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General TR Circulate fluids without engine start

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pairof75's

pairof75's

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My first post! My intact 1975 TR6 has not run in 6 or 7 years. I am not ready to start it yet but I do want to circulate fresh coolant and crankcase oil through the engine. I have put penetrating oil in the plug holes a few months ago and the engine bars over. Should I just use the starter motor or is there another method I could try without taxing the starter and properly circulating the new fluids?
Regards,
Thomas in Prince Edward Island, Canada
 
Yes, there is a system to pressurize the oil galleries' before you crank up a sitting engine. you can prob find one of those systems from engine builders in your area. Pretty simple really, you hook into one of the oil galleries and force oil ( under air pressure) throughout the engine. There are prob others in the forum that can give you more info.
 
An interesting question some rotate the motor by hand time to time and or the starter with out the plugs in so it pretty much freewheels not hard on battery and starter. rotating the motor also takes the load off valve springs. but you may not get oil to top of the motor. or much water movement. I know a case where the TR 6 did not run for many years and the piston rings etched the cylinder walls owner thought motor was OK and ran it in another car. It came apart in 500 miles. Madflyer
 
I would just spin the motor on the starter with the plugs removed until the oil pressure comes up. I do that every spring before I start the car following winter storage
Bob
 
It is my understanding that "penetrating oil' ie. WD40 is mostly solvent. ....would that not wash the oil from the cylinder walls?You might have been better off putting in motor oil? What do others put in the cylinders for long term storage?
 
I am not sure what there is to grab hold of on a tr6 to turn over by hand. If I was concerned about the rings being frozen, I would put some wd40 in the cylinders wait for it to work, I guess a day or 2 then leave the plugs out and try and turn by hand just to get a feel for things. If I could not grab the motor somehow with my hands to turn the motor, I would put the car in 4th gear and push the car by hand and move the motor around that way. Maybe have someone else push, and I would watch. Then I would use the starter with the plugs out to get oil pressure. I would not worry about the water unless the car over heated then I would figure the thermostat was stuck.
 
What's your plan for the engine ?
Are you going to let it sit again, put it into service, rebuild it or what ?
 
I like Marvel Mystery Oil for the tops of the cylinders if you haven't run the car in a while - not too much. As mentioned, when you do turn it over, use the starter motor with the plugs out until you see oil pressure. I have also been known to use MMO in the dasspots.
Good Luck!
 
Marvel Mystery Oil is the norm in my book. With the plugs out it turns easily with just a pull on the fan belt or pushing also in gear. The starter is the only way to get oil to the top of the motor. Madflyer
 
Before the days of individual coil packs and crank sensors, most motors' oil pumps were driven by the distributor, usually by a flat blade on the distributor shaft fitting into a slot in the oil pump.

To pre-oil a motor before initial firing we'd remove the distributor (being very careful to mark the location of the body and rotor for re-fitting), chuck a long screwdriver shaft into an electric drill and spin the pump for a while.

In the case of a motor that hasn't run for a long time it's a good idea to first pull the plugs, squirt a little oil into the cylinders, crank the motor by hand to be sure it isn't seized and set the crank/cam/rotor position somewhere that makes your life easier.
 
Great info here from the respondents - I intend to put the car into service and hope that any problems it may have are not critical to getting a few good/fun miles on it. The snow is nearly all disappeared here in PEI and once the land is dried out in a few weeks I will put some MMO in the cylinders, get the engine moving over and wake it up. I will post some pics including the parts car as I go.... I like this forum !
 
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