aresnalfc

I recently found my grandfathers r/c nitro boat.

I took it to my local model shop and they said the engine is siezed.

They told me to soak it in diesel for about a week and see if that works.

If this dosent work is there any other way it can be done.

I would replace the engine but they said the engine is worth about £300 now so i dont think this is an option for me at the moment.

Thanks

Dean

Sean Bowf

I have not tried this...but I was once told that boiling them in antifreeze will free them up.

I had one that was sieze after 20 years of non-use, and a buddy took it to go try this, and I never saw it again...so no idea if it ever worked or not.

BTW, might want to check and make sure there are no hazards to doing this. He was going to put it in a coffee can on the grill. So no anti-freeze in a pan that anyone would eat food out of later on...

Sean

f16man

If it is truly seized the piston and cylinder are ruined, but if it is just stuck from the old castor oil you can put it in a can with fuel and soak for a few hours and the methonal in the fuel will desolve the old castor oil.....

rcguy1411

soak it in some nitro fuel for a few hours , can also use lots of wd 40 should free it up can also use a little heat (make shure there is no fuel or wd 40 on or in or all you will have is a FIRE BALL)

Dan S

Dean,

I do use the anti-freeze method, they come out clean as a whistle.
you may still need to replace the bearings but you could save the P/L (with some luck the bearings too).

I use a crock pot/slow cooker, don't use the one from your wife or your mother (only saying that in case your a young fellow)... lol
I bought my slow cooker at a garage sale for 5 bucks, use anti-freeze, no water (don't use premix), let it do its thing for 6 to 8 hours.

Dan.

jetpack

My Feedback: (1)

Keep the crock pot on LOW...anything higher and the aluminum will darken on you. It does work well.

DON"T keep lifting the lid and peek in, because you'll be breathing fumes and end up getting sick so don't do it.

Just cover it, set it on low and come back within a day and turn it off.

Let it cool, THEN take it out and try turning it.

Keep all this out in the shed, or at least out of the house.

Good Luck I hope it's not hurt and come back with any questions because we got 20 answers for every one of them.

Here's a before and after pic of one of mine I rebuilt. Even the baked-on castor on the header eventually worked its way off. Mind you, I did polish and paint some of it, but the aluminum does turn out nice, and that sticky castor usually is the first to lift off so chances are you'll have good luck freeing up the piston.

DONT use any wrenches to try and turn it yet. See how you do and if it's still stuck after all this come back and tell us. There's a next step to this if it doesn't go good.

Anti-freeze is a good method but it does take time and you being careful.

Dan S

Jetpack,
thanks for expanding on the crock pot trick.

Dan.

jetpack

My Feedback: (1)

Anytime, Dan...just cant figure out why the pics I posted are billboard size! LOL!

srw1960

Crock pot method for sure..fuel is way to expensive to be used as a solvent and it wont clean as well as the hot anti freeze will..ever seen an engine that blew a radiator hose and blew the anti freeze on the block??itll be spotless clean no matter how much baked on oil and grease there is on it..a friend of mine used to have a cut in half 55 gallon barrell half full of anti freeze and when he needed to rebuild an engine he put the nasty block in the half barrell covered it with another piece of barell and literaly lit a fire under it..couple hours and there wasent even any paint left on the block......

f16man

Any alcohol base will work very well and almost instantly and most of us have some old fuel around to use [Have you priced a gallon of ethleen glycol lately,,, almost same as 5% nitro fuel!!!!!] the anti freese trick is great for the cosmetics as it will take off all the old burnt on castor oil and carbon, A trick the shisters on ebay like to use to sell junk engines as new............................................... ....PS automotive engines have a totaly different kind of grunge on them due to the petrolium based oil and fuel, caustic soda works the best on automotive engine blocks and heads as long as they are not made of aluminum....

f16man

Did ya get that engine apart yet?????