irish1968

When I went to start my car car, it started to crank over, then it came to a sudden stop, making a loud "clunk"! I used a socket and bar to try and manually move it clockwise, but it wouldn't move. I tried it in the opposite direction, and it moved freely. Moved it back clockwise and it stopped again, feeling like a metal on metal contact was made. This happened a couple times last summer, but was able to continue cranking it over and starting it. Car seemed to run fine, after I started it, and drove it for days. I parked it for the winter, and now, 4 months later, this happens. Any ideas......timing chain, starter jamming, anything else?

PNYXPRESS

First thing to do is drain the oil and look for metal bits.

Then pull the plugs to relieve compression and try turning it again

jwog666

pull the plugs, u will most likely find coolant or a large ammount of fuel in 1 or more cylinders, if so when u tried to start it , it fired on a few and then tried to compress the liquid in the bad cylinder ,(liquid doesnt compress) and now u have a bent rod that is contacting the cylinder wall. if coolant head gasket, or intake gasket leaking will cause this, ( i would suspect intake gaskets if the front or rear cylinders have the coolant in them). if fuel then that injector is most likely stuck open or leaking and if the ignition was cycled enough times it filled the cylinder with gas.

irish1968

I will try and remove the plugs tomorrow. I have read up on hydro lockup, but I am not sure if it is the problem. I did manage to rotate it in either direction, about 180 degrees before it stops in either direction, looking, and feeling through the oil fill up cap to see if the lifter was moving, and it was, so that eliminates one thought. First thing is to check the cylinders for liquid, as you mentioned, and eliminate that as a symptom, or find it was the problem, and hope I didn't bugger the engine. This cursed ride has already had a engine/trans transplant over a year ago, thanks to a faulty engine block heater, pissing out my antifreeze and overheating the engine before I noticed. Dammit....I would give my left ******** for a shop to use! Thanks for your quick responses, will touch base later.

heslekrants

I think its time to order a 5.0 Coyote crate engine.

jwog666

^^^ yes it is

TfcCDR

You had the fluid leak last summer, but were driving the car enough that you didn't fill the cylinder more than the displacement, so it was pushed out through the exhaust valve when it reached the exhaust stroke.

If you had stopped at that point, the repair probably would have been a head gasket, or possibly even just a bottle of Bar's Leaks.

This time, the cylinder had too much water, and when you hit the compression stroke, you bent the crankshaft. That's why it moves about 180 degrees then has a metal-to-metal lock. The fix now is to replace the crankshaft and bearings, PLUS find and kill the fluid leak.

In other words, you've pretty much historied your engine. Unless you have the facilities and time to rebuild yourself, it would probably be cheaper and smarter to replace it.

The moral of this story is that it's a good idea to fix small problems instead of do post-mortems on big ones. Or, to put it another way, you ignored a fix-it ticket , and now you've got a bench warrant.

jwog666

you didnt bend the crank you bent the rod, either way a new engine or a rebuild, if the block is salvageable, is in order

BlindGUYnAR

Agree with above. If you can't get 360 turns then she's done.

TfcCDR

In my experience, cast crankshafts are easier to bend than piston rods (piston rods are easier to break), but whatever he bent, he really bent.