How best to free engine that has sat for yrs and rings stuck

How best to free engine that has sat for yrs and rings stuck

Author
Discussion

griffster

Original Poster:

172 posts

98 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
How best to free engine that has sat for yrs and rings stuck?

Tried soaking bores repeatedly in wd40 and marvel miracle oil stuff, but still wont hand crank (plugs out)

Not sure what to do next as stripping engines these days is so insanely expensive

Its been my car for 40 yrs and was running ok around 10 yrs ago - dry stored in a garage

Starting to re-commission - brakes are next once I can free engine, flush cooling and change pipes

boyse7en

6,740 posts

166 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
Fill the bores with diesel through the sparkplug hole and leave it to soak for a few weeks might help.

I'm surprised it has seized though. I had a MIni sat outside for nearly 20 years without being touched and the engine span over easily

InitialDave

11,933 posts

120 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
I would it right to the brim with diesel, and leave it for a good long time to soak.

Cylon2007

519 posts

79 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
WD40 is not a penerating oil - even though folk seem to think it is - you need some proper oil in the bores. If it won't run at all it's going to need stripping.

SturdyHSV

10,108 posts

168 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
Take the head(s) off and have a look inside?

If the rings are that badly stuck then presumably there's corrosion in the cylinders so it's likely to need some machine work anyway? If it's a 40+ year old engine it's presumably not going to be that complicated

Krikkit

26,546 posts

182 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
InitialDave said:
I would it right to the brim with diesel, and leave it for a good long time to soak.
This - plugs out, sump off.

jet_noise

5,659 posts

183 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
By strip do you mean head off?
I've only seen the below done on a resto. type program with no head.

<danger alert>
Heat diesel in saucepan to very hot indeed.
Pour into bore.
Belt block-of-wood-as-a-drift on top of piston with hefty mallet.

InitialDave

11,933 posts

120 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
InitialDave said:
I would it right to the brim with diesel, and leave it for a good long time to soak.
This - plugs out, sump off.
No, I mean just pour some down each bore, put the plugs back in, then remove the filler cap and pour in as much diesel as will fit.

Then leave it like that.

If you take the sump off, it'll drain back out.

steveo3002

10,537 posts

175 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
maybe worth getting a cheapo ebay camera on a stick thingy to poke down a plug hole , make sure its not riddled with rust

hot oil /diesel would be my favorite choice , some folk set up a spanner on the crank with a jack against it to apply some force overnight

griffster

Original Poster:

172 posts

98 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
SturdyHSV said:
Take the head(s) off and have a look inside?

If the rings are that badly stuck then presumably there's corrosion in the cylinders so it's likely to need some machine work anyway? If it's a 40+ year old engine it's presumably not going to be that complicated
IRON + ALLOY V8 and they dont like having heads removed + v expensive to recon...so hoping for a soak method - about to put more warm marvel miracle oil in - if that doesnt work - may try hot diesel in bores smile

SturdyHSV

10,108 posts

168 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
griffster said:
SturdyHSV said:
Take the head(s) off and have a look inside?

If the rings are that badly stuck then presumably there's corrosion in the cylinders so it's likely to need some machine work anyway? If it's a 40+ year old engine it's presumably not going to be that complicated
IRON + ALLOY V8 and they dont like having heads removed + v expensive to recon...so hoping for a soak method - about to put more warm marvel miracle oil in - if that doesnt work - may try hot diesel in bores smile
Out of curiosity, what is the engine then?

As iron block and presumably aluminium heads I'm wildly guessing a hopped up SBC or something, but 'expensive to recon' makes me think something obscure and thus now I'm curious... smile

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

199 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
On YouTube plenty of people take cars from the grave not run in 40 years and deliberately with a tiny set of tools off they go. No new parts only fresh fuel / no oil change or belts either.

Anyway vice grip garage is one - love his vids. Frozen engines. He gets them all going and then usually has an 600-800 mile highway drive. Not sure how they do that in the US as these are NOT MOT passable cars.

