Stuck Engine

I picked up a 430 case contruction king tractor with a 4 cylinder gas engine. The tractor has been setting in a dry pole barn for 15 years without being run. Not real sure if enginge is stuck because tires are rotted and I am unable to rock it. I want to take out spark plugs and fill with some thing to make sure rings and pistons are free. I have heard filling with transmission fluid, mystery oil, or diesel fuel. What works the best?

Take the spark plugs out and with a lite look in to see the cycl walls that will tell you what the condition of the walls are and if they are rusty bad you need to tear the engine down as nothing will remove the rust to free the engine.

all that you have said, plus wd-40, pb blaster, dot 3 brake fluid, and vinegar(acetic acid).

IF you want to get it loose in a hurry, combien all the ingredients in a squirt bottle, like a plastic mustard bottle or something, and put it in teh microwave for a bit, or combien all ingredients, then put on a hot pad outside in the yard until it is as hot as you can get it with bursting into flames. next, drain teh rad and fill it with boiling water, and let the block sit. even better, and what I do, is to top off the rad, then put a torpedo heater near teh engien block, with twice as much engine oil in it as needed. heat up the block until you can't touch it. heat it soem more, until the coolant all gets boiling hot and engine oil is like fryer grease. dump the mixture into the cylinders, and anything left over, dump in the oil pan. leave teh torpedo heater on and let it set for as long as it takes to get everything warm. Thsi will give you the best chance of breaking the rings loose from teh piston grooves and cylinder walls. a lot of stuck engines are actually stuck on the main and rod bearings, not piston rings. So you want to introduce oil to those areas. It is also good to pull the distributor and turn teh oil pump with a drill. if the oil pump runs off the camshaft, and you can't do that, then seriously consider just topping the whole thing off to the carb with penetrating oil and let it sit. heat is your best friend, though. Get it hot hot hot, and that will make it break easier. aside from what I have mentioned, the only thing else to do is to pull the oil pan, loosent he rods and mains and then turn it over by hand to get the orange crust off.


Good luck to you, and don't breathe in the fumes.

Any thing like that will work,do what gene bender said and look down the hole. I have had success getting them unstuck but some the rings ended up breaking. If you can get a wrench right on your motor to free it up that is better. Good luck on your project...Lyle

atf works. i sometimes cut the atf with diesel, kerosene or mineral spirits.

then let it set a day.. then try to bar it over manually.. ( plugs out.. when baring over.. etc.. )

soundguy

That stuff ain't gonna work!

You forgot to add eye of newt and powdered bat wings!

If I have said it once on here I have said it a thousand times and will again. Blow the cylinders out just to make sure they are dry then fill with ATF and let it sit a week. Put the plugs back in to keep dirt etc. out. After a week set a good 12 volt battery in it and pull the plugs. Use short fast taps on the starter and it will most likely spin over after hitting the starter a few times. BTDT many many many times and 99% of the stuck engines I have messed with popped free and I do a lot of them

Dextron and acetone 50/50 and let set a week. Supposed to take care of some of the rust that Gene commented about. Acetone about $12.00/gallon when I checked this spring. Frees up rings enough for first few miles running after turnover and then replace oil with 10 weight racing oil. Still might need rebuild- but a few of the old Panheads and JD, Fords were run couple seasons before rebuilds- some didn"t smoke too much after couple weeks either (a few did smoke - but 1/2 clean run is better than not run at all, (Teasing Alert! still)). RN

There isn't one sure fire way that works for all situations. Sometimes soaking them works and soemtimes it doesn't. Some I have had to pull the head and smack the piston tops with a sledge hammer. Others I have had to bust out in pieces. Good luck , it can be a pain in the butt job soemtimes.

This '40 Ford I bought a few monthe ago had been sitting in the second floor of an old factory since 1964. The '49 Merc flathead was stuck. I pulled the plugs and squirted in about 1/4 spray can of PB Blaster in each hole, and let it sit for a month. I hooked up a big 12 volt battery, and hit the starter 4-5 times, and she broke loose. Haven't started it yet, but she's got good compression in all cylinders. I'm hoping I don't have to tear it down.