Barn find conundrum.
 

Hi Guys.
I've just come across a legendary "Barn Find". A 1989 2.0 240 GL Saloon in red with 70k on the clock, FSH etc.! Its been under covers and kept in a heated garage for over 20 years! To say that its in showroom condition is almost an understatement. Its the best one I have ever come across excepting new, which I can remember from back in the day.
It was running fine before being layed up, and I have not attempted to start, or turn over the engine yet, as the engine appears to be siezed. Yesterday, I removed the plugs and poured a little diesel fuel into each of the bores, so now, what do you think I should do??
Should I try to turn the crankshaft with a spanner? or rock the car in gear in the hope of freeing it up? or just go the whole hog and remove the engine and strip it down?
It's so tempting to have a go at starting it. But will I damage it? and what are the chances it would free off and bed in fine with a bit of running.
Advice required please??

Personally I’d leave the diesel in there for a couple of days, then try turning the engine with a socket on the crank pulley. With the plugs out the engine should spin quite easily, if it doesn’t don’t force it, put more diesel in and leave it for another couple of days and try again. I wouldn’t try using the starter or rocking it in gear, others may have a different opinion.

Assuming it unsticks at some point and it’s possible to spin it using a socket on the pulley pretty easily, I’d drain and refill the oil (assuming you’ll have introduced some diesel into it) then spin the engine over on the starter to clear the diesel out of the bores, then replace the spark plugs and see if it starts.

Before that though I’d try and get the old fuel out of the tank and see if the fuel pumps are working.

I’d also replace the cam belt before trying to start it, since they’re only about £8 and I’m not sure how reliable a 20 year old belt would be. To replace it you’ll need to unstick the engine so you can get it to tdc, so cambelt replacement would happen after unsticking it and before starting. Yes I know (before anyone says) it should be a non-interference engine, but they take minutes to fit and I’d prefer to.

After all that, I bet it starts first try :)

Good luck!

Cheers

Second what Bugjam said.

Priority before anything is to make sure you can turn it by hand with the plugs out. Then clean fuel, oil and filter before firing it up. You might want to clean the injectors ('89 should be K-Jet right?) before firing up as well, after 20 years any residue will be pretty stuck on.

Best of luck!

Alex

I followed precisely the same procedure as has been suggested on an Amazon that had sat under a car port for two decades and was solid. Plugs out, diesel down bores and WAIT a few days were my essentials. Then socket on crank nut and wiggle it both ways: no movement then WAIT a few more days then try again. After a couple of weeks doing this I detected a bit of movement so introduced some fine oil down the bores, then WAIT some more.....
I bypassed the fuel in the tank, rotated it several times by hand when there was full rotation, fitted a battery and checked for a spark then fired it up! The previous owner was nearly as chuffed as I was!

P

Yep good suggestions here - plugs out, a bit of diesel oil, keep trying to turn it by hand before anything more.

Try rigging up a temporary fuel supply rather than relying on the petrol tank, it's likely to be stale or rusty internally.

What makes you think the engine is seized, have you just been told this? I'd say that's quite unusual for a redblock.

One of my 240’s hadn’t beeen started for over 18 years. The pulley belts had set solid - once I’d cut these off and replaced with new it turned over fine and we eventually got it started. Change the oil and filter, clean and gap the plugs, check the air cleaner.

You don't need to move the engine to replace the belt.
Make three marks with snopake on each of the three sprockets, on the belt and the sprocket. Then remove the belt, lay it on top of the new belt and make corresponding marks on the new belt. Then fit the new belt carefully aligning each mark.


Having the belt off would let you confirm that it is the crank that is stuck, as you could turn the camshaft and distributor drives a bit.

If nothing shifts then I think at some point you will have to chose between brute force and progressive dismantling.

Just a thought - if you filled the cooling system with boiling water might the heat in the block loosen something?

Another thought - is the belt intact? Had it broken and the engine jammed? Has a valve dropped (check the tappets under the cover) ?

All of the above is great advice, I'm only adding an unusual time we couldn't unstick an engine.

A late 60s Opel Rekord with a seized engine (which was destined for the bin anyway), tried all the above including some brute force options - dragging the car with 5 people sat in the boot (resulting in long black lines), big bar on the crank pulley, battery direct to the starter etc etc and nothing would shift it.

Upon removing the head, it was discovered that one piston had seized while the engine was at TDC, so the torque applied to the crank wasn't creating any vertical movement of the pistons...

Undoing the rod from the crank and applying vertical pressure had it moving soon enough.

I'm soaking an engine as we scribble, its been sat for a few years. My own brew of sump oil, 2-stroke, wd40, whatever was to hand. Sloshed down the bores and through the filler. Gallons of it. Could even mix some paraffin in.
It'll free at some point. When it does I'll drain the slop and pour as much as possible into the gearbox, make sure thats all ok.
Wish me luck !

Barn Find Conundrum Update
 

Thanks for all the advice guys!
There's some good points there, I will give it a bit of a tweak on the crankshaft nut later today and see if it moves, if not then more diesel and wait.
I hadn't considered the pulley belts being set, a very good tip worth checking out. The cambelt change is a goodun too.
I would be very wary of putting anything not kosher into the gearbox.
When the engine comes free (crossed fingers) I would check all the transmission levels and jack the rear wheels up and turn the gearbox with the starter with the plugs out to re-oil the box and diff.
Potentionaly there's a lot that might still need sorting, fuel delivery, injection system, not to mention the clutch! So I still have plenty to keep me busy lol.
I'll post updates as they occur.
Thanks again for the advice and encouragement.:teeth_smile: