Help!! I'm afraid my engine has seized

[Slowleak]

Coke was invented in 1886 but I still would not pour it in my engine. I would drink it while waiting for my ATF/acetone mix to free everything up. Then I would do like Steve83 described. Get that thing rolling and pop the clutch.

 

[70_Steve]

Bee through rusted/seized pistons before. Father-in-law got water down the carb of a 318 boat engine. I pulled the heads, soaked the cylinders in penetrating oil. Then, to help free things up, I started in on those pistons with a 4x4 and 2lb hammer. Not hard, but just enough to help things along. Got the pistons freed up, then kept turning the engine over, working the rust out. Turn over a few revs, then wipe the cylinder, turn, wipe, turn, wipe. Did that till I got no more rust. Put it back together and it ran great. Compression (from what I remember from 25 years ago) was about 135 +/- 10psi.

 

[bmc69]

Coke was invented in 1886 but I still would not pour it in my engine..

I will though. It's done wonders freeing up some pretty well stuck ancient engines.

 

[Steve83]

Coke was invented in 1886...

You're right - I was looking at the trademark year. But I still don't think anyone bought it that year (or the following few decades), walked out of the soda shop, and poured it into an old seized engine.

 

[bmc69]

You're right - I was looking at the trademark year. But I still don't think anyone bought it that year (or the following few decades), walked out of the soda shop, and poured it into an old seized engine.

Ya learn something new every day.

I was skeptical too...when, well over 40 years ago, it was explained to me.

 

[Slowleak]

I will though. It's done wonders freeing up some pretty well stuck ancient engines.

I'm not saying that it won't work, just that i would rather drink it.... Preferably with some bourbon

 

[bmc69]

i'm not saying that it won't work, just that i would rather drink it.... Preferably with some bourbon

.......

 

[norm02]

Hilarious.




It's even funnier that Coke wasn't invented until the 40s, and probably didn't get used as a break-free agent in engines by its inventor or any early customers. Reminds me of that Abraham Lincoln quote about internet statistics...

But I bet if you search hard enough, you can find that someone somewhere at some time has used Mercury, baking soda, and explosives to free stuck engines. That doesn't mean any of them are the best for this particular engine.In that case, put it in the highest gear, get it rolling, & pop the clutch. You can do that rolling backward, too (always in the highest forward gear).

I'll probably do that as a last resort before I start pulling things apart. Hopefully it doesn't come to that..

 

[Steve83]

...when, well over 40 years ago, it was explained to me.

I totally buy 40. Even 50. But not 100.


...and I still wouldn't do it.

 

[smokinjoe]

Wasn't the magic rust eater ATF + Acetone?

Yup! Hot Rod I think did an article on that a couple years ago. Old hot rodder I know uses ATF exclusively

 

[norm02]

So I came home and sprayed PB Blaster into the other 5 cylinders and siphoned the Marvel out of the one that I had filled to the brim (#5). Once the Marvel was out, I sprayed PB into into #5 and I let it sit for about half an hour.

After it sat for a while, I took my new 17" breaker bar and tried to turn the crank bolt but couldn't make it budge. I tried to start it with the starter and still had no luck so I removed the belt and the starter. After all of that, I still couldn't turn it over at the crank bolt.

I then shined my light into each cylinder and noticed that the PB Blaster had leaked down in all but the #5 cylinder. Sprayed more into each cylinder and then disconnected the carb, fuel lines, and removed the valve cover in preparation to pull,the cylinder head off. Upon staring at the valve train, I realized that I"m "in over my head" so I took a step back.

I decided to try the breaker bar one last time before calling it a night and to my surprise, I was finally able to turn the bolt some. It didn't turn easily, but it did turn. After a couple of pulls, I started keeping an eye on the crank pulley and noticed that it wasn't moving even though the crank bolt was.

Since I thought that the motor had finally unstuck, I bolted the starter back up and turned the key. It made the same knocking noise as before, failed to turn the motor over, and I saw some smoke coming from what I'm assuming is the starter solenoid. At that point I threw in the towel and put my tools and stuff away for the night.

Sorry for the long message but I'm not really sure where to go from here and wanted to make sure I outlined my process in case someone saw a flaw in it. I was hoping to try and turn the engine over more tomorrow with the starter but I'm not real comfortable doing that considering something smokes whenever I hold the key in then"start" position. Any ideas or advice would be appreciated!

 

[half cab]

Gonna take a lot more time for the penetrating oils to work. The stater in a bind therefore you gonna have smoking..don't try starter again til engine frees up.

 

[Tiko433]

The next thing I would do is drop oil pan. Unbolt the 5# connecting rod since that one is holding the PB Then try to turn the crank.

 

[Dave K.]

I've had much better luck with Kroil--just saying....

 

[bmc69]

I would pull the head before you break something. Its not a difficult job and the most you will be out is a couple of gaskets.

I agree.

I had an engine seize on me too just due to sitting for years. I had parked it running fine. It turned out that it had the slightest of leaks in a head gasket that allowed coolant to weep in to a cylinder over time.

Got it unstuck eventually and did a quick/dirty hone on the affected cylinder and slapped it back together. It smoked a bit, but it was for a beater car so I didn't care about that.

 

[Steve83]

I decided to try the breaker bar one last time before calling it a night and to my surprise, I was finally able to turn the bolt some. It didn't turn easily, but it did turn. After a couple of pulls, I started keeping an eye on the crank pulley and noticed that it wasn't moving even though the crank bolt was.

That's what I tried to warn you about earlier. If you ever plan to reuse this engine, you'll need a new HB bolt since you've stretched this one. You'll be lucky to get it out in 1 piece.

...what I'm assuming is the starter solenoid.

If it's on the fender, it's the starter RELAY. A starter solenoid is ON the starter.

...I'm not really sure where to go from here...

Backward. Use the prybar or push-start technique to spin the engine the other direction. If it turns easily, the engine is probably mechanically damaged (thrown rod?).

 

[Dave K.]

I would pull the head before you break something. Its not a difficult job and the most you will be out is a couple of gaskets.

Ditto on that. If you're not comfortable doing this I would take it someone. Ditto on the crank bolt as well. If for any reason the crank had issues in the past in this area you might be into things a bit.

Perhaps solicit someone from the board to swing by and assist you?

 

[norm02]

I decided to quit on it before I hurt something. One of my good friends is a GM World Class Technician and he's coming over next weekend to help me pull the head. Going to let it continue to soak until then as the PB Blaster still has not leaked down in the #5 cylinder.

I've got plenty do until next weekend so I'll continue to work on other areas that need attention. I appreciate the advice and I'll update the thread as soon as something changes.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Another thing you can try is to put the transmission in high gear and just rock the vehicle back and forth. It can get rhythmic. Give little nudges both ways in fairly rapid succession without much work. Level ground and tires aired all the way up.

 

[norm02]

Another thing you can try is to put the transmission in high gear and just rock the vehicle back and forth. It can get rhythmic. Give little nudges both ways in fairly rapid succession without much work. Level ground and tires aired all the way up.

Sadly enough, I tried this too and it just drug the rear tires.