Two-stroke Reversibility
For the purpose of this discussion, it is convenient to think in motorcycle terms, where the exhaust pipe faces into the cooling air stream, and the crankshaft commonly spins in the same axis and direction as do the wheels i.e. "forward". Some of the considerations discussed here apply to four-stroke engines (which cannot reverse their direction of rotation without considerable modification), almost all of which spin forward, too.
Regular gasoline two-stroke engines will run backwards for short periods and under light load with little problem, and this has been used to provide a reversing facility in microcars, such as the Messerschmitt KR200, that lacked reverse gearing. Where the vehicle has electric starting, the motor will be turned off and restarted backwards by turning the key in the opposite direction. Two-stroke golf carts have used a similar kind of system. Traditional flywheel magnetos (using contact-breaker points, but no external coil) worked equally well in reverse because the cam controlling the points is symmetrical, breaking contact before TDC equally well whether running forwards or backwards. Reed-valve engines will run backwards just as well as piston-controlled porting, though rotary valve engines have asymmetrical inlet timing and will not run very well.
There are serious disadvantages to running any engine backwards under load for any length of time, and some of these reasons are general, applying equally to both two-stroke and four-stroke engines. Some of this disadvantage is intrinsic, unavoidable even in the case of a complete re-design. The problem comes about because in "forwards" running the major thrust face of the piston is on the back face of the cylinder which, in a two-stroke particularly, is the coolest and best lubricated part. The forward face of the piston is less well-suited to be the major thrust face since it covers and uncovers the exhaust port in the cylinder, the hottest part of the engine, where piston lubrication is at its most marginal. The front face of the piston is also more vulnerable since the exhaust port, the largest in the engine, is in the front wall of the cylinder. Piston skirts and rings risk being extruded into this port, so it is always better to have them pressing hardest on the back wall (where there are only the transfer ports) and there is good support. In some engines, the small end is offset to reduce thrust in the intended rotational direction and the forward face of the piston has been made thinner and lighter to compensate - but when running backwards, this weaker forward face suffers increased mechanical stress it was not designed to resist.
Large two-stroke ship diesels are sometimes made to be reversible. Like four-stroke ship engines (some of which are also reversible) they use mechanically-operated valves, so require additional camshaft mechanisms.
On top of other considerations, the oil-pump of a modern two-stroke may not work in reverse, in which case the engine will suffer oil starvation within a short time. Running a motorcycle engine backwards is relatively easy to initiate, and in rare cases, can be triggered by a back-fire. It is not advisable.
Model airplane engines with reed-valves can be mounted in either tractor or pusher configuration without needing to change the propeller. These motors are compression ignition, so there are no ignition timing issues and little difference between running forward and running backward.
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