed

Unfortunately, cracks in that area of the 230/250 engine and coolant/oil cross contamination is a chronic problem. It's virtually impossible to repair. It's time to go looking for another engine, or at least a block.

Apparently, there's a hot spot that develops at the front of those blocks that promotes a lot of heat expansion and contraction which leads to cracking. The #1 cylinder is also prone to excessive taper wear. I've had to sleeve a few front cylinders to avoid having to bore all of the cylinders way oversize, or scrap an otherwise good block.
Jerry

A lot of the 194-230-250 engines have the same crack, I had one just like it. I have read that the head bolt at the front drivers corner needs only 85 ft lbs of torque where the others get 90 or 95. The little bit of cast iron left after boring the water pump hole along with heat cycles cracks them. I have read where installing the water pump helps when torquing the head. Mine seeped coolant to the outside, there shouldn't be any oil in that location. There are head bolts that go into the water passages, so maybe one of them is letting coolant up into the top of the head where it mixes with oil. I scrapped the block, no one wanted to try and fix it, plus blocks were fairly easy to get at the time.

What year 250s will fit my 66. A local yard had one in a early 80s c10 but it looked different than mine

All of them will “fit” but the later models had the intake integrated with the head and massive amounts of vacuum hoses and smog stuff. The integrated head was a real weak point, so, I would stick with the earlier versions.

I've got one of those late model 250's in my core engine collection. The head will either be trading material, or maybe I'll make it a boat anchor!
Jerry

Ok I will try to find an older one. How hard to put in a 292 I know the passenger side motor mount is different what else?

292 is longer overall.

All the blocks are the same for the 230-250s, so years don't matter, the heads from the older engines will swap on to new blocks with no problems. The late model heads are not worth using as most are cracked, the none cracked ones do use a two barrel carb and likely run fairly decent if you can live with the smog equipment. As mentioned, the 292 is a little longer due to the heavy duty water pump, it is about 2" taller due to the longer stroke. The 194-230-250-292 heads all interchange. The 292 uses offset motor mounts, they bolt right in with the correct passenger side motor mount, the 292 has a mid engine fuel pump where the 230-250 has a fuel pump closer to the front of the engine.

Thanks for all the replies. I bought a 250 from a friend of mine. I tore it down this after noon and it looks good. I ordered a re ring kit for it.

I thought all 194-230-250-292 were the same length except perhaps more V belt pulleys?

Ed

I believe you are right Ed, they do have more pulleys on balancers.

79 broncoowner Learned that 292 will crack between the lifter bores if overheated.Took a while to discover this,that was in 1970 was in a combine got way too hot.

This should fix my cracked 250 [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51822837036_020fa24f56_t.jpg[/img]IMG_4802 by Daniel Crymes, on Flickr