dudes! any of you flathead mopar dudes that have a solution to unstick valves that are gummed up? i have changed the oil 3 times using various things with the oil, atf,marvel mystery oil,seafoam,kerosene... the issue that frustrates me is that the engine is in a forklift with a updraft carb and when these damm valves stick no vacuum therefore no fuel into system. even with starting fluid it's a bear to start. when it does fire it runs great so any "tricks" for a flathead mopar to unstick valves just shy of pulling the head off (and i will if that's what it takes) would be great thanks!
You can pull the side covers off and perhaps loosen them up by stretching the valve springs with a screw driver or somehing similar. However the most effective way is to drain the coolant, pull the head and play wack a mole with a rubber mallet while an associate turns the engine over with the starter. Then while the head is off you can check to see if any of the stuck ones are burnt, and it the cylinders look good. Lot of thses putties have broken rings, so check the condition of the cylinders while things are easily visible. Retorque sequence is from the middle center out i an "X" patern. 8 2 5 7 1 4 9 3 6 ETC. Go in three cycles 40, 60, 70. retorque after a good heat cycle back to 70.
Usually takes lots less time & effort to fix it right instead of trying to patch things ... do a valve job ...
I had sticking valves in my plymouth flathead. I pulled all the valves and cleaned them up and reamed the guides with a gun cleaning kit. Then ground some new seats with valve compund and never had a lick of trouble since. That was just my situation but parts are cheep enough and like 302GMC said and if you're gonna take it apart may as well do the whole job.
once you get it running again bring rpm up and siphon marvel mystery oil thru carb throat or intake manifold fitting when you get the oil flowing open and close throttle to suck oil to guides should help you may need to clean or replace spark plugs after this john
This should work, but if you try it, DO IT OUTSIDE! We had sticking valves in a 318 once, and some bright spark suggested we pour this special oil stuff into the carb while the engine was running. It actually worked a treat, unstuck the valves beautifully, but we did it in an undergound workshop, and when we pulled our heads out from under the hood, we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces! It took almost all day for the smoke to clear out of the workshop.... You have been warned! Cheers, Glen.
it's a updraft carb! i realize what your saying because that is my normal method of cleaning valves. i have been working the valve springs manually with the side covers off. the motor isn't in need of a rebuild compresion is 140# across the board and oil psi at idle is 30# with no knocking at all.this motor purrs like a kitten when valves don't hang up on occasion. sounds like it's time to pull the head remove the valves. thanks dudes!
Rislone is the best stuff I've found for unsticking sticky stuff. I used it on my plymouth flathead and it unstuck a few stuck rings I had. It comes in a yellow bottle
I do the same trick but use automatic trans. fluid syphoned into the carb while running at a fast idle. The ATF cuts the crud on the top end of the valve stems and usually frees them up completely after 1-3 treatments. No head removal!! As the other guys said...expect alot of smoke but it won't hurt a thing. Try it....$1.25 and 10 minutes.
WARNING WARNING WARNING DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER. If you get int pulling things apart and decide to change the valve guides, note their position when dissasembling. The guides are the same but exhauts are installed on way up and intakes the other. My feeble pea brain can not currently rememberate which is which, so observe and note if you get that far. If you gonna run propane you probably never suffer from a stuck valve again. MOPAR's had hardened seat inserts so don't go grinding too much stuff off. You may defeat what those ahead of themselves engineers did for the good of the breed (run unleaded without concern or addidtive)
Before getting out the wrenches, I'd give the MMO a long try with not just a double dose in crankcase but a double dose in gastank...sounds like you have a very happy engine otherwise, and I would think enough of that stuff really should blowemloose! A bonch of people on Fordbarn were discussing similar problems in Model A's, suspected to be caused by various alcohol blended gasolines.
pulled the plugs today and went to each cylinder and when valves were open shot a generous amount of MARVEL MYSTERY OIL into each cyl. and around the valves. rotated motor by hand and now were going to let it sit overnight and in the mean time install the propane conversion to eliminate future carb issues. will keep you posted!
Also,put 1 liter of ATF per 100 liters of fuel,it will keep the engine clean and free of sticky valves . I think in the US you can buy generic ATF,it's as good as any to add to fuel .I use it constantly in all my cars and it Works!!!.
I don't know if it will work on a Dodge but we put ATF in a squirt bottle with the nozzle on stream and we were able to get a shot right at the valve stem through the spark plug hole. A gentle pry with a screw driver popped the valve closed again. Don't go crazy witht the screwdriver. It could be up on the cam. Repeat as necessary. After about 3 times the ATF freed it up and when we put the plugs back in it pured like a kitten. This was on a 42 Ford that had been sitting for 25 years. It was the only was I could think of to get the oil to where it needed to go...the valve stem.
let the valves soak for 24 hours and the MARVEL MYSTRY OIL did the trick! next week the propane conversion and the brakes. need to get this thing running and painted so sinister custom can flame it or airbrush some cool stuff on it! stay tuned.
MMO is Holy Water for metal! Seems to be just diesel oil and perfume, but works wonders compared to anything else. I wonder if a car could be 100% restored by just pushing it into a swimming pool full of Marvel Mystery Oil?
bet they wish they buried that 57' plymouth in oklahoma 50 years ago covered with the stuff. when i looked up the msds it said mineral oil, benzine.... all i know is it seems to be running smooth now. i used some 30 years ago to free up a 49' hudson that was frozen up tighter than leona helmsly and after a couple days it started ,ran,and actually drove around the yard!
Another wonder drug is "kroil" the folks at kroil makes a product called " aero kreen" put a quart in the engine and run for some time amazing stuff! I have model t fords that sometimes experience this problem as well. The fix ( from a oldtimer) is to add marvel mystery oil to the fuel tank on every fill up. No more problem..... Its at http://www.kanolabs.com/
wow! been a long time since i used kroil. we had it in a drum at the mill when i was a engineer for bolts that were subject to high heat and hummidity in dry kilns that the dumbasses i worked with didn't use "anti-seize" when they put things together. must have been really cheap back then.
LOL! Hard to believe its been 7 years! some Kroil and 50/50 ATF-ACETONE did the trick! changed oil couple times using a qt. of ATF with each change.
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