What to do when engines were upside down?

[bx24]

I was looking to build a quick and dirty dump trailer to move a couple of hundred yards of dirt around my property.

I came across a 4-cylinder Ford Ranger with a salvage title for $500. The bed and rear end is trashed, but I figure for $500 bucks, I could make a light duty dump truck good enough to run around 4 acres. Besides the physical damage, it did roll upside down during the accident.

What should be done to the engine after it was upside down (2.3L 4 cylinder w/manual trans)?

 

[tessiers]

I have rolled my tractor and I just rolled it back on the wheels, let it set for a couple of hours to let the fluid drain down, checked the oil and hydraulic fluid and fired it back up. It was only upside down for an hour or so. I had no problems. Good luck.

 

[wushaw]

Since this is a new to you wrecked truck, I would atleast pull the plugs and spin her over just to make sure there is no oil in the cylinders.
Other than that check, drain, change the rest of the fluids as needed....then enjoy building your mini dump truck, I would get LT rated tires if it doesn't aready have them since the P rated tires won't carry as much.

 

[bx24]

Back in my high school days, we used to pour tranny fluid in the carb just to get the billowing white smoke out of the exhaust (if you have an older vehicle, go ahead and try it, you will not stop chuckling for several minutes ... we did it inside an auto center with 26 bays and my boss told me that as soon as he found me (I was ten feet away from him), he was going to have my a-- for pulling this stunt)

Anyways, I was thinking the same thing for this truck, assuming there was some residual oil in the cylinders, hopefully a new set of plugs would take care of things.

Because I don't intend to make this truck roadworthy any more, what do you guys think of beefing up the rear springs (so it will carry more)? Each round trip to dump things is only going to be a couple of hundred feet each way.

 

[ctjstr]

Should be no problem, as long as you keep in mind that the weakest link always breaks first, so if you've got great big springs, it will be something else that goes pop if you put a strain on it. Having said that, I've always been one who believes in 'more power til it breaks', or alternatively, 'fix it til its broke'.
have fun

 

[schmism]

you should change oil, and pull plugs and turn over by hand. dont want it hyrdolocked.

after that (asumeing it wasnt previously tried to start and hydrolocked and bent a rod or something) your good to go

 

[Renze]

I've worked on Honda powered railway wrenches, which are used to screw rails to the crossbeams.
These machines were usually thrown upside down into the tool container by the working crews.

the Honda engines tend to allow oil above the piston when rolled sideways. What we did is take the spark plug out, aim the air gun into the hole and blow lots of air into it, while pulling the starter cord to turn the engine.
Because of the air, the oil gets airborne so the piston throws the oil right out of the cylinder..

 

[bx24]

Thanks guys

 

[cp1969]

Back in my high school days, we used to pour tranny fluid in the carb just to get the billowing white smoke out of the exhaust (if you have an older vehicle, go ahead and try it, you will not stop chuckling for several minutes ... we did it inside an auto center with 26 bays and my boss told me that as soon as he found me (I was ten feet away from him), he was going to have my a-- for pulling this stunt)

We did that, too. In fact, we even re-routed the windshield washer hoses on an old '55 Pontiac so that they squirted down the throat of the carb and filled the bag with ATF. Smoke, on-demand, and plenty of it at the stroke of the washer pedal. FWIW, kerosene will do the same thing but produces a much more pungent odor. Water makes a colossal steam cloud.

It was a true mobile smoke-screen producer if there ever was one. With that mod and 3 feet of bicycle inner tube clamped over the tailpipe (you gotta hear that sound...), it was the hit of the Labor Day Parade.

Well, no, it wasn't. I would kill one of my kids if they did something that stupid.

 

[D7E]

I have never tipped a gas engine but we had this question about a diesel tractor a while ago and it depends how they run after .If they bluesmoke or knock they're probably short-lived ,It depends how long they ran with no oil in the crankcase ,If it was stopped immediatley you could be ok ,Just try turning it by hand first in case it's hydro locked ,You dont want a rod through the block .