Used car engines which have seized can be freed-up using Engine Release

Used car engines can seize during storage. The best treatment for a seized automotive gas engine is Engine Release.

These instructions are for cars and light trucks with gas engines.

Regardless of the type of engine and vehicle you intend to work on we have specific instrcutions for your project on our site. Click the links on the left-hand menu to be directed.

Cars and light trucks with gas engines

This page provides instructions for using Engine Release to free seized gas car and light truck engines. It works on your seized used car engines, OR YOUR MONEY BACK. Click here for more about our no-quibble return policy.

VERY IMPORTANT!

Once you have read these instructions, if technical support is required with your project please email us for advice, we will reply ASAP.

Depending on your geographic location, a lot of rain water can get into used car engines!

Remove the air filter and check for excess water in the filter housing. If dry continue with normal procedure as described below, or if there is a pourable amount of rain water in the air filter housing, you can be sure one or two cylinders got flooded and the remainder just got damp. Your used car engines repair manual won't tell you this!

To empty out the flooded cylinders, purchase a large plastic turkey baster and about 24" of clear plastic hose that will tightly push fit over the end of the baster and still have a small enough out side diameter to pass through your spark plug holes.

Warning: Read safety warnings on the Engine Release container before continuing. Click here to read the safety information online BEFORE treating used car engines with Engine Release.

Engine release will damage paint finishes.

Preparing your engine for an Engine Release treatment

Remove all your spark plugs. If corroded or seized, a few drops of Engine Release on the used car engines plugs' threads will make frozen plugs easy to remove. (Let it soak in for 15 to 20 minutes.) Either diconnect or turn off the fuel supply.

Now one by one check your cylinders for water using the baster. Also if you have failed to free up your engine previously using Mystery Oil, vinegar, water, ATF, diesel fuel, WD40 or others, it's important to remove all traces of the above with your baster so as not to dilute the Engine Release you inject into used car engines.

It’s a good idea not to try and force more hose down the spark plug hole than is required to just touch the top of the piston so you can remove the majority of the water you may find. Pushing more hose into the cylinder than is required will just force the end of the hose to curl up in the air not touching the water and defeating the purpose of this exercise.

Once all cylinders have been checked and any found water removed, use your injector bottle to wet each cylinder with 1 oz of Engine Release once a day for three days. The idea is not spray Engine Release onto the top of the pistons, but by using our injector bottle depositing the Engine Release between the cylinder wall and the edge of the piston crown in each cylinder. 

This photo is of a 4�" diameter cylinder, here you see 1 oz of Engine Release is more than enough to cover everything required and then some! Refreshing the Engine Release in each cylinder daily keeps the corrosion dissolving additives active while the liquid Engine Release works it's way down and around the piston’s rings and eventually wetting the skirt, freeing up the cylinder and making starting seized used car engines easy.

If you allow the Engine Release time to seep in and around the used car engines rings over a period of days you will easily free up your engine. Let it soak in for a week.

Cover spark plug holes with rags to avoid having Engine Release blown out of the holes when you crank your Engine. WARNING: Keep your face away from this area when you crank it.

Now with a fully-charged battery give the starter a short try. Don't hold it on! If the engine starts to turn, STOP. Add another ounce of Engine Release to each cylinder and try the starter again.

If the used car engines starts to turn, let it crank for 20-60 seconds and stop. Now is a good time to check for a good spark on each plug (make sure your battery is fully charged).

If there is no spark or only a weak spark, you can now troubleshoot your ignition system yourself, or take the vehicle to someone and have it done. The worst is over, your engine isn't seized.

If spark is okay on each plug, re-install plugs and check engine oil level, making sure oil is not contaminated with rain water. Make sure you have enough clean fuel to start and run your used car engines for 10-15 minutes.

Go ahead give it a try. If the engine starts and runs, after 15 minutes stop engine, give the exterior of your engine a shampoo to remove any Engine Release that make have leaked on your Engine or rubber hoses.

Change oil, oil filter, air filter and spark plugs and you are in business.

If your engine won't turn with its starter, it is not over!

Try the same process as above, but instead of trying to break your engine free using its electric starter, we go to plan B.

Use an impact wrench and socket on the engine's front crank pulley nut and break the engine loose with either an air or electric powered impact wrench. Remove anything from front of the engine compartment that may not allow you to access crank pulley nut.

Don't have an impact? Rent or borrow it if you have to; it's the best tool for the job! Auto repair manuals don't cover this.

If you don't have access to an impact or don't want to use one; a socket and braker bar of your choice will do. We do not recommend this: there's a good chance of bending your rods.

Hammer blows from the impact wrench setup vibrations in the engine that with a help of Engine Release dislodge oxide crystals from one another freeing up the engine. Short bursts of the impact 1-2 seconds duration are all you need.

If your engine is old enough to have a crank start, make your self an adapter for your impact from your old hand crank.

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If your engine is newer make your self some adapters to engage the harmonic balancer on the front of the Engine Crank, so you can use your impact on it, to shake loose your engine

Once you've got movement on the crank with your impact you can reverse direction, give it a few short bursts and then use your bar to work the engine back and forth by hand

Once the engine starts to turn STOP! Also if engine refuses to turn STOP! The engine may need more Engine Release and time to free it up. Using this technique will save you a lot of money becuase of the auto restoration parts you've saved.

Inject another ounce of Engine Release into each of your engine's cylinders. Cover the spark plug holes again and crank the engine using either your impact or battery start. If everything seems to be nice and free, you can now consider testing your engine.

If the engine starts to turn, let it crank for 20-60 seconds and stop. Re-install any parts you may have removed from the front of the engine compartment.

Now is a good time to check for a good spark on each plug (make sure your battery is fully charged).

If there is no spark or only a weak spark, you can now troubleshoot your ignition system yourself, or take the vehicle to someone and have it done. The worst is over, your engine isn't seized.

If spark is okay on each plug, re-install plugs and check engine oil level, making sure oil is not contaminatedr with rain water. Make sure you have enough clean fuel to start and run your engine for 10-15 minutes.

Go ahead give it a try. If the engine starts and runs, after 15 minutes stop engine, give the exterior of your engine a shampoo to remove any Engine Release that make have leaked on your Engine or rubber hoses.

Change oil, oil filter, air filter and spark plugs and you are in business.

V-style engines aren't any more of a challenge than inline models. The only difference is the amount of Engine release required to free them up, and the fact you will need to make your self some inpact adapters to engage the harmonic balancer on the front of the carnk. The procedure is the same otherwise.

 

 

These photos for demonstration purposes show you a cylinder bore in a V-style engine. Note 4 oz of Engine Release doesn't reach the top of the piston because the cylinder is inclined photo shows the actual level of the Engine Release as when the engine is installed in the vehicle. A full Engine Release kit is required to flood the cylinder and reach the high side of the piston. If the same engine is loose or on a rotating stand blocking or rotating the engine so that one bank of cylinders are vertical to the ground at a time, allows you to work on them in a position thats allows the Engine Release to flow evenly around the piston crown requiring much less Engine Release to do the Job.

This photo shows the same cylinder as shown above but in a vertical postion. 2 oz of Engine Release is more than enough to do the job, compare to 8oz required when the cylinder is inclined ( as when Engine is installed in a vehicle)

Flood each cylinder with Engine Release, let it soak in for a week then go through our step by step instruction until your Engine is freed up.

Click for more information on freeing used car engines and other similar rust-seized engine projects using Engine Release.