How to clean siezed engine

I just realized that my teedee 051 was ran about 10 years ago and put away, uncleaned. Today it's seized. There is no sign of rust or damage. I'm guessing some carb cleaner to start with, maybe some penetrating oil, and see if it frees up? Any practical advice before I tear into it?

Reply to
Ook
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On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:51:13 -0800, "Ook" wrote in :

I think you're heading in the right direction.

You can also google for information about cleaning engines in a crockpot:

More good tips in this thread, too:

Marty

Reply to
Martin X. Moleski, SJ

If run on Cox fuel with high 25% castor content, the castor left in the engine will have turned to a thick gum locking all moving parts. This gum is easily changed back to a thick liquid with the use of a hair dryer aimed at the main metal parts. Flush with fresh fuel, or preferably raw methanol. Cotton buds and toothbrush invaluable for cleaning residues. Manual available if required

Regards Alan T. Alan's Hobby Model & RC Web Links

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Reply to
A.T.

soak it in WD40 and try and unscrew the piston after a day or so. A little heat may help.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I am with AT on this one. Having bought some gummed up engines off Ebay. They were good engines, just not been run for some years and apparently locked solid. It was only castor oil which had turned to a gum and was doing it's best to imitate a very good glue !

I couldn't turn them over as they were absolutely immovable. A minute or so with a heat gun - no longer - and they were turning over O.K. A bit of fuel down the carbi and a few flicks and they were ready to start.

Try it, you will be pleased with how quickly the engine frees up... no soaking in different substances, just a minute with the heat softens the gum and then a drop of fresh fuel circulated through the engine finishes the job.

I have freed a solidly gummed diesel by this method.... Heat applied, engine now turns, two drops of fuel in carbi and engine flicked over a few times, compression adjusted, two more drops of fuel, a couple of hand flicks and the engine was running.

Reg

Reply to
tux_powered

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Let's not forget that a portion of the Tee Dee's crankcase is made of plastic. I would be careful with whatever solvents I used, other than methanol.

Ed Cregger

Reply to
Ed Cregger

What I've always done with seized engines is soak them in glow fuel. I bought a large collection a few years ago which included quite a few stuck engines. I put about a dozen of them in a large pickle jar and poured about a half gallon of fuel over them. A few days later, not only were the engines unstuck, but the crud on the outside of the engines was dissolved. The only tricky part was making sure that the fuel was all the way into the engines when I first added the fuel, but all I had to do was turn the jar over a few times and wait for the bubbles to stop coming out.

The hair dryer method sounds like a very good idea. But if it doesn't work, a good fuel soaking should do the trick. If that doesn't work, you probably have worse problems than gum. I had one stuck engine that turned out to have some serious metal galling.

Reply to
Robert Reynolds

I saw the plastic, and decided carb cleaner would not be a good idea. Neither would gasoline, as either of them will dissolve a wide variety of materials. Did you know that fresh gasoline will dissolve the hairs on your arm? I used to work as a mechanic, and one day I removed a fuel line from a fuel pump, and got gasoline dripping down my arm. When I cleaned my hands and arm, I saw the hairs where the gasoline had dripped had partially dissolved, like they hand been singed in a fire.

So anyhow, I put the engine on my wood stove for about 2 minutes, and it started to move. Another 2 minutes, and I could turn it over. I squirted a few drops of some light machine oil(3-in-one type) in to the exhaust port and the intake port, and now it turns over quite nicely. Amazing...just a little heat to liquify the castor oil, and it turns fine.

Reply to
Ook

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