Looking to unstick my stuck hemi (I'm afraid the front bolt will pop if I give it any more torque). It is not that rusty, and the oil in the pan is not milky. It was pulled right out from a '56 New Yorker recently. I have pored rust penetrant down through the spark plug holes and let it set. I'm thinking I need to remove the heads to get a good shot at it and get rid of the valvetrain friction. Anybody have a sure fire method of releasing a stuck engine?
everyone has a favorite method and some even work! I suggest you do a search as this subject comes up often. it's not always a Hemi or flat head. but thats where I'd start my search and I'd leave the heads on till you've read all the posts. good luck
well im not sure if there is a sure fire method for it, but i have heard a from alot of the old timers to pull the plugs and fill all of the cylinders to the top with vinegar and screw the plugs back in and let it sit overnight. make sure you put the plugs back in because you dont want the stuff mixing with the air, it will cause corrosion.
Give up send it to me!!! lol. Stop trying to turn it by the crank bolt , Use a bar on the teeth on the flywheel ringgear , move it back and forth a little at a time, lever against a bellhousing bolt or locating peg. Go slowly and don't break the block castings Valve train friction wont make much difference, if it isn't going to come loose i.e. it is really stuck , you are going to need to replace at least the rings anyway, strip it down , and check out everything.
Any time I've been confronted with an engine that won't turn over easily, I proceed with dis***embly. I look at it this way--you're sure as hell not going to try to drop it in a car and run it just because you got it to turn over, are you? For what vintage hemis cost these days, it would be stupid to take that chance and grind everything up with the rust particles that may be in there. Strip it down and see what gives.
I tried unsticking a '56 322 Nailhead once. Didn't work. I finally pulled the heads. 7 of the cylinders looked great. The 8th had gotten water in it at some point, and had a thick layer of rust and corrosion around it. And then it did that funky aluminum piston/iron bore thing. No way in hell any amount of diesel, penetrating oil or other witch's brew was going to unstick that. Not sure I'll ever try to unstick a stuck motor after that. Waste of time and effort, and for what? To say that it turned over before you pulled it completely apart? Brad
Normal old style brake fluid (DOT3) pour it in the cylinders and leave it for a week or so . DO NOT try to turn over the engine . Remove the heads after a week or so and wack each piston a firm blow with a hammer and block of hard wood. If you try to turn the engine over you will bend a con rod. I have had two engines to do in my shop (a 331 and a 392 ) and both owners tried to roll it over with a bar. Both engines had the offending rod bent. After you wack the pistons like I said then you can try but not too hard. if you cant get it loose take out all the pistons and rods you can and eventally the crank. if your reasonably lucky you can get all but the worst one out. That piston can then be warmed with a torch and wacked till it comes out. So far I have not run across a piston I couldnt get out but I have been real close a couple of times. NOW Why brake fluid? Brake fluid , DOT3, unlike many rust solvents is hydroscopic meaning it can absorb water and so it will go all the places water goes and it was water (moisture ) that stuck your motor in the frst place. An old dude taught me this many years ago and I could kiss the ground he walks on for this tip as it has saved my bacon several times. Don Dolmetsch Engine Development
hemi's are a ***** to unstick to begin with, very tight tolerances internally...you're almost better off tearing the motor down and getting it completely apart...my 331 had some dust and grime in the cylinder walls that wouldn't allow it to turn over, once a few rods and pistons came out then it'd start moving again...just make sure you don't beat on the rods and deform them...
I ruined a very rare 1958 430 Lincoln block trying to unstick it. I did in-fact tear it down, used every type of penetrating oil known to man, used a torch, and a lever bar about 40 feet long. No luck. I fianlly said **** it and beat the **** out of the two stuck pistons from the bottom. Got one out after a few days of beating. The other one came out with about 1/2 of the cylinder wall still stuck to it. ****, I never did get the wall off the piston.
