Stuck Engine

[JeffDeWitt]

If all else fails there is always the diet coke trick.

[Steven and Michelle]

Since the head is off, you could set a block of wood on the pistons & give them a (gentle) whack to try & jar it loose... make sure the transmission, distributor, water pump or gennie aren't stuck, making the engine seem the problem

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

WHat is the diet coke trick?

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

By the way My Marvel Oil treatment worked out great. A little prodding with a bar on the crank and Vi-ola! she rolls. Now to re assemble the engine and see if she will start.

[Bob Andrews]

WHat is the diet coke trick?

I'm pretty sure that's where you try conventional methods to break it free; then you take a large Diet Coke, add a copious amount of Bacardi rum, and stir. Drink until you forget about the stuck engine.

[sweetolbob]

WHat is the diet coke trick?

Diet Coke/Coke are relatively acidic so they will react with rust. Whey too much water present for my liking. Glad the MMO worked as my first choice is a penetrating oil of some type much like MMO.

Bob

[Jeff_H]

Yup, its the Phosphoric acid in the cola that dissolves rust. I've not used cola for rust but I have used milking machine cleaner from the farm supply. About 50% phosphoric acid and also contains strong detergent. Capable of completely dissolving small parts overnight so you will want to dilute it or keep a close watch on anything soaking in it. Works great to clean hardware to prep for zinc plating using the plating kit from eastwood.

[Henry Votel]

Jeff.

Shhhhush about the milk line cleaner stuff. I don't want the price to start going up. ;-)

[ozarkman]

I'm pretty sure that's where you try conventional methods to break it free; then you take a large Diet Coke, add a copious amount of Bacardi rum, and stir. Drink until you forget about the stuck engine.

hmmm...I've got a 2 liter of diet coke in the shop...now where did I leave the bacardi!!??

I've got a stuck 6 tucked away, the crank just barely moves, but one or more of the pistons are stuck hard! I tried a little 30wt but that got me nowhere last spring, so I just put the head back on and covered it with a trash bag.

[Sonny]

On a flat head 6 cylinder, 8 ounces of apple cider vinegar per cylinder, soak two days, 12 volt jump start with the plugs out, last, try to remove that nasty gunk that blew out of the cylinders and got all over the walls of the garage!

OR you can use the "secret" penetrating formula on my forums! heh, heh...

[WCP]

Keep in mind that what usually seizes a piston in its bore is aluminum corrosion buildup between the piston and cylinder walls, not rust. If rust exists at the top edge of the piston, try scraping the gap between piston and cylinder wall at the piston top before applying penetrating fluid or corrosion softener to weaken the aluminum corrosion. When all else fail, remove the rod caps and drive the pistons out the top with a long drift place in the inside top of the piston. Once the piston is out, the remaining aluminum corrosion deposit on the cylinder walls can be scraped off with a paring knife, revealing a polished cylinder wall surface. It's not rust holding the piston but aluminum corrosion product.

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

Well I got lucky on this one.

It's was a Chevy 216 in a 3600 3/4 ton pick up. I now know the mileage is right on the odometer it says 28,000. There was almost no ring at the top of the cylinders it looks to have minimal wear to my eyes anyway. Although the head and top of the pistons look real carbonized up but the original owner told me they only drove this to and from town about twice a year. So I assume it was burning bad gas a lot. I plan on soda blasting the head and engine to clean it up before reassembly.

Now to work on my 232 and get that to move as well. This time I'll try and not remove the heads.

[sweetolbob]

Edsel

If my fading memory is correct, I believe the 216 Stovebolt had poured babbit bearing. I know there are people that still do them, so if you have it rebuilt, would you post a set of comments in the Stove Huggers section on the experience. Just interested.

Thanks, Bob

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

Well Bob, I know this engine has only 28,000 on it so I am going to pull the pistons to check the rings and replace them and reassemble it. Mainly because my brother with 40 years exp said I should do that. but other than that I think it will be a great runner. I'll look to see if it has the cast Babbit berring and PM you.

[RL Elder]

the rod bearing cap have shims that can be removed to tighten the rod if thay have all ben removed you can file the rod cap to have the same effect