Thread: stuck

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How would you get a flathead unstuck it's been like this for years

I had a similar problem with a car years ago and had collected a variety of things to try to get it unstuck. Read to the bottom to see how it turned out.

1) popping the clutch on my steep driveway.
2) Putting a board under the hand crank and bouncing on the bumper
3) Marvel Mistory Oil in the Cylinders and let it soak
4) Warm the block with a propane torch, then quickly cooling it (then go to option 2)
5) WD40 (or other super penetrant) in the cylinders

In the end... nothing had worked for me as number 3 and 6 were stuck badly on my inline 6. We ended up taking the engine out, removing the top and bottom ends and driving the pistons out with a hammer. The rings were so badly rusted to the walls that it would have been impossible any other way.
Jerome

Pretty much what MRJB said. The same thing won't necessarily work the same every time. I had an old Mopar flathead six that was so stuck i could not move it at all, tried every thing I could think of; couldn't get the head bolts loose, and the pan was dry. So, I gooped up the old pan gasket with silicone and put the pan back on, and filled the whole thing as full as I could with a mixture of Marvel's - one gallon, Liquid Wrench - one gallon, 5W-30 oil - the major ingredient, bought in 4 five gallon cans, and thinner - two gallons - nothing happened when I mixed all that stuff together, either; I did it out in the field just in case it started smoking or blew up. The leftovers, about a gallon and a half, went into the topside through the sparkplug holes until the level in the hole stopped rising. I planned on letting it sit that way for a month or two, but got down and never got back up enough to work on it; needed to clear the decks, as it were, so sold it to a guy who collected old mopars. He cleaned up the truck's chassis and body, then set about the engine - I had told him what I had gone through with it and done to it before he bought it. He told me in a letter, that he first pulled the head, had no trouble with the bolts, the gasket was not stuck, and when he cleaned the tops of the cylinders out, they were really dark, but there was no sign of rust or corrosion - he still had not tried to turn it. He drained the stuff from the crankcase, pulled the pan and side covers and looked it over, said it looked pretty good, considering, so he pulled the water pump, and set about turning it; it moved right off, and he was getting a full rev after about three tries. There were marks in the cylinder walls where the rings had set, but no pitting or rust, so he just honed it up, put some new rings in it, and buttoned it up. When he started it, it fired on the first crank, and last I heard, it was running fine.

So, that's what worked for one time; might do so again, might not. I have heard of guys having to, at the worst, break pistons into pieces and chisel them out, or it being the crank that was stuck, not a piston - or a few. It's just a crap shoot.

The flathead was stuck in a 49 Ford we bought a while back. I removed the heads and soaked the cylinders with PB Blaster for a while. That didn't free them up so I heated the top of each piston with a torch (not cherry red, but just hot), then I sprayed more Blaster and let it sit. Then I took a short length of 2 x 4 lumber, put it down in the bore and struck the top of it with a sledge hammer to shock the piston.

Finally the breaker bar on the crank snout would start to move a tad each way so I kept rocking it and applying more Blaster. After doing that for a while the rings broke free and the engine would turn over with the breaker bar. The process took a few nights of fiddling and I guess it took some time for the Blaster to work it's way down the bore.

I now have the engine sitting and occasionallly spray it entirely with WD 40 and spin it over so it will not refreeze.

Don

Guys,WD40 is NOT a penetrating oil, it's a Water Displacer (hence the WD). There are lots of better things out there for this purpose.

I didn't say I used it to free up the motor, just to keep it from rusting and refreezing. However, I have used it to free up stuff too and for a lot of purposes it does just fine.

Don

Thanks guys, it's a 51 ford v8 I'll try some kind of mix .....may boil it in oil. he! he!he!!!!!

The old boys in the day used brake fluid down the cyl and it works.

Usually it is the rings that are frozen to the cylinder walls. So once you get those freed up you are home free. (no pun intended )

Don

a few months ago I had the pleasure of talking to jim 48fordnut and he told me about a penitrent the he makes up that really works great maybe he will see this post and post the recipe I wrote it down but of course I can't find it .....ted

when i bought my 41 ford, the flatty was stuck. i dumped a mix of coca cola and marvel mistery oil down the plug holes. a week later it was free and running. i used a breaker bar on the crank pulley and slowly added pressure. when it did break free, i was no where near my full weight pulling, 220 at the time. the car was last turned over in the late 60s prior. the hood was never left up and the air cleaner was always on.

bob

Wonder if a Captain and Coke would work as well? I just might have one of those laying around here.

Don

guys! dad had an old tractor @ 1936 sitting in the back field, we filled the cylinders with "fluid film" to find out out who carries this stuff just google it!
a week later we could turn it over!
i have never seen anything as good as this stuff

Don, Morgan can fix just about anything, always worth a try.

There is another very good penetrating oil, I never used it to unstuck something that was stuck, but if you can find it, its real handy around the shop. "Kroil Oil"

RS

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Wonder if a Captain and Coke would work as well? I just might have one of those laying around here.

Don

the captain should not be used to unstick an engine. that is alcohol abuse...plain and simple.

bob