I have a '55 Monterey with a stock 292. Two years ago I put it into storage to pursue another project. When I last drove it two years ago it ran perfect. Today, I found the engine to be locked up. I pulled all plugs and the front left 3 and the front right 4 plugs were very rusty. The other plugs were absolutely normal. After soaking the cylinders with WD 40 and Marvel Mystery Oil, I got the engine to turn over with the use of a socket and bar on the crank pulley bolt.

Also, the front cross member on the left side and all under the engine was wet with antifreeze and for the life of me I can't see where it came from. Absolutely not from the radiator or lower hose.

Here comes the questions.

1. Any ideas where the leak may be?

2. How could the leak cause rusty pistons and cylinders?

3. Although the engine now turns over fine by hand, has internal damage been done?



Because sometime in the last 2 years I lost all the antifreeze, is there a chance the block is now cracked. (I live high in the mountains of AZ and the last two winters have had days below zero).

Any assistance you fellers and gals can give me would certainly be appreciated.

My wife said she would divorce me if I bought another car. It scared me so bad I only bought 3 last month!

If you didn't have any water in it lack of antifreeze shouldn't cause it to crack. Sounds like you lost a freeze plug on one side of the block. Shouldn't be a big deal. What do you have planned for the engine? Do you hope to run it as is or go through it first? Makes a difference in where you go from here. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

The freeze plug was my first thought also, but how could that cause moisture in the cylinders?

I would like to just run it the way it is and not go through the engine if possible.

My wife said she would divorce me if I bought another car. It scared me so bad I only bought 3 last month!

Before just trying to start it and see what happens, do a compression check and if acceptable, fill it up with water and see where it runs out.  Fixing the leak may be simple or complicated, but needs to be done.  Once running, do another compression check in a couple of weeks and compare.  You can always tear it down and rebuild it, but it may be OK.

Good luck    J

Check the dipstick to see if it has water droplets on it or moisture. Or if the oil is milky=water in oil. not good.

Sounds to me like it may have got to cold and a head gasket went bad or worse you have a crack somewhere, block or head-leaked into a cylinder(s) I wouldn't run it if you find water in the oil.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

Ditto on what Joe and Al say.  They have just about nailed down what to do as a starting point.  The leak can potentially be at the water pump so just look at the weep hole on the underside of the pump and see if you can see a trail where coolant has leaked from there.  As far as moisture in the cylinders, there’s a strong chance it’s a result of condensation if the Merc was stored in a non-heated garage.  As long as the antifreeze was well mixed in the engine and simply leaked out, then no freeze cracking is expected to take place.

 

And there’s a chance that you’ll bend or pop some pushrods out of place when you do the compression check as the same moisture can attack the valve guides.  This will require pulling the valve covers and rocker arm assemblies and then liberally lubing the guides while tapping the valves with a brass hammer.  That’s the cheap fix.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I already checked the dipstick and the oil is clear with no indication of water there. I will do a compression check next. I can understand one head gasket leaking but the chances of 2 are a little remote. Anywho, I had no intentions of starting it until I was certain the engine was spinning with no resistance.

My wife said she would divorce me if I bought another car. It scared me so bad I only bought 3 last month!

Along with all the good advice you have received on your initial concerns, you should probably prime the engine oil system before start up. Consider removing the valve covers, pulling the distributor and, using a drill with a 1/4" extended socket, turn the oil pump counter clockwise until you see good oil flow at the heads. It is an easy process and may prevent or indicate a problem. You'll probably have to use a socket extension to reach the oil pump so be sure to wrap some duct tape around the socket/extension joint. You don't want the socket to pull off the extension when you extract it.

Mark, Alaska

55 57 Thunderbirds

Let me tell you where I'm at with this. I filled the radiator with water and looked for a leak. I found one underneath the water pump but not the weep hole. The gasket was split at the bottom of the pump. Ok, that takes care of the leaking problem. I ordered a new one 'cause the vanes in the pump I removed were very badly rusted.

As for the rusty cylinders, I can only assume the cause was condensation caused by an extended storage. I pressurized the radiator and there was no pressure loss. I also pressurized the cylinders and there were no bubbles in the radiator.

Is it fair to now assume that my two problems were in no way related?

My wife said she would divorce me if I bought another car. It scared me so bad I only bought 3 last month!

I put a 429 in a '67 Ford F-250 one time. When I got the motor from the junk yard a couple of cylinders had water in them. The first thing I did was let the water out. Bad mistake. As soon as the air hit it the rings rusted to the cylinder walls and froze up. I had it all under a tree with a come-a-long hooked to a big branch and the other end hooked to a breaker bar on the crank bolt. I sprayed a bunch of CRC in the cylinders and then pulled it almost off of the ground with the contraption. Sometime during the night it broke loose and was fine the next day. I got it all done, new plugs etc, cranked it up and it ran fine for many years after that ..

Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria

E.J. in Havana FL