rust removal

bfullmer

Member
I have an old IH crawler with motor locked up from water setting in cylinders,I have been cleaning up the bores with a wire wheel on a die grinder but because of the dome on the pistons I can't get all the way to the bottom- is there a better tool to use or a chemical I can use to remove rust without hurting alum. piston ? I just want to try to get it to run to see if clutch, trans or finals are ok before a complete rebuild.
 
About any acid that will break down rust will attack aluminum. Probly rubbing it with a popsicle stick with oil would be the best.
 
Other people on this forum have talked about using a mixture of acetone and ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid) to release stuck engines.
 
Careful what you use you can ruin the pistons and sleeves here is a little about Hydrogen embrittlement. This is well know in the aircraft field.

Hydrogen embrittlement is also known as hydrogen induced cracking or hydrogen attack. Materials that are most vulnerable include high-strength steels, titanium and aluminum alloys and electrolytic tough pitch copper. Hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms can be aqueous or gaseous and involve the ingress of hydrogen into the metal, reducing its ductility and load bearing capacity. Stress below the yield stress of the susceptible material then causes subsequent cracking and catastrophic brittle failures Parts that are undergoing electrochemical surface treatments such as etching, pickling, phosphate coating,corrosion removal, paint stripping and electroplating are especially susceptible. Of these, acid cleaning is the most severe.

Byron
 
Zepreserve is the best rust perpetrator. Soak the pistons down with zep and let it sit an hour or so and start trying to move the crankshaft back and forth.
 
Fill the cylinder up with ATF and let ti sit a week or so. Then if you do so safely put in a table spoon of gas in each cylinder and light it up. When ever it goes out add a bit more gas tan light it back up. Once almost burned out try to spin it over. The ATF will clean up a good bit of the rust and also lube the rings/piston and may fee it up. BTDT on at least 25 engine now
 
I have read where olive oil is better than any other method to free up a rusted engine. Hot Rod people have pulled vehicles out of swamps that the engine was submerged and was able to free the engine with olive oil. Just something to think about!
 
(quoted from post at 14:44:27 05/09/15) Bhunt, do you work at a plating shop also? I'm not an engineer, just a electro-plater

I'm a retired aircraft R&D mechanic and Inspector 33 years. I know a few things about a few things very little of that is helpful with tractors. I guess its just my nature to stick my nose were it don't belong.
 
What you do not have enough respect for a person to not do as asked??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? I do not want to know what you think and do not care to ever read any of your posts do not not understand that?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
 
I agree - atf. Mix in some acetone too I guess if you want, but I wouldn't bother with that myself.

Let it sit several days (keep it wet if the levels go down.

When you're ready - using a block of wood and a 3 pound hammer - try convincing each piston to move (use some common sense here).

Keep going from piston to piston. Eventually - unless it's really, really, bad - everything moves.

It's painful to think about - but the action of the piston rings on those cylinder walls is going to clean them up pretty good. As long as you've got most of the big stuff off, you should be fine.

Lower each piston to bottom dead center or so - and flush/wipe with diesel.

This of course doesn't guarantee you rings are good or not frozen in their grooves - but generally speaking, you're probably going to be good to go (at least, as good as you were before the pistons stuck).

The good thing about old, slow, low compression engines is they take a lot of abuse with very little complaining.
 

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