Readers’ Tips—

Working With a Stuck Engine

IN FEBRUARY, Auto Restorer published an inquiry asking for help in freeing up a “stuck” engine. Here’s some advice, based on my own experience.

First of all, if there's rust on the dipstick, there is most likely rust on the cylinder walls and probably the only way to get it “unstuck” is to disassemble the engine, remove the pistons and hone the cylinder walls. If the cylinders are worn, you will likely need to use a ridge reamer to remove the ridge at the top of the cylinders in order to remove the pistons.

However, if there is little or no rust on the dipstick, try the following:

Take a foot-long piece of rubber hose with an inner diameter that will snugly hold a basketball-inflating needle. Insert the threaded end into the hose and then use a small clamp or some tightly twisted wire to be certain the needle will stay in place. (You don’t want the needle to fall inside a cylinder.)

Now, remove the spark plugs and get some light oil that’s designed to lubricate air tools.

Insert the needle into a cylinder through the spark plug hole. Next, fill the hose about half full with the light oil and give it a shot of compressed air. The cross drilled hole in the needle will force the oil to spray laterally, coating the upper cylinder walls. Do this with each cylinder and then leave the spark plugs out.

The next step is to totally fill the crankcase with motor oil. You may have to plug the dipstick hole to fill the lower part of the engine.

Chock the rear wheels; raise the front of the car and install sturdy jack stands. (Be sure to work on a level surface, for safety’s sake.) Now, get under the car and remove the flywheel cover. Use a large, long-handled screwdriver to fully engage a flywheel tooth nearest one side of the opening. You have a lot of leverage, so if the flywheel is going to move, it won’t require a lot of force. Then move to the opposite side of the opening and repeat. (It is possible to break a tooth on the flywheel, but it’s highly unlikely if you fully engage the screwdriver into the space.)

I have found that I can get much more torque on the engine this way than by using a socket on the front pulley bolt. Too much socket torque to the right can result in a broken bolt.

If you can get the flywheel to move in both directions with your screwdriver, you have “unstuck” the engine.

Chuck Garber Omaha, Nebraska