stuck H

Hi What is a good petroleum mixture to let sit in a motor? to free it up Thanks. Dave

I can't tell you from experience, but the guru of stuck engines is "old" and I have seen him post on here many times, and he would tell you transmission fluid. I think he puts it on his ceral in the morning! He must buy the stuff in 50 gallon drums and probably owns stock in company that manufactures the stuff. But all joking aside, lots of folks use transmission fluid. Diesel is too thin.


Good luck, Gene

I've tried every concoction ever mentioned on these forums plus a few blends of my own invention and I can honestly tell you that I have never had any luck with any of them. I've got an engine from an H that has been soaking for two full years now, and it is still stuck.

I"ve never done it myself but I have heard PB blaster penetrating oil or Kroil Penetrating oil works but I have also heard transmission fluid. Everyone has their own opinion. Time for a little trial and error.

Did you ever try setting one cylinder on fire at a time to see if that frees them up? Hal

Yes. I tried that trick also.

well, first of all you must make a decision on how bad it is stuck. was the exhuast pipe covered? did it rain in the exhaust? how long was it sitting?all this will determine the outcome. lots of times you can pull the plugs and make a decision. they will look decent or be all rusty also. my belief is on an engine stuck from light condensation any thing wet works. any engine stuck from rain sitting on pistons over time needs disasembling. you cant tell me that ATF is some miracle cure . ya, i filled the cyls. with ATF and let it sit for a week and then the rust just disappeared. just dont happen.yes lightly stuck ATF will work but so does other thin oils. some times the sleeve and piston has to come out and be boiled in oil. sometime you need a round block of wood and sledge hammer. sometimes you need a press. sometimes after all that its junk anyway! i know there is no one miracle cure.

A lot depends on why its stuck. Yes I use ATF all the time and have had very good luck, but it will not work if theres still water in the cylinders or if some one left the exhaust pipe open to rain or isn't likely to but I have had it work if it didn't sit for years that way. It takes a long time on some to pop free and some will never pop free with out taking them apart, but my money is on ATF and turpentine if the ATF doesn't do in in a year or less. I have 1 H that sat for years but the exhaust was always covered and in less then a week with ATF in the cylinders I was driving it but as I said it doesn't always work but so far out of 20 plus only 3 or 4 have not popped free for me
Hobby farm

LOL, yep I keep it on hand all the time and some times get used stuff from a friend that owns a tranny shop. I have found it works as good as MMO and can be used just like MMO but cost less then half of what MMO does. I just did the ATF thing on my sons new to him Honda motorcycle that was very stiff and it now purrs
Hobby farm

coke works real well.

The others are right on the money about how bad it's stuck.

Light sticking resulting from just condensation and sitting, any slick lubricnat like ATF, MMO, Krol, PB . . . can do the trick.

If she's had water down the stack that's a whole different ball of wax.

I haven't broken down a dry sleeve motor like your H, but on my wet-sleeve BN, she had been so full of water that it backed up and split out the exhaust side of the manifold when it froze.

Valves were in position such that 1 and 4 came out easy. 3 took some beatin' from below with an oak dowel to get the piston out. 2 was stuck so hard that the dowel and hammer brought out sleeve and all without ever budging the piston. Had to cut the sleeve away with the angle grinder to get my rod back. All that after six months of soaking in .

If you think yours isn't stuck that bad, the point about gettin the water out is a good one. I've done that by 1)absorbing all the water I could out with rags and sponges, 2) dumping a goodly amount of alcohol into each cylinder and absorbing that out with rags and sponges, then 3) putting less than a goodly amount of alcohol into each cylinder and burning it off, which took the water with it, then 4) soaked it in one of the lubricative concoctions recommended. All this with the head off, of course.

With this one first try to ensure what is stuck then unless it frees up easy at the very start, I always bite the bullet and pull it apart as follows. Take the sump/pan off, undo the conrod ends and tap the rods upward with a hammer and a piece of hard wood.Do it with the head still in place then the pistons wont come out the top. If the pistons free up easily bolt the ends back up, replace the pan and you should be good to go. More likely though you'll finish by stripping it right down. I've used all the magic potions and not had a lot of luck. I did once read a piece by a very clever man who said 'water got you into this mess so try using water to get out of it'. No I dont know exactly what he meant but next time I get a badly stuck one I might just try throwing it in the river. MTF

(quoted from post at 05:57:16 10/07/08) Hi What is a good petroleum mixture to let sit in a motor? to free it up Thanks. Dave

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"Do it the way I do it, or you're wrong!"
Seriously, all the guys have their own methods but they hover around a thin penetrant type oil - like ATF. The trick is to be very, very patient whilst your engine loosens up. May take 7-10 weeks. Or, you can hammer and smash it up and replace the pistons and rod bearings rather quickly.

No matter what you use, one of the biggest things i have found is to take the head off, clean all the crap of of the cylinder. Vaccum it, use a wire wheel and get along the cylinder wall where the piston is and make sure it can get betweent the two. use high pressure air to blow out what you can. Also make sure that the bottom of the cylinder isnt all rusted up.

ive had good luck with Coke doing this. But if its very rusty, its going to need more than just cleaned up. Either bored, sleeved, or new block/sleeve kits.

Good luck