I could cry. Cruiser seized.

[gen2600]

I've owned this truck for 23 years, it's ran me back and forth from Portland, Oregon to Homer, Alaska about 12 times, been my adventure rig on crawls all over Oregon and Alaska and even gone out to the bus (before it was moved) from "Into the Wild" long long ago. I've rescued countless people and vehicles from the caribou hills (I'm Fire/Rescue/EMS) outside of Homer where there are no roads and skidded logs for me every winter. Admittedly I've done less and less maintenance on it over the years as I've had to "pull out ye ol' cruiser" less and less. And it caught up to me on Sunday.

I had the cruiser up on a bit of a hill as I was down below, choking logs and then skidding them up with the winch. The cruiser was purrin' along as it always does and I was working on literally the last log... ...and all of a sudden the truck idles down and stops. Wtf, it never does that. It always runs perfectly. Did I run out of gas? I crawl up the hill, truck still has a little gas, I turn the key, hear the starter try but I get the "nothing budges" sound. Sinking feeling in my gut. I pop the hood, pull the dip stick, there is the slightest bulb of oil (read water tension like) on the end of the dipstick. Try again. Same. I know I killed my beloved my truck. I towed it out of the woods and have it sitting in front of my house now. I damn near cried, just had to walk away for a bit.

I haven't gone out yet and put a breaker bar on it to see if it'll turn. I suppose I will tonight.

Anyone know where to get a short block in Alaska?

 

[Spike Strip]

@Mark W ?

 

[Mark W]

@Mark W ?

I probably have a rebuildable core or two around here. I think I have an engine with a blown head gasket that was running (with the head gasket issue) but has been sitting for years. Condition unknown other than that. Lots of junk and scrap in the yard. Nothing good I can lay hands on quickly. I am sure I could build a shortblock for you. But I have three engines, an Orion a couple of head gaskets and a couple of diffs in the Que already.

Mark...

 

[OSS]

I don’t have any experience with seized engines, but if a 2F was left idling without oil, yeah it would eventually seize up…. But that doesn’t mean the engine is ruined. It might be ok once you get it turned over again (with a wrench) and all oiled up.
Definitely would try that.

If it’s any consolation, pretty much every 2F on the road today is due for an engine rebuild anyway, so your mishap only sped up the timeline a little.

 

[gen2600]

I probably have a rebuildable core or two around here. I think I have an engine with a blown head gasket that was running (with the head gasket issue) but has been sitting for years. Condition unknown other than that. Lots of junk and scrap in the yard. Nothing good I can lay hands on quickly. I am sure I could build a shortblock for you. But I have three engines, an Orion a couple of head gaskets and a couple of diffs in the cue already.

Mark...

PM'ing now.

 

[gen2600]

I don’t have any experience with seized engines, but if a 2F was left idling without oil, yeah it would eventually seize up…. But that doesn’t mean the engine is ruined. It might be ok once you get it turned over again (with a wrench) and all oiled up.
Definitely would try that.

If it’s any consolation, pretty much every 2F on the road today is due for an engine rebuild anyway, so your mishap only sped up the timeline a little.

Honestly, I'd feel like that was a miracle at this point. A backwoods buddy of mine suggests putting some PB blaster down ontop of each piston and letting it sit before cranking it. I'd never heard of that one.

 

[CruiserTrash]

Honestly, I'd feel like that was a miracle at this point. A backwoods buddy of mine suggests putting some PB blaster down ontop of each piston and letting it sit before cranking it. I'd never heard of that one.

I wasn't aware of that either until somebody told me about it a few years back. Marvel Mystery Oil is what I was told. I just did that to my new (to me) non-running 40 this weekend. Pull spark plugs, get a couple ounces of oil down in there, let it sit for a couple days or weeks, then turn it over by hand. Might be saveable...

 

[Spook50]

I wasn't aware of that either until somebody told me about it a few years back. Marvel Mystery Oil is what I was told. I just did that to my new (to me) non-running 40 this weekend. Pull spark plugs, get a couple ounces of oil down in there, let it sit for a couple days or weeks, then turn it over by hand. Might be saveable...

It worked for you?

