Steam holes?

[jwipprecht]

I am working on getting my 1919 center door sedan running after it was put in a barn in 1948. Below is a picture of my block all cleaned up. I understand that the 5 small holes are "steam holes" to allow steam in the water jacket to escape. I have the pan off underneath and I was looking at the very nice crankshaft, lifters and camshaft when I noticed that the two holes marked with arrows in the attached picture go right through into the crankcase. From below I could see light coming through those two holes. Is this correct? Why would steam or water be going into the crankcase?

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Well... that's not good.

Just for fun, if you block the holes from underneath and try to blow air through, does the air flow into the water jacket, or is there no escape for the air? The reason I ask is I'm wondering if someone enlarged the holes, drilled all the way through, then lined the holes with thin-walled tubing so that water could not pass into the crankcase. If this were done, and an overhead valve set-up were used, (with similar treatment to the holes), then pressurized oil could be sent up to the rocker shaft & rockers. Yes... this is a wild-ass guess

Frankly, I like Jeff Humble's theory better, (see below)

[Humblej]

Those holes are passages for coolant to flow into the head. The gasket also has those holes. No there should not be steam holes into the crankcase, but are you sure that is what you are seeing light thru? There are oil drain holes in the valve gallery that you might be seeing light from. I would take some wire and see if it goes thru or bottoms out in the block for those steam holes. My bet is they do not go thru the block.

[RajoRacer]

It's possible someone was "drilling" out the steam holes and obviously, went a bit too deep ?

[Craig Leach]

Hi John,
Are you sure those are not the valve chamber drain holes?
Craig.

[John kuehn]

Was there any water in the oil when you removed the oil pan to see up through the bottom?

The water passageways should be cleaned out when removing the head but could it be when the block was cleaned up the small holes were drilled out to far and opened up all the way through?

If the bottom end looks good the engine wasn’t getting any water into the bottom when it was running and being used those holes weren’t opened up.

[jwipprecht]

Humblej I am eating humble pie. Indeed the light I could see coming through two holes in the crankcase was coming through holes where the bottom of the valves and tops of the lifters are, which is nowhere near the top of the block where the steam holes are. Whew! Someone would need a long drill bit to accidentally drill from the "steam hole" all the way down into the crank case. See picture. I guess some oil splashes through those holes to keep the springs and valves oiled.

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Ha! Happy for you to see that my cornball theory was incorrect.

[Norman Kling]

The steam holes, Those which you show and also the ones at the front and rear corners of the block and head should be completely sealed when the head is bolted down. If the bolts are too long, the head gasket will not seal the steam holes and allow water to seep out. The ones in the corners will allow water to leak and it is behind the manifold so it cannot be seen. and if you check the coolant it might show full but the water is seeping out. I had a car which I took on a trailer and checked the coolant before I loaded it on. I did that the night before I left in the trailer. So it sat all night and then all the next day and night Finally the follow morning I left on tour and part way the engine overheated and fortunately we were parked long enough that it cooled off and I could fill it up. Had to check coolant at every gas station and rest stop on that tour. I fixed that by using a washer on the head of the bolt. Otherwise I would have needed to grind off some on each bolt so that next time I removed the head I might have gotten the wrong bolt in that hole. Now I only need to be sure to get the washer on that bolt.
Norm