Posted by Russ/Wyo on Monday, August 11, 2003 at 4:18PM :
In Reply to: Freeing up stuck flatheads, help needed! posted by Eric B. on Monday, August 11, 2003 at 12:21PM :
I'm in the process of freeing up a stuck 230 in a WC51. So far, I've put Marvel Mystery Oil into the spark plug holes and left it sit, then tried to tow it in high gear with no luck.
Next, I mixed 2 quarts of ATF into 5 gallons of diesel fuel and filled the crankcase completely full and also poured this mixture into the spark plug holes until full and poured the rest into the carburetor. I left this sit for a few months and tried to tow it in high gear again with no luck.
I am making an air chuck out of an old spark plug to try blowing high pressure air into each cylinder to see if that will break it loose. I'll also try Gordon Maney's trick of using jack stands on the rear of the truck and using the slack in the drive train to impact the engine by turning the rear wheel by hand.
If that doesn't work, I'll pull the head and pour more penetrating oil onto the tops of the pistons and let it sit again and try to tow in high gear or put the rear on jack stands to turn the rear wheel by hand.
The last resort will be to pull the head and use a block of soft wood as a punch to try to hammer each piston down into the bore to break them loose. If that fails, then it's time to tear it down and do an overhaul.