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stuck pistons

C

Charlie M

Well-known Member
Just bought a tractor with a stuck motor. Muffler has been covered but has sat a long time. Tell me again what formula do you swear by to brake loose stuck pistons. I figure its worth a shot before having to tear the engine apart.
 
I usually use mystery oil, as its very thin. I really don't know what all the hyp is about ATF but that works too. in a case like this with things covered and just condensation sticking rings good chance it will free up. want something thin to work its way into the rings. I just got an allis wd45 that was sitting over 30 years and stuck. I put mystery oil in it for a week and then pulled the starter and pryed on the ring gear teeth. she moved a bit. just kept going back and forth till could make one revolution. I also had the valve cover off as there was stuck valves to. gave them lots of mystery oil and tapping and they came loose. got everything rotating freely then cleaned gas tank and carb and put things together and gave it a pull and she started right up. it is now a running tractor I will try out on the grain auger.
 
If you have a wood lathe you might turn a block of wood that would easily fit in the cylinders and drive the pistons out. Of course soak the pistons in penetrating oil for as long as you can first. If they are rusted in that tight chances are the block will have to have a sleeves installed in the cylinders.
 
a lathe, I just get a birch tree and find the proper size that fits snug. need hard wood. but I am sure it wont come to that.
 
I'm hoping for that kind of result but I will have a better chance of being struck by lightning based on past experiences. LOL I'm already on a bad track as I paid almost double what I wanted to pay.
 
Read the other replys. Squirt plenty of your favorite magic stuff in the cylinders and let them soak. If you have a compression tester find the cylinder that has the shut valves. Leave the hose screwed in and screw on an airhose fitting. Hook up your shop compressor to it. Have unstuck several tractors this way. If it is really stuck then you need to jump in. Just for giggles give the air a chance.
 
I would rather have a more accurate piece of wood to insure I didn't knock a hole in the piston. It wouldn't take being very much smaller than the piston to do damage.
 
not going to hurt a thing being slightly smaller. what do you think happens when the mixture fires and the piston goes flying down. those pistons are STRONG. knocked lots of pistons out and never had one break yet. and that's with a post mall and a good wack.
 
Pull the plugs, take a look inside.

If you can't see the top of any piston, reach in and take a scraping, see what's in there.

If you come up with rust flakes or liquid water, it's probably not going to come loose. If there is water, it will have to be vacuumed out, dried out with the air hose, before any rust penetrant can get down to the rings.

Don't want to be the nay-sayer here, but often stuck engines will still have stuck rings even if it does break loose.

But you won't know until you try!
 
I've freed up well over 30 locked up engines in my years of messing with them. I first do a wick test to make sure the cylinders are dry and not full of water. If water is found it need to be removed and even then not likely to free up. If dry fill with ATF by way of the spark plug holes. Put the plugs back in and then pour as much down the exhaust as you can till it starts leaking some place. Let sit a week or so then pull the plugs and set a battery in 12 volt preferred and use short fast taps on the starter.
 
removing a plug and looking for rust is a start and if you see rust remove the head cause you do have a problem and snake oil will not free it up. Got one from down south in Missouri had new engine looked inside of plug hole and rust ended up pressing sleeve and piston out together
 
Its worth a shot and you have been given good advise, how ever after all these years of fooling with stuck tractor engines I have only had 1 come loose on its own by soaking. Now it just seems alot easier to go ahead and pop the head and take a look.
 
I agree with rustred,but i jack 1 rear wheel up block others,put in high gear and rock jacked up wheel.im concerned of snapping a starter drive or flywheel teeth. Rocking wheel lets it work loose too
 

I agree with r.w.b about rocking a wheel. It is low impact but with inertia. easier on everything. Like rustred said while working on the pistons oil the valves and rocker arms too. Forcing them to move with no oil can cause damage.
 
My sure fire way is to pull the head and LOOK before i do then i will run a hone up and down the wall to knock the rust off and blow out that hole or holes FIRST then with the HEAD OFF i will use my ZEP and a block of hard wood and a four pound hammer a couple times this way i stand lees a chance of scoring the cylinder and packing rust in the ring lands.
 
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