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Original 454 sat for 35 years and won’t turn with a breaker bar on the crank bolt. Plugs are all removed—no problem with coolant in any cylinder. Coolant clear and green.
What to use and how to go about freeing it up? Prefer not to pull the heads, and prefer not to spend money on machine work. 51,000 miles on very original motor.
Looking for tips. Marvel Mystery oil in cylinders? Diesel fuel/atf mixture in cylinders?
I have freed up a couple of stuck engines using PB Blaster. I used two full cans and just drenched the cylinders. On engine stand so I was able to shake them everyday for a little agitation. 1 week, both broke loose.
I know others have used many different mixtures of oils, mystery oil, ATF, diesel, etc. And having used all of those as well over the years, I found the PB Blaster did the best job in the shortest time.
Good luck brother.
Original 454 sat for 35 years and won’t turn with a breaker bar on the crank bolt. Plugs are all removed—no problem with coolant in any cylinder. Coolant clear and green.
What to use and how to go about freeing it up? Prefer not to pull the heads, and prefer not to spend money on machine work. 51,000 miles on very original motor.
Looking for tips. Marvel Mystery oil in cylinders? Diesel fuel/atf mixture in cylinders?
I have dealt with this, and fill them completely full of either drained (used ) motor oil or diesel or a mixture of both. Fill it to the top of the valve covers on both sides, and fill every cylinder through the spark plug holes, also fill the intake manifold and all the exhaust ports. On the exhaust ports with open valves put the spark plugs back in, and fill it through the exhaust port so the cylinder is completely full on top of the piston.
Depending on how bad it is, it still probably won't turn, but I have had limited success letting it sit this way for a couple of months.
I have freed up a couple of stuck engines using PB Blaster. I used two full cans and just drenched the cylinders. On engine stand so I was able to shake them everyday for a little agitation. 1 week, both broke loose.
I know others have used many different mixtures of oils, mystery oil, ATF, diesel, etc. And having used all of those as well over the years, I found the PB Blaster did the best job in the shortest time.
Good luck brother.
WD-40 also has a product that dissolves rust that works pretty good
All good suggestions, never thought about adding more oil like century racer said
To avoid breaking the head off your bolt or stripping it try using a flexplate wrench from underneath you have more leverage
35 years is a looong time wow
Fortunately for me, no personal experience. Some swear by Kroil. I have used it on another application (a very rusty threaded steam coupling) with success. Another is 50/50 mix of ATF/Acetone. No experience there.. Good luck!
1st off forget about the balancer bolt for turning the engine. Take the lower pulley off. Get a bolt on adaptor, I like Marvel Mystery Oil. take off exhaust manifolds so you can get at the spark plug holes more easily. Fog or mist the cylinders once or twice a day for a week or more. Then try to rotate the engine in the opposite direction to break it loose. Rinse and repeat as necessary.
All good suggestions, never thought about adding more oil like century racer said
To avoid breaking the head off your bolt or stripping it try using a flexplate wrench from underneath you have more leverage
35 years is a looong time wow
Also have it sitting in a catch pan as you are going to know where every leak is using my method which can be messy
I just did this over this past weekend. Back in October I purchased a 82 CE which had been sitting for more than 5 years. I did not try to key start and the motor would not move with hand torque on the front belts/pulleys. Saturday I used 1 ounce of Marvel Mystery oil in each spark plug hole put the plugs back in loose and let it sit overnight. Sunday I used a 1/2" breaker bar with a 5/8 socket on harmonic balancer center bolt, plugs pulled, torque applied and was getting concerned of breaking bolt head off as the bolt was actually tightening without motor breaking free. I was going to try a strap wrench on the balancer next but pulled one more time on the breaker bar and the motor turned. RELIEF! Next up is pulling the distributor and spinning the oil pump to lube it up before trying to start it. If you use Marvel Mystery oil maybe more than 1 ounce in the 454. Good luck!
Marvel was always the go-to since I was a kid unsticking dirt bike stuff.......if it will not break loose soaked with Marvel, it is probably too far gone.....
Patience is your friend here. Remove all spark plugs and fill the cylinders with Mystery Oil. Let it soak overnight. Slowly try to turn the engine with the front harmonic balancer bolt. Don't try to turn it all the way over. A little at a time and add more oil to the cylinders. Keep doing it and it will loosen up. It took me a few days to roll mine over after sitting for 22 years.
One thing I have done is remove the crank pulley and balancer.....put a keyed crank socket (available from Proform for small or big block) and that way you can wiggle the crank back and forth....short movements as too much hair on it will crack the rings for sure.....
Wiggle, Marvel, Beer, Repeat
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
Why bothering trying to turn it over..? If the engine is that seized, you're going to have to tear it down and rebuild it. So take the heads off, pull the pan, and then take a 4x4 board and a big hammer to each piston and knock them loose before you remove them from the block. Don't screw around - just tear it apart if your intent is to save it. If you don't intend on rebuilding it, put it back in the corner or sell it to someone who is. Quite simple...
Lars
The last few long time improperly stored vehicles I have been involved were also BB chevrolet's we filled them to the top with motor oil and let it sit for a week or two...
drained and then used a breaker bar with an adapter on the crankshaft snout - uses the keyway.
FWIW - You can use a grease gun with a threaded adapter for the sparkplug... find a cyclinder at the top so as to use the least grease- use the grease gun pressure to break it loose.
Why bothering trying to turn it over..? If the engine is that seized, you're going to have to tear it down and rebuild it. So take the heads off, pull the pan, and then take a 4x4 board and a big hammer to each piston and knock them loose before you remove them from the block. Don't screw around - just tear it apart if your intent is to save it. If you don't intend on rebuilding it, put it back in the corner or sell it to someone who is. Quite simple...
Lars
NAILED IT!!! If ring are stuck to cylinder walls, they'll be defective by the time they break loose with corrosion, etc. Even if you get it to turn over and get lucky enough to get it to fire up, you'll kill all the mosquitos within a few miles with rusty cylinder walls and damaged rings. I can almost guarantee rust in any cylinders with an open valve.
Tear it down and rebuild it and save the time you're wasting now.
Thanks for the input everyone. Three days of Marvel Mystery Oil and one pull on the breaker bar from this powerful 74-year-old body and the motor turns over freely.
Tips for freeing up a motor
