unstuck but smokin?

[Steve in Idaho]

How often does an IH engine that has been stuck, quit smoking or at least decrease smoking after it is run and worked for awhile? Looking at an H that has been unstuck and now runs pretty well but smokes bad. As I gather it has not been run much since being unstuck. thanks

 

[glennster]

if you are lucky and the cylinders arent scored up, could be just the rings are sticky. you can try and get em cleaned up by adding a quart of trans fluid to the engine oil and a bottle of marvel mystery oil to the gas. make her work medium duty for half a day and see if it cleans up, if not, you may need rings and or sleeves.

 

[Dick L]

If the rings are stuck in like the ones in the picture below, never.

I dropped those pistons in oil over a year ago to see how long it would take. I checked a coupla months a go and I have only been able to loosen one ring each on two of them. All four pistons are still in a pail of oil mixtures.

I have been thinking of trying ZMax.

 

[Allan in NE]

'Spose you might be finding out why it was parked out in the weeds to start with?

Dunno, it it's belchin' smoke, really doubt if it will ever be right without a teardown.

Allan

 

[El Toro]

I don't think they will free themselves. Probably need to tear the engine down and rebuild it. Hal
PS: I had that problem on a Ford Mustang and it kept fouling sparkplugs. I use a borescope light to look in the cylinders and about 1/2 were wet with oil and lots of carbon. The rings were stuck and I never saw an engine with so much carbon. I made an apron to keep that carbon off my clothes when I cleaned up the valves and pistons. New rings and rod bearings made it run like new. I installed a new oil pump too.

 

[rustyfarmall]

I've even tried warming things up real good with a torch and those stuck rings still won't come loose.

 

[CWL]

Dick L, just a thought. After soaking them that long I wonder if it would do any good to heat them up a little. Like maybe on a propane barbeque grill. Would the difference in the metal properties let them expand and contract enough with heat and cooling to seperate? After soaking that long there is bound to be some oil soaked in between the rings and piston grooves. Just a wayward thought and I bet it has been tried before.

 

[CWL]

You answered my question while I was typing.

 

[rrlund]

Gotta agree with DickL and El Toro. I took a 350 gas in on trade one time,that had been in a grass fire and had the tires burned off. It sat for 3 years and was stuck. I got it loose and running but it burned oil so bad I couldn't keep plugs in it.Ran it around here all summer handling round bales. Had to tear it down.

 

[old]

I have 2 Hs that where stuck and I freed them up but neither one of them, smokes. I fill them with tranny fluid and thats how I got them loose. You might try filling the cylinders with ATF and let it sit a few days and then start it up and work it some. Doing that might make it stop smoking, but if it doesn't then you will probably have to open it up and replace the rings etc. Its worth the $5 try because if it works its cost you only $5 but if it doesn't it will cost you more like $500
Hobby farm

 

[dhermesc]

"'Spose you might be finding out why it was parked out in the weeds to start with?"




I agree. Letting a worn out engine sit for a couple years doesn't exactly help them heal.

 

[DickL]

I am not an advocate of soaking stuck engines in magic juices and concoctions. I want to see what I have and repair it accordingly. After reading of all the supposedly success with these majic methods I decided to put some in ATF and see how long it would take. I have added other thinning things as time has gone by. These pistons were out of a stuck engine. If the majic concoctions did break the engine loose and say it did loosen the rings, if you look at the end gap on the pistons stuck flush with the outside of the piston, it will smoke to high heaven.
My test so far shows that the rings would never loosened so far. When I opened up the engine I removed the valves and posted pictures on a coupla boards of the pits in the seats that would never sealed.

I guess I am just to rammy to wait for these things to heal themselves.

 

[HENRY E NC]

What ever happened to the guys that swear by Seafoam.? Havent heard a word about it lately. Seems to cure stuck rings and valves and clean that ole engine and carb right out. It might not help but I just wonder. I know that slick 50 cleans out engines pretty good. Made the mistake of putting some in ,my Nisson 100 HP diesel that had about 20,000 hours on it and went from using a quart of oil every ten hour to two quarts every five hours. Finally had to get it all out and run some bunker fuel from the shrimp docks to gum the engine back up.

 

[HENRY E NC]

What ever happened to the guys that swear by Seafoam.? Havent heard a word about it lately. Seems to cure stuck rings and valves and clean that ole engine and carb right out. It might not help but I just wonder. I know that slick 50 cleans out engines pretty good. Made the mistake of putting some in ,my Nisson 100 HP diesel in my saillboat that had about 20,000 hours on it and went from using a quart of oil every ten hour to two quarts every five hours. Finally had to get it all out and run some bunker fuel from the shrimp docks to gum the engine back up.

 

[Mark-Mi]

I once picked up a c clamp at the salvage yard.It had a square head on the end of the threads instead of the sliding handle.Only about 4 inch capacity but very heavy built.Stuck tight but the threads looked good.I put the clamp in the bottom of my parts cleaner that had mineral spirits in it.After 15 years I still could not turn it with a 24 inch cresent wrench and gave up.Mark

 

[Anonymous-0]

Don't know if this will work for every application, but, this is how I freed up a really stuck set of rings; I emersed the entire portion of the piston and rings in water -- five gallon metal pail -- heated it to a real good boil for awhile - - and then remove the piston when i seen the rings were loosened up and then removed them -- worked slick ! Installed new rings in all and put it back to work -- no problems. Hope this helps you as well.