If I get one that has just got a stuck from sitting, I try some pentrating oil in the bore for a while and roll it over. If she is real stuck and doesn't move, its dis***embly time. I helped my engine builder take apart a 322 buick that must have been flooded at one time. Rust city! Couldn't spin the crank on it and couldn't remove the crank with all 8 rods rusted solid. I just turned the motor over and took the torch to it after taking a candle and covering the cylinder walls with soot. Poured the piston out of the motor. Had to do it to all 8 pistons. The soot keeps the aluminum from sticking to the cylinder walls. He had to overbore it some ungodly amount to get rid of the rust and the cylinder walls were pretty thin when done, but it should be fine for a low powered cruiser that this engine is.
a lot of times with a hemi they're damned near rust free inside and still won't move...they just had a tendency to lock up after a little surface rust or grime gets in the way...drench the ****er in ****** fluid and kano kroil and start dis***embly, and re-oil/lube it every day just to make damned sure it's gonna be wet and slimy inside those cylinder walls by the time you get to taking the pistons out...I usually take my time and after a week has gone by of constant oiling and a little dis***embly here and there I finally get ready to take the pistons out, and even then sometimes they're still dry inside the cylinder walls...
take it apart, flip it over and take off all the conecting rod caps and crank caps. (mak sure everything is set out on something in the order they came out and direction)pull the crank and bearings. after that flip it back over and pull out what pistons you can(also keeping them in order and putting the proper caps with the pistons) the ones that dont come out spray with pb blaster and let it sit over night. then try and lightly tap them out with a rag a piece of wood and a rubber mallet. after everything is out and washed. hone the cylinders and re ring the pistons, i found that spraying PB blaster in the rings and then heating with a propane torch to warm up any old sludgy grease works good for getting stuck rings out. put the crank bearings in(or get new ones) and then put the crank in. and just start putting it all back together. theres a big difference between a stuck motor and one thats running. tere might be other issues you need to take care of if its seazed up. do you even know if the oil pump was full of water and is rusted out? i would take it apart......
These are all good posts and recommendations....I broke the back of a block one time while trying to crank over with a bar on the flywheel..so don't try that method.... There is another recommendation for unsticking that worked for me..it's EDM oil...from the Electronic Discharge Machine...it'll penetrate better than anything (but I can't wait to try DOT3 brake fluid). I got my uncle's stuck 318 Dodge engine apart..he had a blown gasket and permanent antifreeze stuck it up...some soaking (on both sides--I had it in an engine stand, and went from one side to the other) got most of the pistons free, and one was stuck still, so I gave it some heat on the top from the oxy-acetylene torch, and then poured EDM oil into it...from the top (and the bottom)..a few easy blows with a chunk of hardwood and a hammer got it moving... It took me over a week of patient trying to get this engine unstuck.... go easy on this mill....and you'll probably get it apart with no damage...
Thanks for the advice, I think that I have to come to the conclusion that it is time to dis***emble. (I'm going to have to rebuild it anyway). When I get the heads off and the crank out I will have to see which of the miracle elixirs work the best. Thanks!
By NO means am I suggesting anyone do this, but I once bought a 50 ford truck with a stuck flathead, no one wanted them back then so it didn't matter if I ruined it since I had no plans to rebuild it (oh how times have changed). I kept adding oil to the spark plug holes for about 3 days, then I hooked a chain to it and had my wife tow me up the street as I kept dumping the clutch, the tires would just slide in every gear, then finally I heard a nasty sound and it started turning, and then it fired. Smoked like hell, and I figured it always would, but after a while it stopped smoking and never smoked again and ran great for a couple yr's till I sold it. But like I said, I wouldn't try it now, I was young and foolish and wanted a chevy in it anyway.
An old guy my buddy knows can get stuck motors running, and does so fairly regular. They usually do the same thing, smoke a while then quit and are fine. I wouldn't take one on a cross country trip or anything, or do it with some super rare/expensive motor like a Hemi, but for something like an inline six in an old Chev or Ford, why the heck not?
I have unstuck a fair number of Model A engines and flatheads with a simple method if you have patience and don't enjoy wailing on things with a big hammer. I have a tank purchased at my local farm supply that will hold a complete engine. I put the engine in the tank with the heads off if they will come off easily, and if they won't, then I take out the spark plugs. Then I fill the tank with diesel fuel to cover the engine completely. I cover the tank with a piece of plywood and write the date on it and forget it for 30 days. At the end of 30 days I take it out and check to see if I can turn it over.....if not...then back in the tank it goes, and I let it set another 30 days. I've never had to do more than some light tapping on the pistons, and I've dug up some pretty sad looking engines. The bad part of this deal these days is the cost of the fuel, but then again these engines are worth it to me.
