Stuck Engine Question

[JMinPDX]

I'm try to get the engine to turn on my 74CSA that sat for 10 years.

I've been adding Marvel Mystery Oil for the last 4 days. I notice that 4 of the 6 cylinders take oil every day while 2 cylinders are always full. Am I correct in assuming that these to cylinders are the culprits? That oil is getting past the rings on the other 4 and not on the 2 that have the rings seized to the clylinder walls?

Still am not able to turn the engine with a breaker bar.

What do you think?

John M

 

[sfdon]

I will hazard a guess that you had moisture in the those two cylinders. Pull the valve cover and see what the valves are doing on those two cylinders.
At this point you are probably looking at taking it apart
Because the engine sits on a tilt, water will pool on the drivers side and eat the cylinder wall [ask me how I know]
Use a cheater on that breaker bar- see what happens.

 

[CookeD]

I had the same thing-- Motor seized from sitting.

Keep filling the cylinders with penetrant and give it some time. I gave it about a month, and did finally get it to crack free. I did have to use a pipe on my breaker bar, and it did take a pretty good pull to break it free.

My motor runs great and has good compression numbers, but it did smoke a bit for the first 500 or so miles while blowing all the penetrant through the motor/exhaust that was used in the process.

 

[JMinPDX]

I've revived 3 cars that sat for years but this is the first time I've dealt with a seized engine.

I've taken the valve cover off and all the lifters, cam, valves and springs look to be in order. So I'm sure it's a cylinder problem.

I'm hearten by Numbersj who waited a month, I'm barely at a week so
I'm prepared to go all winter. I'll just keep adding MMO. (dipstick oil level is off the charts) I'm getting a dipstick oil warmer to help the penitrant work in the cold winter temps in my non heated garage.

This engine only has 52k miles on it so I'm hoping for the best.

I 'll keep you posted.
(why do I love working on these cars so much?)

John M
82 e21 baur
73 Bav
74 3.0 CSA

 

[tochi]

getting the parts moving again.

Its been a while, but I have been in the same situation but with 20 years of inactivity on the engine. I used penetrating oils of all sort. Eventually, I did as the other poster and disconnected the timing chain to eliminate the valve gear and cam as the culprit or contributing culprits.

I don't want to paint a bleak picture, but out of frustration, I eventually pulled the head and still couldn't get the engine to budge. Finally, I unbolted each piston from the crankshaft and used a piece of wood to hit the pistons from the bottom. The first 5 pistons did not need any persuasion at all. It was the last piston that was rusted solid, rings and all, to the cylinder. I ended up pulling the last piston. Honed the cylinder and reinstalled everything including the old rings and the engine ran just fine for several years.

 

[CookeD]

To further elaborate, my CS had sat for 18 years. I too thought it was a lost cause, and the old pipe on the end of the breaker bar was what it took.

I have no idea what the cylinder may look like, but I think it was #5 by way of the compression test, which reads just a bit lower for that cylinder. However, the car runs great.

So my advice is give it as much time as you think, and get yourself a bit more leverage. Worst-case scenario is that it's coming apart anyway, so you don't have a lot to lose. That was my theory anyway....

If you do get it broken loose and get it fired, as long as the engine wasn't bad before the lay-up, the seized cylinder will clean itself up as the ring cuts back in.

Once again, good luck!

 

[73 E3]

I had a very similar experience in my '73 Bavaria. Mine had been sitting for 20 years before I decided to get it going. It took a breaker bar and a 3.5' pipe as an extension to break the piston free. Turns out that my #5 cylinder is also the one that reads lowest. My engine had 67,XXX when it was stuck, it's been free again since May and now has ~69000 on it. Good luck and that MMO is good stuff.