Technical Can this engine be saved?

OK ,I took my hood off to do bodywork and covered the engine bay with a "waterproof" California car cover lo and behold I got water in the cylinders and it wont turn over.I have pulled plugs, and starter and poured MMO down the cylinders.It wont budge with a breaker bar on the damper bolt.The previous owner had the engine(Y block 292) rebuilt in 2013 and it was never started when I bought it.If it was rebuilt do you think it can be saved? thanks,Mike

 

pull the heads and take a look. Sorry!

 

My friend Gary Williams bought a '60 Ford with a 292 and three speed. Wouldn't turn over. We towed it with my truck and he popped the clutch a few times until to broke free. He drove it for a few years as his family car and ran it at Brisbane 1/8th mile drags a few times. Ran great. Blew a little oil.

 

THanks will try that!

 

How long did it sit with water in it & how do you know it turned before the water???

 

I broke the porcelain out of a couple of spark plugs and welded grease fittings in the hole to break cylinders free. Fill the cylinder with trans fluid, install the plug and attach the grease gun. Make sure the valves are closed on the cylinder you are attatched to. Works sometimes when not stuck too bad.

 

^^^^^^THIS.........anything else is a crap shoot. It costs very little in labor and only a set of gaskets if the engine is easily cleaned up and useable. The potential damage you can do by towing it is significant.

You do the math and make your choice.

Ray

 

Is there any play in the crank bearrings might be to tight or corroded

 

^^^^^^^
I'd pull the pan to take a look before I did anything. Tearing the center out of the clutch disc or bending rods isn't going to help ...

 

...yeah, but it would make for a great video.

 

Drain the pan. HRP

 

how long was it out side? they don't rust solid in a short time.
i myself would pull the motor and, check it all out, on an engine stand..........i hate working on oil pans under a car and lifting heads over fenders..........
sometimes the long route is quicker

 

It's a stuck 292. What's it worth? Not a lot. That was the math Gary did, and I agreed

 

^^^^^^^not picking on you Rich......I am fan of yours. But the OP says his engine is reputed to have been overhauled, hence potentially worth more than an old core candidate.

Ray

 

Did you drain the oil pan? I had one that wouldn't turn over, it was filled up to the bottom of the pistons with water & oil. After I drained the gunk out, the motor actually turned over. After that, I would pull the heads.

 

HRP said it - pull the pan plug and make sure there isn't a lot of water in the oil....if no noticeable water...go the MM oil route or what the others suggest...

 

You will not believe the effects of pouring Coke in the cylinders and letting it sit for a few days

 

I had a Ford 390 that was stored outside, wrapped up tight (maybe not so tight...) in plastic for maybe 6 months. That wound up with about a quart of water in the crankcase somehow. So definitely drain the oil as one of the first tasks.

 

I would drain the pan and pull the heads and pan or borescope the cylinders to see how much rust is in them ( top and bottom , trying to pull over a frozen engine destroys parts ( cylinder walls scored or cracked from rings and rust , rods can be bent or a crank can be snapped , lifter casting broken off the block if the lifter is seized ) it might be one cylinder or several depending how many valves were open while it sat , it might have to have one or more cylinders sleeved if its real bad , a lot depends on how much money you want to spend .

when I let a engine sit I fog the cylinders with mercruiser fog ( made for boat engines) grease the plugs ( keeps out water and prevents siezing to the head) then back off the valve train to seal them and also mask off the intake and exhaust ports with tape .

 

Well OK. You guys think more of a stuck 292 than I do. I will have to go along with the drain the oil suggestion. As far as breaking cranks and what not. You must get much better traction than I do. I found the tires just slid until the rings broke loose from the cylinder walls. Mikhett, don't run the wrinkle walls for the tow start.

 

Hey Bobbs,..that's a joke about NASCAR and wrecks right?....

 

Eh.. somewhat. I find the cookie-cutter cars, gimmicks to get back on the lead lap and current championship chase format to being detrimental to the actual racing. Plus where else can you wad up someone's $600k car with no recourse?

 

When I let an engine sit, I make sure it's inside an insulated building. I've had great success with them never getting water in them, that way.

Otherwise, it's a crapshoot. If water doesn't get in as a liquid, it will get in as condensation, and make a mess.

 

I feel that that is a recipe for broken rings and piston lands. I'd rather pull the heads and monitor the loosening-up process having my eyes on it.

 

sometimes I do not have this option with some of my customers . and even in my garage its a crapshoot because of the weird weather and humidity we get around the big ponds up here ( great lakes)

 

yeah, we are kind of spoiled around here. But we still get a lot of 100% humidity conditions when it cools off, dew in the morning, etc. And it's rainy season now. Plenty of stuff gets ruined by rust down here, but not everything, like happens up there.

 

I Drained the oil about 6 ounces of water came out then the oil.I think I will pull the pan and have a look see.MAybe I will loosen main bearing caps and try again.

 

Sometimes engines setting will draw moisture and stick even if they are kept inside and wrapped up tight. I just broke one loose that had been setting myself.

The sooner you get it broke loose the better off you are. Soak the hell out, dump a mixture of oil and penetrating oil down the cylinders. Then worry it a little at a time until it breaks free. It may take a day or two. you will also need to look and see if you have a valve or two stuck again the same mix of oil and penetrating oil will help and then you may have to tap them with a brass or lead hammer, don't larrup them just light taps.

OK you were typing while I was typing, yours has been real wet better tear it down for inspection. Gaskets cost less then rods, pistons and valves.

 

if it were me and it is a new rebuilt thats stuck i would pull it apart and clean it

 

Rust isn't the only 'enemy' of stored engines. Recently I had occasion to prepare a 289 SBF for installation. The engine had been overhauled at least 30 years ago, never installed or run, but was kept in dry storage. It was stuck, really stuck! So, I pulled the manifold and heads.......no rust at all in the cylinders......what the heck??

Looking deeper, the cam and lifters were coated with dried and caked assembly lube. Pulled the pan and timing cover.....the timing chain was so stiff it was difficult to bend the links.....rods and mains had the same dried and caked assembly lube as the cam area.

Bottom line, it took a total disassembly and solvent clean up and reassembly to cure the 'stuck' issue.
Any attempt to 'force' the engine to rotate before it was cleaned would not have ended well and likely
trashed a good engine.

Ray