Yeah , no joke, I actually hate to tell that story cause I think guys figure it's pure ********, but it's not. As I said, it never smoked, used very little oil, and sounded and ran great. I bought the truck for $400 because it was stuck and needed some body work. At that time nobody really wanted a 50 ford truck, and I figured if it didn't work I'd do a frame clip and chevy drive train, but after I drove it, I fell in love with the character of the truck, so I did the body work, new kingpins, and sprayed it with rustoleum rusty metal primer and drove it as a daily driver for almost 2 yrs. It finally needed some brake work and I was too busy with a new business to do it and a guy kept pounding me to sell it to him and I broke down and did--- dammit! Anyway, I guess I just got lucky, and as I said, would never recommend it on anything of any value.
HOLLLLYYYY ****TT thats some storyi would have loved ta seen the look on your face when it fired.This post comes at an opportune time got a 390 cad motor that has one piston froze up been soakin in marvel since we got it back to my buddies garage think i'll have him switch up to the brake fluid attempt.
You must be from the old school and grew up on a farm.I`m still laughing it is something we would have done on the farm to get a piece of equipment running. Need more stories like this and thanks for the GOOD laugh.
You must be from the old school and grew up on a farm. I`m still laughing my a@@ off. Thanks for a GOOD laugh.
COKE_COLA!!! I picked up a '56 Desoto junkyard block a few years ago and a couple of the pistons were radiused to the cylinder walls really bad. I tried several of the above methods but nothing worked. Then a machinist told me to try Coke. After I got back from rehab I realized what he meant and pored some Cheap *** Wal-mart cola into the cylinders. I have NO patience, so 15 minutes later I started wacking the block with a 2x2 and a BFH. It started moving!!! I had to rebuild the block and sleeve one of the cylinders because it was so pitted but all the pistons came free without breaking!! coke is the real thing. I would definately rebuild the block! Its expensive but trashing one on the road is NOT FUN!!! Pull the rod bearings and then see if things will move. They could be holding things up... Mark
Hey; all; Interesting thread. FWIW: If you plan on a rebuild anyway, brake fluid, diesel fuel, or bleach will work. But your [well the engines', actually] bearings will say goodbye. Permanently. Another option, is the de-rusting dipping tanks. Most use chemicals that will dissolve Al, along w/removing the rust. Just not cheap. I freed-up an Al S-6 [took off head] that had a very rusted cyl/stuck piston, using Zep45 for a looong soak. ~ 3 weeks. Then I used a "scrubbie-type pad to remove all the rust from the bore above the piston, adding more Zep45, while *carefully* rocking the crank back n forth, just until the piston stopped, & repeating the scrubbie/Zep45 deal 'till the whole thing turned 360. Came out nice. PBBlaster is also really good, as mentioned. I'd guess that TriFlow would also work well. Thanks for the other info so far. . FWIW. Marcus...
When I was a kid my dad got my mom to drag a car around the neighborhood behind the station wagon while he and I rode in it dumping the clutch in an attemp to free the engine. It didn't work, but I thought it was great fun and made alot of noise, tire smoke and marks. IT was a wierd little car called a lloyd, about the size of a old mini cooper.
When I was a kid, a friend of mine had a Lloyd, he lived on a farm and his dad had kind of a private junkyard. That car was the first front wheel drive car I had ever seen. My friend was a mechanical whiz kid and he cut the thing in half, shortened it, and made a field car out of it. That thing was really fun, I sometimes wonder how the hell I lived this long.
Yes. Get some plastic bags. It may be a long time before you get it put back together. Label and bag the parts, throw them all into a nice size plastic bin. Chrysler does a good job of numbering their rods and caps at the factory (back then). But it won't hurt to look closely and put some marked masking tape on stuff. Once you get the block fixed, you can start sending out the parts to be reconditioned (rods checked and sized, etc). Don't throw anything away (even if it is broke) as you can use it to find a replacement the right size. With an impact wrench you dis***emble a rusty old hemi in about 15 minutes.
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