What would concern me is a damaged piston ring, or a gouge in a cylinder wall caused by one. Though if you have access to a boroscope it would be easy to see if there's any cylinder wall damage.

 

[CruiserTrash]

It worked for you?

What would concern me is a damaged piston ring, or a gouge in a cylinder wall caused by one. Though if you have access to a boroscope it would be easy to see if there's any cylinder wall damage.

I don't know if it's worked yet! My 40s motor spins by hand, but I wanted to add some lubrication since it probably hasn't seen any oil for a couple decades. I've been told it's because the rings can score the cylinder walls on the first few rotations until there's oil slinging around. I do also have a borescope - which is partly to blame for rebuilding a spare 2F for my 60 haha.

 

[cruiserpilot]

I've owned this truck for 23 years, it's ran me back and forth from Portland, Oregon to Homer, Alaska about 12 times, been my adventure rig on crawls all over Oregon and Alaska and even gone out to the bus (before it was moved) from "Into the Wild" long long ago. I've rescued countless people and vehicles from the caribou hills (I'm Fire/Rescue/EMS) outside of Homer where there are no roads and skidded logs for me every winter. Admittedly I've done less and less maintenance on it over the years as I've had to "pull out ye ol' cruiser" less and less. And it caught up to me on Sunday.

I had the cruiser up on a bit of a hill as I was down below, choking logs and then skidding them up with the winch. The cruiser was purrin' along as it always does and I was working on literally the last log... ...and all of a sudden the truck idles down and stops. Wtf, it never does that. It always runs perfectly. Did I run out of gas? I crawl up the hill, truck still has a little gas, I turn the key, hear the starter try but I get the "nothing budges" sound. Sinking feeling in my gut. I pop the hood, pull the dip stick, there is the slightest bulb of oil (read water tension like) on the end of the dipstick. Try again. Same. I know I killed my beloved my truck. I towed it out of the woods and have it sitting in front of my house now. I damn near cried, just had to walk away for a bit.

I haven't gone out yet and put a breaker bar on it to see if it'll turn. I suppose I will tonight.

Anyone know where to get a short block in Alaska?

By the picture alone, that's a Cruiser Livin' the Life!! Good luck, I'm sure you'll get it running soon.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

I'm not in Alaska way to far to ship

 

[Pighead]

First, my condolences. Marvel Mystery Oil is the traditional stuff to pour down the sparkplug holes and let it sit, but usually for an engine that has sat in a field for 20 years. Not sure about for a freshly seized block but it probably won't hurt. My gut says, and hopes, it's just a connecting rod bearing. Pretty easy to replace without pulling the engine. Since the engine was just idling when it stopped, one would think that the damage would be less than if you were driving at speed.
I might try putting some oil in the crankcase and use the screwdriver in the electric drill to turn the oilpump trick and see if you can get some oil pressure and push some oil into your bearing surfaces before you try turning it over by hand.
Good luck.

 

[roadstr6]

Pull the pan and check your rod bearings. I'd wager one of them spun. A friend of mine ran his 40 low on oil and spun the #4 rod bearing and seized the engine. He cleaned up the #4 journal, replaced that bearing and the truck lives on like it never happened. It's worth a try.

 

[Mark W]

The "seizure" is almost certainly rod bearings. No amount of mystery oil, or hope or prayer poured into the cylinders is gonna affect the bearings.

For a low speed bearing failure like this, it is *possible* that simply replacing the bearings will solve the problem. Not the highest probability, but worth checking before letting dispair set in.

Mark...

 

[CardinalFJ60]

Pure wisdom

 

[gen2600]

Good stuff, I had no idea - I'll look into that. Thanks all for the help.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Good luck

 

[tmxmotorsports]

We are rooting for ya man sucks

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

Get the fan shroud off remove the Spark Plugs get a 46mm socket with a breaker bar on the crank nut see if you can get it to turn over.
Listen and feel very carefully. If you can roll it over and there's no terrible noise or much resistance yo may have dodged a bullet. Drop the oil pan and get a visual on everything on the bottom end. If there's no chunks or milkshake looking oil you might be Ok.

 

[John McVicker]

@gen2600 interested in what your outcome was.