The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Seized engine.

49 Chevy 3100. Filled the cylinders with diesel and oil, and letting it soak. What kind of nut/bolt is that on the harmonic balancer??? I need to use a breaker bar to turn the crank, but nothing I have will fit the nut???

Thanks
Brian

There are tools made to grab the flywheel ring gear and turn the engine over. Get one. Try your local good autoparts store.

And consider Kroil to break things loose.

Cheers!
George

some part houses will let you use a tool if you put up a deposit and give it back upon return.
Diesel and oil...and kroil work good but since your doing a dukes mix add a little marvel mystery oil to the cake!

Thanks, any idea what the tool is called?

Brian

It sounds like you have the original 216? That actually was set up for a hand crank, if you can find one. If not, the easiest way is to push it in high gear or tighten the fan belt and use the fan to turn it.

Pull the inspection cover off the bell housing and pry on the ring gear. Move a little each way, back and forth. should be able to move a little more each time.

Luke's right, pull the flywheel cover and use a prybar on the gear teeth. The tool you're looking for is a flywheel turner .

If there is a bolt on the front of your balancer, it can be used, too. Should be a 7/16 dia bolt, if someone used a smallblock bolt. These engines didn't come with a bolt for the balancer, it had to be added.

Since the engine is in the truck, why not just put it in high (3rd or 4th) gear and rock the truck? You will surely get a lot more torque rocking in gear than you can with a wrench on a balancer or flywheel.

Patience is a virtue in freeing up old engines. They took years to seize and may take weeks or even months to free up, but I am continually amazed at what I have seen roar to life after sitting for many years.

A neighbor had an old Case tractor loader backhoe sitting in the "back 40" for years with no can on the straight up exhaust pipe. That pipe caught rain for years and funneled it into the manifold and ultimately into the engine. It was rusted beyond believe when we peeked in the old injector holes (diesel).

After six weeks of dumping penetrating and marvel into the cylinders and rocking it once a week it freed up and do you know a week later it roared to life and produced a spectacular smoke screen at the same time. Five minutes of checking for leaks and warming it up and we drove it out of the brush. Stopped along the way to pull a stump!

It took a little over 6 weeks of weekly oil squirting and rocking but it freed up.

Have patience.

Well I got it free. I used motor oil, tranny fluid, diesel for 2 weeks with no results. I squirted the cyliders with PB Blaster one night, and by morning she was free. That stuff really works. Thanks for the help guys.

Brian

Thank you for the feed-back. Good to hear you have it freed-up