[Zephyrman]

Say you just picked up that project from out of Farmer Ben's back 40 or the barn, after he told you, " It ran when I parked it here" So you got it home, put a battery in, a little gas down the carb, hit the key and....... Nothin. Stone dead, locked up tight from sitting. Well, here's an old school way to get the old girl runnin on the cheap, and diagnose any issues.

Step 1. Remove all the spark plugs
Step 2. Fill all the cylinders with Diesel fuel, replace spark plugs
Step 3. Let it sit for a week. Go ahead, do your day job, drink some beer, whatever.
Step 4. Remove plugs, get a big ratchet with the proper socket and extension if needed to fit the crank pulley nut, attempt to manually turn over. Won't move? Put plugs back in, let it sit for another week.
Step 5. Try step 4 again. If it works this time, proceed to step 6
Step 6. Got it moving pretty freely? Turn it over by hand until you have most of the diesel out of the cylinders.
Step 7. put in some new spark plugs, change all the fluids and put in a strong battery. Dump a little fuel in the carb and hit the key. Did it start?
Hooray!:cornut:
Didn't start or even turn over? You got bigger problems to address here bub. Now that it's running, you probably noticed that it's not running real smooth, and its blowing a little blue smoke. This is normal, unless it keeps smoking after all the diesel is burned out of the engine. I also hope you put fresh gas in the tank or even rebuilt the carb while the engine was soaking. Now that it's able to run without help from you, you can either plan the rebuild if it's truly hurt, or run it as is if it's all ok. I've used this method many times and the only time it hasn't worked was when the engine turned out to be blown up.

 

[militarydave]

Just keep in mind that this may only work on certain engines...

 

[Zephyrman]

This is true Dave, I just haven't run across that engine yet. Mind you, I've never tried this on a foreign engine or anything with aluminum heads. I have sucessfully done this on a slant six, a 460, a few 302's and 360's and a 350 though. I got this trick from my great uncle, who was a mechanic all through the 60's 70's and 80's. It also won't work on something blowed up, but I think I covered that LOL:crazy:

 

[Pletchaj]

I have done the same thing except with tranny fluid, works every time.

 

[80 maytag]

If its real bad and the pistons have to come out anyway, use vinegar. Something about it eats aluminum and saves the block. My dad and I did this to an old B model Deere, It starts right up after you drag it for about a mile. You can also spin the flywheel 6-7 times by grabbing it and giving it a good yank, but it's not locked up any more. Rich

 

[Jonzo77]

unless the guy was pulling your leg, and the reason it's locked up is the rings were ground into the walls far enough...

it's happened to me before on an 88 Gmc 1/2 ton van i had. the 305 was seized up, and i had to drive the pistons out through the bottom with a sledge, and a wooden block...