Can it be saved

[Doc_Ellis]

Time dose fly. Kinda shocked me when I realized it was 20 years ago

Yeah 20 years ago. Waaaaayy back in... 2001?!
The fact that 2001 was a “long” time ago definitely makes me feel old...
Truck looks good! The styling has held up well along with the paint

 

[scenic760]

Get a flexplate tool and use it, you can go both ways and get good leverage on it. You take a chance of snapping the balancer bolt or screwing the threads up when trying to turn a partially seized engine over. Once you have the tool, you will wonder how you ever got by without it. Beats hell out of moving 2 teeth at a time with a screwdriver. Chances are that once you get it to move a little bit, it'll roll through the entire 360 degrees. Back and forth and unless you have some major rust, you'll get 'er broke loose.

Here is what I'm using that gets bolted to the balancer and turned with a 1" socket and breaker bar

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Can you use those flywheel tools with the engine in the car?

 

[Bextreme04]

Hey All!

Happened upon upon this thread as I too am trying to get a sitting square on the road. And yes, you will RARELY see a square on the road in Socal..someone said that when China was completely booming scrap metal was at $200 per ton and quite a few squares met their fate. Ironic that China's infrastructure is being supplied by US cars..haha

I just bought a 1981 Suburban K1500 (I had to drive 200 miles to find it!) that sat for 4 years outside. I'm having a hard time getting it to turn over and I have pulled the plugs, oiled the cylinders with Deep Creep and am trying to rock the balancer with the bolt on tool they sell. I've gotten it to move maybe 1-2 degrees back and forth but it doesn't seem to be moving much more than that. I did take off the valve covers and it looks like some rust had gotten on the rockers/pushrods on top so I yanked those off and they don't appear to be rusted the length of the pushrods. I put a camera in each cylinder and they actually look pretty good (no rust) with a bit a carbon in a couple...my next guess was to pull the starter as thought it may be binding?

OP- did you get yours going?!

Is the truck a manual or automatic? I'd put a couple tablespoons of marvel mystery oil in each cylinder before I start moving it around too much. Let it sit overnight at least and then try rotating it around.

 

[Salty Crusty]

scenic760, you can use the flexplate tool with the engine in the car but you'll be on your back if it isn't on a lift. Thanks to the diameter of the flexplate, you'll have more leverage unless you have a long breaker bar.
The tool in the pic looks great as long as there's access to the balancer and the fan is out of the way. Should be perfect for an engine on a stand. I haven't bought a new tool in over a week, time to order one!!!

 

[scenic760]

scenic760, you can use the flexplate tool with the engine in the car but you'll be on your back if it isn't on a lift. Thanks to the diameter of the flexplate, you'll have more leverage unless you have a long breaker bar.
The tool in the pic looks great as long as there's access to the balancer and the fan is out of the way. Should be perfect for an engine on a stand. I haven't bought a new tool in over a week, time to order one!!!

Thanks Salty!

Yeah, I have a 24" breaker bar that I'm leveraging with a rebar bender slid over it. I'm have about 45 degrees of range from the top on the drivers side..not a whole lot but I haven't needed any more range as of yet! So far I've hit it with 50/50 acetone/ATF and Deep Creep. I think I am douse the cylinders again with some Marvel as I think the Deep Creep penetrates well but doesn't stick around and keep on rockin' it!

 

[scenic760]

Does it matter if the car is in park vs neutral when trying to unstick the engine? I would think there would be at least SOME resistance in park but admittedly I rocked it a few times in park before I put chocks on the wheels and put it in nuetral.

Thanks!

 

[Bextreme04]

Does it matter if the car is in park vs neutral when trying to unstick the engine? I would think there would be at least SOME resistance in park but admittedly I rocked it a few times in park before I put chocks on the wheels and put it in nuetral.

Thanks!

It will matter if the torque converter is locked up. If the torque converter is not frozen then it should let the engine spin separate of the transmission. Have you drained the oil? Was there any shiny stuff or metal bits in there? What about valve covers? Can you see the valvetrain trying to move when you try to turn the motor over?

 

[scenic760]

I did drain the oil ad didn't see any metal bits in there..it was BLACK and smelled like turpentine. I popped the valve covers about a week into it and didn't see anything moving while I was rocking it. However 3-4 of the rockers on each side had some rust on them

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[Salty Crusty]

A lot of gerarheads swear by 50% ATF and 50% acetone as a penetrating solution. Cheap enough, might save a lot of time if it works.

 

[Bextreme04]

I did drain the oil ad didn't see any metal bits in there..it was BLACK and smelled like turpentine. I popped the valve covers about a week into it and didn't see anything moving while I was rocking it. However 3-4 of the rockers on each side had some rust on them

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That looks pretty bad... did you take the rocker off, or was it like that when you took the cover off? I'd be worried that the timing chain broke and slammed valves into pistons and maybe bent/wedged some stuff together. Any idea why it was parked?

 

[scenic760]

That looks pretty bad... did you take the rocker off, or was it like that when you took the cover off? I'd be worried that the timing chain broke and slammed valves into pistons and maybe bent/wedged some stuff together. Any idea why it was parked?

It was like that when I took it off....your thinking mass casualties eh?

I thought I broke it free a couple minutes ago...alas it was just the breaker bar snapping off at the socket...I'm at the point I think I just need to pull manifold/heads to see exactly what is happening? Probably would have saved me time just to do that in the beginning, haha...

I bought it from a widow who's husband passed away unexpectedly and she has just gotten around to liquidating everything. This sat on a ranch they were 90% done building when he died and it was supposedly running when parked.

 

[idahovette]

It wasn't running well if it was parked with the rocker off.

 

[scenic760]

It wasn't running well if it was parked with the rocker off.

I would concur with that...how much force would it take to do that? I got it moving about 2-3 degrees before I took the valve covers off...

The story made sense at the time it was parked perfectly by the front door of the house...

I guess if I pulled the heads and see some swaying palm trees then I think that would prove your suspicions Beextreme04?!!

 

[Bextreme04]

I would concur with that...how much force would it take to do that? I got it moving about 2-3 degrees before I took the valve covers off...

The story made sense at the time it was parked perfectly by the front door of the house...

I guess if I pulled the heads and see some swaying palm trees then I think that would prove your suspicions Beextreme04?!!

I'd start with the intake and see if there is any bent pushrods or the cam lobes are wiped. Then I'd pull the oil pan and see what it looks like under there. If the rods are all together and no bent pushrods/damaged valvetrain, then I'd see if I could get the starter to try and engage

 

[scenic760]

I'd start with the intake and see if there is any bent pushrods or the cam lobes are wiped. Then I'd pull the oil pan and see what it looks like under there. If the rods are all together and no bent pushrods/damaged valvetrain, then I'd see if I could get the starter to try and engage

I was going to loosen the rockers to relieve the some resistance but ended up just pulling them off and taking out the pushrods to see if there was any rust on the lower parts..and it didn't look too bad, none bent..I will pull the manifold tomorrow/sat...

So basically if the oil pan isn't a bucket of metal, no bent rods and the cam is still intact I'm dealing with run of the mill stuck cylinders?