Hello everyone! Today i just picked up a 73 scamp, 29K original miles, last on the road in 1978. The car has some weird rust going on with it, solid floors and trunk, but rockers/frame rails and some of the quarter panels rusted. The grandson of the original owner said he had it running last year when he inherited it, but this year it would not start so he sold it. anyway, the engine seems seized. I have never had a seized engine but i cannot turn the fan by hand and the car just clicks when you turn the key. My question is, where should i start? Can the starter cause the engine to be stuck? If you bought a car that had really low mileage, and was running last summer, is it possible to unstick the engine without rebuilding it? I have heard people talk about putting marvel oil or coke inside the spark plug holes, does that actually work?

Penetrating oil may unstick rings.

The coke trick is used to get the rings unstuck from the bores. It is moderately agressive, so the phosphoric acid in the coke will disolve the soft cast iron the rings are made of. Don't use the coke trick on an assembled engine, and plan to replace the rings. They aren't going to live long after being stuck like that, and your going to take good surface off them as well as the oxides.

Pull the starter. It probably isn't going to keep the engine from turning over but if it is, removing it will tell that tale. Manual trans or auto?
The valves in a stock slant are about a mile from the pistons, so it's unlikely there is interference unless something broke.

Best bet, remove the spark plugs, dump some penetrating oil into each cylinder. Let it sit for 24 hours with lots in there.
Come back to it and see if you can "Rock" it back and forth. They may free up. If that doesn't do it, plan on tearing it down and going through it. Once it's been stuck, you'll use oil even if you break it loose.

Now, as long as you were given the straight info, you probably don't have a rod out or similar. Check the pan to see if there are any deformations. In or out. A rod can get hung up on a dented pan, but that would be obvious damage to make that much interference with the crank and big ends of the rods.

If it's taken water for some reason, or perhaps the rust was caused by submersion, your going to need to tear down and find out what's going on. If it has been under water, the transmission and rear end will likely need attention too.

Where is the car from? Any flooding in the area?

2¢
CJ

_________________
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

If Coke contained nitric acid, drinking it would result in immediate painful death.

Coke contains phosphoric acid, which does not result in immediate painful death and does not dissolve cast iron.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Your right Dan. It is phosphoric acid.

CJ

_________________
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Same as Naval Jelly rust remover, but thinner and a lot cheaper. Have a Coke and a smileâ„¢!

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

the car was originally from Ohio, the elderly man who owned stopped driving in 1978, and it sat in a garage until 2008. He passed away and one of his daughters was executor and was going to send it to the junkyard. One of the sons who live in Massachusetts paid to have the car transported to him and he has had it here for the past 2 years. He said it ran when it got here but he did not have the time or money to take it any further. This year he went to start it and it would not start, so to craigslist it went. I have all the paperwork to verify the story, it is a 1 owner car, original window sticker, etc. I do not think that the car was ever submerged or flooded, automatic transmission.

You might just have a dead battery. The engine is hard to turn by the fan with the plugs still in.

I actually was thinking that, but my 70 duster is to turn, i was comparing it to that. I used a turkey baster to fill each spark plug hole with marvel mystery, going to let it set until tomorrow night and put a new battery in and see if it will turn and go from there.