FARMALL 400 MOTOR IS STUCK

MIKE W. (NY) · Dec 3, 2008

I HAVE A 400 THAT SAT OUTSIDE FOR 15 YEARS... I BOUGHT IT THIS SPRING AND STARTED TAKING OUT THE SPARK PLUGS AND SPRAYING PB BLASTER DOWN THERE... I STARTED WORKING ON IT LAST WEEK AND CAN'T GET IT FREE.. I PULLED THE HEAD LAST NITE AND SEEN SOME OF THE PB BLASTER IS WORKING ITS WAY DOWN ANY IDEAS ON WAHT TO DOO>??

spiffy1 · Dec 3, 2008

Head's off; all sorts of options now!

You can try driving them up with a jack or down with a post. Before that or between you can try a diesel/ATF mixture, your favorite rust breaker, or any other dozens of other people's favorite.

If it looks quite stubborn, you can burn the mixture in the holes to give some thermal cycling to allow the penetrant to sneak deeper; also, if you try wacking the piston just after the flame goes out (may want a rag around the post to protect yourself from any hot residue), a cold piston and warm sleeve should break easier.

See if you can get a pair to move up (a jack is a good option), then removing the caps on the other two you can drive them down putting force on only one at a time.

Have fun!

old · Dec 3, 2008

Fill the cylinders with tranny fluid and let it sit a week or 2. Then set a 12 volt battery in it and use short fast taps on the starter button and watch the crank pulley to see if it moves or just sort of jumps. Keep doing that off and on. If after say a month it does not pop free you can try to speed it up by and only if safe to do so pouring a 1/4 cup of gas in each cylinder and lighting it up. That heats the block but not the pistons and then keep adding small amounts of gas every time it burns out till you have burned up most of the fluid then with it still warm try the starter. If that does not work you most likely will have to open it up and hammer the pistons out. BTDT many many times and so far out of 20 plus I have only had 2 or 3 that did not pop loose
Hobby farm

mkirsch · Dec 3, 2008

www.e n g i n e r e l e a s e.com

Has anybody tried this stuff? It's pricey at $20 per kit, and requires one kit per cylinder, but they claim it works better than any of our old home remedies for stuck engines.

BTW, a week of soaking is nothing to a well stuck engine. Now that the head's off, you're on the fast track.

Andy Motteberg · Dec 3, 2008

PB Blaster is great stuff. Now that you have the head off it, make sure the cylinders are very clean and free of rust or pitting. Put more PB Blaster in the cylinders and tap the starter on a little every once in a while and it should free up. If not, remove the rod caps and tap on the rods from the bottom. Be careful not to damage the rods.

GordoSD · Dec 3, 2008

50-50 mix of ATF and acetone. Cheapest and best fluid you will ever use.

Gordo

John A. · Dec 3, 2008

Mike, This method will unstuck your motor in short order, one Saturday!!
1 strip away all tin work, head and valve train assembly, fuel tank and lines pan and oil pump assembly, mark each then unbutton the rod caps.
2 tractor must be able to roll, in and out of shop
3 roll outside
4 Start with the cylinder that has the most volume. fill with Diesel add a splash of gas set it in fire, sit down drink a cup of coffee and let the fire burn itself out.
5 take a hammer and a wooden block and drive the piston out from the bottom.
6 repeat steps 4 & 5 with each of the remaining pistons. As the volume decreases in the cylinder they may need to fill up with Diesel and burn 2 or 3 times or more.
The heat from the fire will break loose the rust and free up the piston.
7 Most Important....be careful of the fire, and getting other things on fire that you do not want to burn. Hope this helps.
Later,
John A

Anonymous-0 · Dec 4, 2008

Mike
If you follow John's instructions you will have a free motor. I have a Super M that sat for 15 years and I did all the other stuff to free it up with no luck. A older man told me about the oil and diesel fuel mix with a match, I thought he was nuts but finally I tried it and as John stated one Sat. and a few hours your engine will turn with no damage.
JG

Anonymous-0 · Dec 4, 2008

Got an M in the shop right now.Rain water down a bad manifold stuck a valve and then #3 piston.I built 3 little fires in that hole in one afternoon.Put it in gear,give'er some rocking back and forth,piston moved down 1/4 inch,sprayed lube in there,did it some more until it got down far enough to hone the cylinder,and popped it out the top side.The cylinder really looked bad on the top 4 inches of the sleeve.The night before I built the fires in it I poured that hole full of Coca Cola(having heard it ate rust)and it did a lot,but not completely.Anyhow,Now you cant tell it was even stuck(not even any pits either)

Andrew Kappers · Dec 4, 2008

If all else fails, have them pressed out. Not sure if theyll wreck the pistons so you should have some replacements ready to put back in. Thanks,andy

FARMALL 400 MOTOR IS STUCK

MIKE W. (NY)

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spiffy1

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old

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mkirsch

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Andy Motteberg

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GordoSD

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John A.

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Anonymous-0

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Anonymous-0

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Andrew Kappers

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