12a Motor question After ATF treatment
 

After doing the ATF treatment on this 83 I bought, I pulled it behind the truck to pull start it. Everytime I let the clutch out in 2nd or 3rd the rear end lockked up like I threw the E brake. Does this mean the motor threw a seal and is locked up for good?
When I try to jump start it the starter engages but the motor will not turn over. Also I can not turn it over with a breaker bar either. Maybe I will fill it full in ATF for a week or so then try as a last hope. If not I guess I will pull the motor.


I knew the seller was not straight up with me when he said it had sat for a short time. The gas door was jammed and had a huge wasp nest on the gas cap.

Anyone have any ideas?

Try rolling it backwards. More than likely though, the engine is going to need to be pulled.

Your work van fixed yet? :)

How did you get the ATF in the engine if it doesn't turn? (Did you try turning the engine with the spark plugs removed? Maybe it's hydro-locked from the ATF)

Also, if you try to push start an engine that is merely carbon locked or the seals are rusted to the housings, you're pretty much guaranteed to destroy stuff.... so it's time to pull the engine.

I second this...

It may be hydro-locked by having too much ATF in it, how much did you pour in there? I'd take the sparkplugs out and see if you can turn it. But it's probably junk anyways from tring to roll start it. Also another thing that may be happening is frozen water in the combustion chambers stopping the engine from spinning. Is it below freezing there? I just got a engine that had some water in it that froze and i could only turn it 180 deg, I heated up the garage and let it sit in there for a few hours to let the water melt then it rotaed all the way. After I got it spinning i did a compression test to find 32psi of compression in the housing with the water in it :(. Now it's soaking in aft since noon yesterday, hope it regains compression.

Well, still being a rotary newb, what is ATF (and what does it stand for) and how does it work? How does MMO compare to ATF? :confused:

Sorry, I tried to do a search, but I came up with LOTS of things that didn't answer my question...

Still learning! :)

atf=auto tranny fluid

It's used to break up carbon in to get seals un stuck.

OMG... When I typed that first post, I thought "ATF? auto tranny fluid?" I was right--but I thought "why would someone put tranny fluid in their housing?!"

Now i know :)

There's an ongoing debate regarding ATF vs. MMO. ATF is the more popular "cleaning" option. But there are some who are firm believers in MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil). Personally I use only MMO, but then anyone on the forum can tell us I'm very biased. Use MMO as a search word in this forum and you can read all the past posts....

Best to yuh,
Denny, from the 'ol corncrib....:D

I've found that MMO, besides a great lubricant, is also a great penetrating oil. While playing with the rear brakes on the '85, I couldn't loosen the parking brake cables' retaining nuts. The cables twisted out when I tried to loosen them - this left me with no way of putting them back together. Tried grabbing the cable housing with pliers and turning the nut - no dice. Dripped some MMO on the threads (had no PB Blaster) and wouldn't you know, it freed right up. Incredible.

It also worked well to free up the corroded caliper slides, but I don't think it would work well as a permanent lubricant. Autozone wanted $10 for a little jar of caliper slide lube - OUCH.

Some people think MMO is just ATF thinned out with some kerosene. Whatever it is, it works very well. I de-flooded my '87 engine using MMO and patience. too bad I can't find it in those little 4-oz squirt bottles anymore, good thing I kept one so I can refill from the big bottles!

Well, I really used MMO but have always called it the ATF treatment.
When my GSL-SE got the MMO treatment from sitting with the front jacked up for two weeks I pushed it down the drive and it fired right up,

So for the 83 12A I did the same thing, I removed the plugs shot about a ounce into the lower two holes using a syringe. I had already checked the spark so them I put the plugs back in and put gas in the tank. It was sitting up hill so I used the company van and pulled it up the hill (about 5 - 10 mph) and poped it in 2nd and 3rd with no luck.

As for it being cold. No, this was a few weeks ago and it was still warm.
I am thinking the motor is shot and can swap a motor out of my 85s since it has been in a tornado and is beat up. So should I pull the motor and tranny from the 85 to go into the 83. This way I know the motor and tranny are good.

Sure that is easy i did it all by myself.

dan