Flywheel won't spin at all.

[hotwheels_stl]

We happen to be going through a rather warm spell here in the midwest so i thought i would break-in my sons Storm RTR plus for him while he is at his mothers house... but when i go to find BDC and mark it, the flywheel wouldn't budge! Removed glow plug... still nothing! Removed cooling head and sure enough... somehow the engine is about 2/3 thorough a stroke. Now this engine has had no 20% nor ARO in it and i was very careful not to roll the buggy on Xmas to try and avoid this whole mess! But here we are... What is the best way remedy this? Dis/assemble the engine? Add ARO and complete the stroke?

Thanks in advance ~ HW

[digger]

Sounds to me like it is just tight. It will go the other way won't it?

[robmob]

Put a little ARO in then use a hair dryer to heat the crankcase which will make the sleeve expand then try to free it.

[HeartBreak]

My personal favorite method to free it is a chopstick in the glow hole, tapped LIGHTLY with the top of the glow wrench. Make sure it's a wooden chopstick (the kind with a tapered end). It should take about 7-10 taps to knock it out of pinch. However, since you have a pullstart motor, heating it with a hair dryer and then pulling the pullstart might be a smarter method (since it's likely siezed before compression, and not after).

[olds97_lss]

If it has a pull start, remove the engine from the vehicle, remove the pullstart and backplate, squirt some WD40 in the GP hole and inside on the connecting rod where it connects to the crank, heat it up with a hair drier and rotate it backwards via the flywheel (and channel locks wrapped in a towel if necessary). This should get it unstuck, but it may take some force to do so. Put it back together, mount it back on the buggy, heat it as warm as you can with the hair drier, rush outside and try to get it going before it cools.

Avoid tapping on the piston with anything. They can/will crack or puncture, whether you use wood or not. It may not, but I don't have the balls or $ to find out otherwise.

[Plaidfish]

yeah tapping the piston is one of those things that is iffy...I've done it too (on beater engines I didn't care about) but I wouldn't recommend it to a beginner, not that tapping a stick into a hole is hard to do, but you might not realize how hard you are tapping it and dent the piston head.....

[hotwheels_stl]

yeah... i don't plan on doing anything like tapping on the piston. "Um, son... Dad did something really stupid with your christams present!" is a conversation i would rather not have.

olds97... it is a pullstart (sorry i left that out in the 1st place!) & why remove P/S and backplate? and your comments abouts taking it outside asap... you mention that cuz of the cold weather??

[Buggyracer28]

Push against the flywheel (so it spins, along the mesh) with a flat head screwdriver so that it will spin back into neutral. Happens all the time when breaking in.

[evan811]

When my engine starts acting up, I like to use one of these...

[olds97_lss]

The pullstart has a one way in it and won't let you rotate the engine backwards via the flywheel. You can a little bit, but if you go to far, you run the risk of snapping the pullstart cord. It might just be that your mostly fighting the pullstart when you try to spin it backwards. When you take off the pull start, then you can rotate the engine backwards via the flywheel and all you will be fighting will be the piston being stuck. And your less likely to have a snapped pull start cord.

But then again, I'm a horse... you may not be trying to turn the flywheel as hard as I would... I have a tendency to over do things. I never was considered a "gentle" person...

As for the "hurry outside", yeah, I'm talking about the cold. The engine is made of 90% aluminum which disipates heat fast. 120 degrees to about 80 degrees in just a few minutes without constant heat... or get a drop cord for the hair drier

[HeartBreak]

The only real reason I suggested my method (the tapping on the piston) was due to logic. Pulling the piston out of pinch might put a stress on the thinner end of the connecting rod, therefore leading to breaking. I don't use much force; just let the tool 'fall' onto the top of the stick. Then once it's freed, out it comes.

It's just personal preference - I wouldn't do it with something more expensive than a beater engine. A race engine, however..... I would probably unstick that with a wooden dowel and remove the head.

As long as you go slow and easy (and preheat the head of the engine to lessen the pinch), you're safe to use the flywheel method. Just remember, the engines rotate counter-clockwise (so you don't curse and scream trying to go against the one-way bearing). This is looking at the front of the engine.

[XXChAoTiCXX]

Hotwheels,

I trust in the hairdryer method. My .21 8 port wouldn't budge with the glow plug removed when I got it. But I heat it up to +180F degrees and the pullstart worked like butter. I would say it would have been close to impossible to get that thing started without the heat. My starter box wheel just got devoured by the teeth on my flywheel when I tried to use it....

Also, you don't have to go outside, you can do it in the house, just run her out once you get her running. My wife gave me some evil looks, but I didn't have an extension cord....

Good Luck!!!

[hotwheels_stl]

UPDATE Hair dryer, ARO in cylinder and popped right over... Break-in complete! And I just want to say thanks to everyone who helped! You all made this a much more comfortable process. I'm sure I will be hitting you up again for your knowledge... so thanks again and in advance! ~HW