Frozen 3400

[Joes95gagt]

I finally got the 3400 into my 95 GA, but it's been sitting so long it's frozen up. What can I do to get her to turn over?

[bszopi]

Can you turn it over by hand via the crank bolt and a breaker bar?

[RednBlack]

Depends on how long you want it to last. You need to find out why it's frozen. If it is a frozen ring thing and you break it loose, you take a chance of scoring walls from rust particles. Then you burn oil. Personally, I would never break a locked engine with a breaker bar, and then try a startup. If you do though, soak cylinders with a combination of trans fluid and WD-40 first. Leave it a week. Expect a LOT of smoke when it fires. A sitting engine usually locks up from the valves that are open and gathering moisture.

[RednBlack]

And I have to add this. Frozen rings don't always mean just in the cylinder. They will lock on the piston. It's a chemical thing. Aluminum minus oil plus steel plus moisture = oxidize. That's aluminums word for rust. Ever take a steel bolt out of an aluminum part? (the green stuff) If your rings are locked you have to rebuild. Of course you might get lucky. Did it on several 350s and 283s.

[geoffinbc]

Yea I agree you can WD40 and penetrete lube the hell out of the rings but it will still be a hack job. If you want a reliable runner then you need to rebuild.

However it may not be the rings that are bad.

[ikessky]

Marvel Mystery Oil works well for breaking pistons loose. I agree with the others though. You need to find out what happened and make sure that all the particles are out so that you don't make short work of your engine.