Hello All:

      I received an engine that is full of very stiff castor oil.  Should I totally disassemble the the engine to remove the sludge from the bearings?  As of now, I am soaking the engine in acetone.  Crocpotting may be an option.

     Suggestions/Comments?

     Tia,

      Frank

     Hello All:

      I received an engine that is full of very stiff castor oil.  Should I totally disassemble the the engine to remove the sludge from the bearings?  As of now, I am soaking the engine in acetone.  Crocpotting may be an option.

  Frank, I think based on your experience that your life will be much happier if you *don't* take engines apart unless there is some obvious damage to them.

     My recommendation from before is to heat it up gently in the oven on the lowest setting to get it loose, then use when it can move freely, any sort of oil, even WD-40, but better, some light machine oil, get it nice and flippy, then go *run it with conventional fuel* as soon as you can, to prevent it from gumming up again. Then after a few minutes of running, run it empty, then use light machine oil, NOT WD-40, and flip that around in there until it is distributed.


     Since you have already soaked it in acetone, please remove it, to the extent possible,  load it up with light oil, and then run it and follow with light machine oil, NOT WD-40. WD-40 is only acceptable if you are going to go run it in a day or two. If you leave it in there for more than a few weeks it will gum it up hopelessly, then you *will* have to disassemble/crock pot it.

   Carefully remove the acetone from the ultrasonic cleaner and pour it in a safe container. Floyd has it right in the other thread, acetone is no better than soapy water, and an ultrasonic cleaner will probably not remove anything like gummed-up oil.

   If it is very heavily varnished, the safest thing to do is run it on some sort of fuel with a low percentage of castor and a lot of synthetic for a while, that will clean it slowly as it runs. That is much safer than taking it apart and monkeying around with it internally.

    Brett

I'm loathe to disassemble a sticky motor, as well as Frank.    (Of course, here it comes) But a "new" OS Max S .35 I bought on Ebay a few years ago, had the upper rod so stuck to the wrist pin that none of the heating, crockpot, master blaster, etc. were successful in freeing it.  I tried wedging the rod backward with an allen wrench.  Still stuck.   Reluctantly, I disassembled the piston liner and pushed rod pin out of the piston and rod.  Oiled it up and put it back together as best I could recognizing that it is nearly impossible to impossible to get the liner back in and lined up precisely where it had been.  Hopefully the lack of previous running won't make that a problem.

I haven't tried running it yet, but am I correct in thinking that running it with a stuck upper rod/wrist pin would have ruined the upper rod/wrist pin in short order?

Joe Ed Pederson
Cuba, MO

     Brett and Floyd:

      I did do a search prior to posting.  I did not see an answer to my main concern, what to do about the sludge in the bearings.  I had bad vibes about the bearing not being able roll freely while being entrapped in castor sludge.

     Brett, you are correct in encouraging me avoid more problems by dismantling engines.  I try the KISS approach whenever possible.

       Thanks fof the replies.

        Be well,

        Frank

Frank
The  best way you can do this, with  the  lowest risk of  harm, is  to  remove the  backplate, head, drive washer, venturi and  NVA.  Then crock pot the case crank bearings, after  cleaning, rinse it out  very well, get the soften gunk out of the  case and bearings, you can easily rotate everything , to help clean the  soften  goo out.
The  just  add the  head  b plate and drive washer venturi, You now  will have a clean engine, and  the  bearings, If  they were  good to start, will be  clean good and  ready to go.  make sure you oil everything back up

Randy

I've always used acetone to free up gummy castor because it works much faster than fuel/methanol. First I flood the crankcase through either the exhaust or venturi (whichever is nearest to being open) then turn the engine onto it's side (exhaust facing up) before slowly turning the prop a little at a time to begin spreading the acetone around the piston/liner and the rod big end. When it turns over fairly freely point the nose down slightly so the acetone in the crankcase runs towards the crankshaft bush/rear bearing and flick the prop sharply. This uses crankcase pressure to force the acetone through the bush/rear bearing and to the front bearing. Continue this until both bearings feel nice and free. Next step is to remove the backplate and make certain the small end of the rod slides freely along the wristpin, using the short end of an allen key to pull the top of the rod and a finger to push the rod back along the wristpin. If it doesn't slide then invert the engine and fill the piston interior with acetone and do the allen key trick. The rod need only begin to move maybe a few thou which is enough to start the acetone wicking along the wristpin but when that starts it'll free up very quickly.

With the engine free then flood with some fuel and flick it over a bit to spread some oil over all the parts and then give it a short run to drive out any excess fuel and acetone.

     Hi Walter:

     I have no idea.  This engine is not mine.  It was offered to me to test run.  After cleaning the engine, I decided to return it to the owner sans test running.  Despite the badly peeled liner, it had flawless compression.  I am curious to determine how well and how long this engine will run.

     Stay well,

     Frank