The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop How to free a stuck motor?

I brought home a 1951 Cadillac today. The car has 90k original miles and was driven regularly in the last few years (restored cosmetically in 1997). The PO parked the car 8 months ago when the batery died and let it sit. Motor is now froze and will not budge. I cracked the harmonic balancer trying to move it. It now has penetrating oil in the cylinders. The car is an automatic otherwise I would just pull the thing down the road until she popped. Any thoughts?

First thing I'd to is search for the thread about this from a few months back. There were dozens of ideas posted.

Brian,


A comment..If the car sat only nine months, and in Auburn to boot (pretty dry), I would seriously doubt that any internal engine component has this thing stuck! Maybe the PO didn't tell you all the history?

Stuart

Brian,

Another comment..this time hopefully helpful. You are on the right track with the oil in the cylinders. The starter has a huge amount of oink in it. I would install a new battery and use the starter to spin the rig. Do this with the plugs out and a quality motor oil in the cylinders.

As I said in my earlier post, it would be hard to believe that this engine could be "frozen" after such a short time in a mild environment. Strange stuff does happen though, so if you use the starter to attempt to spin the motor, be on high alert for anything weird.

Stuart

I don't have much experience in this area, but I would take the starter off, no big deal, and try it, if that doesn't work, I would take the head(s)off, I think it must be a v8, and see what was under there. It it still won't turn over, I would get a block of wood and a fairly heavy hammer, and I would give each piston a good whack or two. It that doesn't work, pour some oil in the cylinders, let it set for a day or so, and whack it again. I have heard of motors being stuck, and this method used over a long period, with the motor finally turning over and running ok for a long time.

If it set for only 8 months, it doesn't seem that it would be stuck very tight.

If you really want to see if the former owner lied to you, pull the heads, the starter, and the oil pan and look at it. You might have more problems than a stuck motor.

Even if you had a sraight transmission pulling it probably wouldn't work. The truck I am now working on had a stuck motor, and you could pull it all you wanted, and all that happened was the rear wheels draged. Allen

Thanks for the replys. I belive the previous owner. I can usually tell when I am working with a straight shooter. I have it soaking now and am going to try moving it at the flywheel first. I will try more drastic measures after that.

You might want to try some PB Blaster. It works great on frozen and rusty bolts and nuts and should help free up rusty cylinders. Be sure to take all the plugs out when you try to turn the motor.
James

Let us know how this works out. I'm really curious to see what the problem turns out to be. Seems odd that a motor would stick that tight in such a short time, but stranger things have happened. Allen

I BOUGHT A 57 NASH CAR AND HAD TO FILL THE MOTOR UP WITH DISEL FUEL TO FREE IT 3 DAYS LATER,HOPE THAT HELPS PB BLASTER SEEMS TO GUM UP THE RINGS REALLY BAD