Heating a seized engine. Ideas?

[Kevin h]

Working on a IH 269 BD that's seized I have put ATF in the cylinders. I am not looking for stuff to put in the cylinders, just ideas on what would be the best way to heat up the block. I'm not going to use a torch so that's out of the question. I think if I heat up the block enough it might free up the rings enough to get it to turn over. Any ideas?

 

[Welder1]

Just an idea you could fill the cooling system and use a block heater. I am not sure that level of heating is enough to help. I would use a penetrant like PB Blaster in the cylinders over ATF you need a thin fluid to penetrate down.




Eddie

 

[silverstate55]

Mix the ATF 50/50 with Acetone...the antique tractor guys use it with good success.

 

[Kevin h]

A block heater might actually be enough. Those are easy enough to install, and I would not be risking getting the engine too hot.

 

[73m819]

Mix the ATF 50/50 with Acetone...the antique tractor guys use it with good success.

Heating the block unless SUPER hot will NOT work, even super hot most likely won't work, the reason I say this is the stuck rings will move with the block as it expands, the rings needs to be compressed to be installed, then they expand for a tight fit to the block , as the block gets hot from operation and expands, the rings also expand to keep the gas tight seal.

You will not be sorry using the 50/50 mix above. Just takes timmmmmmmmmmmmme

 

[snowtrac nome]

Use a porta power pump and an adaptor to replace the injector than tru to free it hydraulicly.

 

[NATCAD]

Working on a IH 269 BD that's seized I have put ATF in the cylinders. I am not looking for stuff to put in the cylinders, just ideas on what would be the best way to heat up the block. I'm not going to use a torch so that's out of the question. I think if I heat up the block enough it might free up the rings enough to get it to turn over. Any ideas?

Had good success with plain old diesel over 2 months and working it back and forth with a bar


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dmetalmiki]

All these tips are just great. You DO NEED to consider them, Not using an agent is no use.

 

[73m819]

Use a porta power pump and an adaptor to replace the injector than tru to free it hydraulicly.

By doing this you stand a very good chance of bending a rod, breaking rings, breaking piston lands (where the rings fit on the piston), bending/crack the crank, blowing out the side of the block, crack between cylinders, any or all of the list can happen at the same time, there are a few more things can and will happen with this idea.

The reason for this is that hyd. oil can not compress, so with the stuck engine, the oil pressure can not go anywhere, even if by chance 1 hole breaks free, the other holes are still stuck, with this being said with 4,000 psi more like 10,000 + into one hole and can not go anywhere MEANS something/s WILL break, and it will break faster then think.

So after all this one finger typing it boils down to THIS IS A BAD IDER

 

[marchplumber]

Time and patience............................two commodities I am short of, are the best. I'd follow Ron's advice, he is "older than dirt" according to his name tag, and he's shared some darn good wisdom here before that I have taken to heart.

 

[Kevin h]

I got rid of the atf and filled the cylinders with pb blast. I have a bar on the crank bolt attached to a come along to give it a little tension, and will give it some time to soak. Its been sitting a while so more time is no big deal, its old.

 

[marchplumber]

I got rid of the atf and filled the cylinders with pb blast. I have a bar on the crank bolt attached to a come along to give it a little tension, and will give it some time to soak. Its been sitting a while so more time is no big deal, its old.

I resemble that last comment! LOL I too have had good luck with the 50/50 solution, seems to penetrate exceedingly well.....................GOOD LUCK Kevin!

 

[snowtrac nome]

common sence would dictate that you might not want to use the full 10000 psi, but working across the cylinder bank you can make it work I have seen it before, I have also seen blocks so rusted up it took six months with a block of wood and daily application of dot3 brake fluid to free up.

 

[73m819]

common sence would dictate that you might not want to use the full 10000 psi, but working across the cylinder bank you can make it work I have seen it before, I have also seen blocks so rusted up it took six months with a block of wood and daily application of dot3 brake fluid to free up.

Yes I agree on common sense BUT using a porter power it is very easy to get high pressure real quick when dealing with captive pressure. ONE high over pressure is all that is needed to break a lot of things, unless you have done this MANY times, have pressure setting valves (valves that can be set so only required pressure is allowed), ect., this idea is NOT by far the best idea there is.

 

[Kevin h]

So pretty much dump nail polish remover down the cylinders with the ATF to make the 50/50 mix? The hydraulic pressure idea seems like it could work if you go real easy but i'm not going to attempt it. Said before in previous replies too much pressure could cause a horrible problem if not careful. It is a 77 year old engine.

 

[silverstate55]

So pretty much dump nail polish remover down the cylinders with the ATF to make the 50/50 mix? The hydraulic pressure idea seems like it could work if you go real easy but i'm not going to attempt it. Said before in previous replies too much pressure could cause a horrible problem if not careful. It is a 77 year old engine.

Get the can of Acetone from a hardware store, not the diluted nail polish remover stuff. Mix with ATF in a container, then pour this mix into the cylinders. And please be sure to report back here on the results, so we can see if it worked or not. Especially combined with the block heater; I'd work in some heating/cooling cycles while the penetrants do their thing on the inside. You could, for instance, run the block heater during the day for 12 hours, then turn it off at night & allow everything to cool back down and shrink, hopefully helping to break the rust loose. Unless you have freezing temps at night and run the risk of breaking something when moisture inside freezes, then try the opposite cycling.

YMMV, as the saying goes, but hopefully it will work as well for you as it has for me.

 

[teletech]

The idea of heating a block reminds me of a friend who when he was very young had an old tractor on the farm, some old single-cylinder job with a 6-volt starter. It would never start cold in winter so the solution was a coffee can with a roll of toilet paper well soaked in diesel placed under the crankcase and set alight. By the time it burned down the motor would start right up.

I'd just make very sure if you use a block heater that the engine has enough coolant to keep the heater submerged, particularly if you are using acetone.
To quote the Wiki: At temperatures greater than acetone's flash point of −20 °C (−4 °F), air mixtures of between 2.5% and 12.8% acetone, by volume, may explode or cause a flash fire.
I love it as a solvent, but just do be careful.

 

[Kevin h]

I will be putting a block heater in this weekend and go through the heat cycles as described by sllverstate55. There is coolant in the radiator so that will need to be drained down so I can install the heater, then topped back off. I hope acetone mixed with the atf wont explode. I am also working on a 226 flathead ford g series engine that one piston would not come out of the bore. Its a complete rebuild. 5 pistons came out with a little tap. The head is off so I took a propane torch and put it in the coolant passage just enough to heat the cylinder, around where the piston rings were with about 1/8th inch of pb blast on the piston. I held my finger on the inside of the cylinder bore where the piston was and could feel it start to warm up so I switched to another coolant passage on the opposite side of the same cylinder and all the sudden its like the pb blast soaked its way down between the piston and cylinder. It couldnt have evaporated because I had my finger in there because I didnt want to get it too hot to crack something. I tapped on the top of the piston and it went down towards the crank where I could get a hone in there and clean the rust out of the bore. No harm done to the piston or rings and it came rite out.

 

[rchalmers3]

This discussion seems to be based on freeing an engine that has seized due to rust and corrosion in the cylinders. I don't know if that's from knowing the history of the machine, or if it's from an assumption. If it's stuck for another reason, say a spun bearing, then perhaps you may have other thoughts of freeing the engine. Meanwhile, taking it slow, and not putting great pressure on things would be prudent.

Rick