Re: [FWDLK] It's DeLightful, It's DeLovely, It Won't Start.

[David Homstad <Dhomstad@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave,

A couple of suggestions:
1.      When pouring a volume of oil down the carb, make sure the plugs are out
or you might get a ?hydraulic lock?. This is where the oil volume in the
cylinder is greater than the combustion chamber volume. Oil doesn?t
compress, so you could bend a rod.
2.      After 30 years, the rings were probably very dry and would stay dry until
the engine fires and has enough rpm to throw oil on the rings. Starting
fluid also washes oil off the rings. It?s a good idea to remove the plugs
and squirt oil into the cylinders before attempting to start an engine
sitting this long.
3.      Are you sure you are getting gas to and through the rebuilt carb? Is the
fuel pump working? Is the fuel filter clean? Is the gas in the tank fresh or
30 years old?
4.      Original coils are not very powerful. You might try a hotter coil.
5.      Check the timing at cranking speed.
6.      Once you get it running, the rings may loosen up and reseat themselves,
at least a little. The cylinder walls may also have gotten a little rusty,
which will wear off as the rings reseat.
7.      Once you get it running and thoroughly warmed up, pour a can of Rislone
slowly down the carb until it stalls. Let it sit over night and start it up
again. This should help remove carbon and loosen the rings.
8.      Try a combustion chamber/valve cleaner additive in the gas tank. This
works slowly as you drive.

Dave Homstad
56 Dodge D500

-----Original Message-----
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List
[mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Dave Stragand
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 10:33 AM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [FWDLK] It's DeLightful, It's DeLovely, It Won't Start.

Hi All,

I've been having some problems getting the 361 motor in my '59 DeSoto
Firesweep Seville started.  To give some background, I have replaced the
points, plugs, condensor, cap, coil, and rotor, and I'm satisfied I'm
getting a good spark.  The carb has just been rebuilt as well, but even
using starting fluid, the car just -barely- kicks.

I'm positive that the wires are in the correct order, and that I'm not 180
degrees out.  That left a couple of possibilities  -- stuck valves,
incorrect valve timing, or horribly poor compression.  A check with a
compression tester revealed that indeed the compression was poor... only
60-70 PSI on all 8 cylinders.  That pretty much steered me away from a stuck
valve or two, but didn't rule out incorrect valve timing. Since I've never
heard of a correctly assembled Mopar engine skipping a tooth on the timing,
I can kinda rule that out as well.  Also, I pulled the valve covers to
verify that the valves were indeed working.

The previous owner assured me it had been running fine when parked, and I
have no reason to doubt him.  In fact, the last inspection sticker (Oct.
1973) shows that the car had 48,982 miles when inspected, and the clock only
shows an additional 13 miles at 48,995 now.

To test for bad rings, I dumped about a quarter quart of ATF down the carb
throat, and the compression jumped up to around 160-180 PSI on the cylinders
I checked.

I'm having a hard time believing that an engine that has been turning freely
in indoor storage for 30 years could quite suddenly wear down the rings or
cylinder walls to that extent in a few minutes of cranking.  But judging by
the massive amount of blow-by smoke coming out of the valve covers, I'm
pretty sure that poor compression is the problem.

Judging by the amount of tarlike goo that I scraped out from under the valve
covers, the engine is pretty filthy inside.  My hypothesis is that the
pistons & rings, like the rest of the engine, are pretty darn gooey, and the
rings are sticking "in" rather than sealing to the cyl. wall.  Has anyone
ever heard of this?  If this was the case, do you think spraying a bunch of
PB, Liquid Wrench, Oil Sludge Remover, Kroil, or Marvel Mystery Oil in
through the spark plug hole would help free them up? Perhaps letting them
soak a while, then cranking the engine over to stir it around?

Or if I can't break them free, would a re-ring job and cylinder hone do the
trick (assuming the bore is within tolerances)?  Can that be done in the
car, or is it a "rip it and strip it" operation?  Should I change the rod
bearings at that time as well?

Any help would be appreciated!

-Dave