Thread: S1 wont start

Originally Posted by shamirj

Oil is still sitting in 3rd cyl and i was wondering whether or not i could lightly tap/hammer with a screwdriver or steel tube via the spark plug hole the top of the piston to push it down. Its worth a shot i guess. Will try to post a pic later in the week. cheers

DO NOT USE A STEEL ANYTHING! You are likely to damage the piston and/or the thread of the plug hole. Use something like aluminium or wood. This is unlikely to be successful, as the force you can put on the piston will be less than the connecting rod will with you swinging on the crank. Mind you, both at the same time might help.

One point is that there is no guarantee that the cylinder holding oil is the problem one - the others may not be holding simply because the exhaust valve, which is lower than the plug hole, is at least slightly open. Did you manage to blow any water out of any cylinder?

I think it may be about head off time before you damage something, although just leaving it to soak in penetrating oil or diesel may work after a week or so.

I would think that even if you free it, you would want to pull the head off to check what the problem was anyway, so you might as well do it sooner rather than later - it is not a very big job.

John

When you try to free it by towing, what gear are you using? You should be using fourth gear in high range, front axle engaged. Are you sure that the gearbox has not selected two gears at the one time? Try disengaging the cluth (pedal down) and hand cranking the engine.

Aaron.