Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I picked up a nice clean 3000 watt generator from CL with a small crack in the bottom of the crankcase that allows the oil to drain out slowly (fell off the back of a pickup). Any one have any suggestions/experience for repairs other than welding? I'm hoping maybe Devcon, JB weld or some metal epoxy?
The motor is a clone, Lifan 168F2 196 cc and parts seem to be quite rare. The manufacturer will ship a replacement crankcase for $62.00 + transport, which is probably close to what I would pay to have it welded.
Thanks

ONLY option i would do is to braze it with aluminum... u can not mig or tig it because the block becomes inpreganted with oil... ive brazed many many blocks (espically tecumseh with thrown rods) that are still holding up to this day...

Niper, Not to be rude, but would you be able to braze this for a customer for less than the $62 crankcase replacement?

Thanks for all the help. I got the crankcase open & on first inspection there does not seem to be any cracking on the inside, so it may be going out the drain hole then through the cracks there. I'll try to find a way to test that theory.
My intention was to flip this unit, so I'll probably try lots of JB then bolt a plate to the bottom of the crankcase to prevent the cracks from traveling further & weakening that bad corner. By the way, the supports at the other end broke off completely (by that's a fairly easy repair) so these things are not very robust for use around a construction site.

Cheers

GtWtNorth wrote:

These ope aren't meant to be dropped off the back of a truck either.

It seems like I was lucky after all. I filled the cracked oil drain hole with JB weld and buttered up the drain plug before screwing it in. Nnow that it's hardened, the leaking seems to be stopped(knock on wood). The  cracking is limited to the corner base area & didn't propagate through the case.



So I'll close her up & fill with oil to confirm. Let you know how it goes.

Cheers

gtwt! you also could jb weld all the wells(valleys) where the cracks are visible in the pics. i filled the whole cavity  adjacent to the drain plug casting.

I would just Alumiweld it. Should be a lot stronger.

mkd55, - I may still fill those cavities for the extra support.

Bill_H, I looked at the Alumiweld for a long time but the feedback I've seen doesn't give me a warm feeling. Plus I only have a propane torch so it would take a while to heat such a large mass, if it was possible. Plus I am too lazy to strip it right down to the casting so I'd be worried about how the heat would affect the other components, bearings & gaskets.

jtclays wrote:

l would agree money better spent on a new block espically at that price!!!... and i would probably charge $75-125 for a repair like this one.. but if u wanted to repair it...then brazing it in my opinion is the only permanent solution...

I used JB Weld once, it was for filling crack on a ford 302 head it was leaking right front corner , It was not only the gasket, the engine has already 300,000KM so i did want to redone the heads, so I use JB weld and telling you I sold the van and the guy still running it with the repair and still not leaking.