Another one for frozen engine is brake fluid down the spark plugs.

Have you really tried to turn the engine off the fan? This is what they do in the USA. Another is the big breaker bar and slowly over hours back and forth to eventually get full cycles.
One car had been literally in floods countless times over decades with loads of water inside the engine. It still got running within an hour....

There is a cult thing that it’s huge fun trying to get something so ruined it’s likely scrap but get that big block running.

Another does it with American semis (trucks) most recent I saw was a pitbull with 680,000 miles left for 20 years. It started in 20 mins and they didn’t even bother changing the fuel (why waste what’s in the tanks...) so they took that big diesel for a full on Italian tune up on mountain passes plumes of black smoke but it slowly cleared up as the motor got nice and hot.

Starfighter

4,931 posts

179 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
Rolling coal.

Chris32345

2,086 posts

63 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
Heat oil on a old pan and pout some down into each cylinder

Just not too hot too don't want it on fire

gazza285

9,828 posts

209 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
SturdyHSV said:
Out of curiosity, what is the engine then?

As iron block and presumably aluminium heads I'm wildly guessing a hopped up SBC or something, but 'expensive to recon' makes me think something obscure and thus now I'm curious... smile
Daimler?

Evoluzione

10,345 posts

244 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
Why not just turn the key like anyone else would?
Unless half the info is missing from the first post as per usual.

SturdyHSV

10,108 posts

168 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
Welshbeef said:
On YouTube plenty of people take cars from the grave not run in 40 years and deliberately with a tiny set of tools off they go. No new parts only fresh fuel / no oil change or belts either.

Anyway vice grip garage is one - love his vids. Frozen engines. He gets them all going and then usually has an 600-800 mile highway drive. Not sure how they do that in the US as these are NOT MOT passable cars.

Another one for frozen engine is brake fluid down the spark plugs.

Have you really tried to turn the engine off the fan? This is what they do in the USA. Another is the big breaker bar and slowly over hours back and forth to eventually get full cycles.
One car had been literally in floods countless times over decades with loads of water inside the engine. It still got running within an hour....

There is a cult thing that it’s huge fun trying to get something so ruined it’s likely scrap but get that big block running.

Another does it with American semis (trucks) most recent I saw was a pitbull with 680,000 miles left for 20 years. It started in 20 mins and they didn’t even bother changing the fuel (why waste what’s in the tanks...) so they took that big diesel for a full on Italian tune up on mountain passes plumes of black smoke but it slowly cleared up as the motor got nice and hot.
You should sample some Zip Ties & Bias Plies for a slightly more Canadian redneck version of similar philosophy. The sheer mechanical abuse the old American V8s will survive is remarkable.

AdeTuono

7,260 posts

228 months

Tuesday 16th March 2021
quotequote all
I guess the fact that he can't turn it over by hand with the plugs out would suggest that it won't turn over on the starter, wouldn't you?

tapkaJohnD

1,945 posts

205 months

Wednesday 17th March 2021
quotequote all
Welshbeef said:
Have you really tried to turn the engine off the fan? This is what they do in the USA. Another is the big breaker bar and slowly over hours back and forth to eventually get full cycles.
One car had been literally in floods countless times over decades with loads of water inside the engine. It still got running within an hour....
No need to go US! I had one, a Triumph six, that had sat out in the rain with no cylinder head. An oil and white spirit mix in the bores, a daily turn, both ways, and it was going all the way around in a week. Slap a head on it and I still have that engine running in a test rig.

boyse7en

6,740 posts

166 months

Wednesday 17th March 2021
quotequote all
gazza285 said:
SturdyHSV said:
Out of curiosity, what is the engine then?

As iron block and presumably aluminium heads I'm wildly guessing a hopped up SBC or something, but 'expensive to recon' makes me think something obscure and thus now I'm curious... smile
Daimler?
I'm going to guess that its a Triumph Stag.