Engine stuck

[tercle]

Wagon has been sitting a few months, but engine was running fine when it was parked.
The engine is/was very good. It was just the 5speed transmission had lost two gears.

I put a distributor on it, charged the battery and tried to start it and it sounded funny.
I thought maybe I had the distributor 180 off, so I pulled the valve cover and put a wrench on the crankshaft bolt and turned it manually.
It turned a little bit and then just got stuck and I couldn't turn it any more. Tried to back it up, and the nut came loose. It wasn't torqued properly.

But why is the engine stuck?
I pulled the spark plugs and they are all intact.

[Petros]

could any liquid be in the cylinders? did you try turning it with the spark plugs out? sometimes if the cylinder had even a little moisture the rings can rust in place, put AFT or LPS or PB Blaster down the sprak plug holes and let it sit over night, and than try turning. Make sure the trans is in neural and not in park (if automatic), or not in gear if a manual.

[tercle]

It is in neutral.
It turned OK with the plugs in it until it got stuck.
It was already stuck before I pulled the plugs.
I have the sickening feeling something that doesn't belong there is in a combustion chamber.
Unless it's in the timing belt area.
I haven't had the head off this one yet.

[Petros]

something in the combustion chamber can happen, but is pretty rare. If so it does not seem likely to be from sitting for a few months, I have had cars site for over a year sometimes, and only had to put in a new battery, and put fresh fuel down the carb to get it to start.

You can inspect the inside of the combustion chamber with a powerful flash light through the spark plug hole. with each piston about 3/4" down from TDC you can see almost the whole piston top (the part you can not see can be seen with the piston near TDC). You can even take a narrow plastic scraper and scrap off the top of the piston through the spark plug hole with solvent like Gumout. blow it out with compressed air.

I have seen the timing belt get stuck to the cog and than wrap itself round the cog until it pulls tight and will not allow it to rotate, though this too is rare. You can check the timing belt by pulling off the upper timing cover.

there is another possibility not related to the car sitting. sometimes a pie shaped part of an exhaust valve breaks off into the combustion chamber and than gets caught in the squish area. If this is the case, even if you get the broken segment out there will be little or no compression on that cylinder, so the head has to come off to replace the valve (I highly recommend replacing all of them if that is the case, after one fails the other are not far behind, install new ones, and new seals). Usually if a part of the exhaust valve breaks off it gets blown down the exhaust manifold, but I have seen them get embedded into the piston tops, and in one case it was driven up through the head into the water jacket, making the head scrap metal.

[marlinh]

Did you pull the alternator belt and or power steering belt off to confirm one of those pulleys isn't ceased? Is the transmission disengaging from the engine? You can roll the car in neutral. Another rare possibility is the starter pinion is jammed in the ring gear. Highly unlikely but an easy check.

[tercle]

Yes. I pulled the alternator belt.
The car is parked uphill, so I put it in 3rd, let out the clutch, un-curbed the flat tire and kicked and pushed until the car moved a little bit.
Then I went back and checked the camshaft, and it did back up 5-10 degrees.
That's all for now.
I will get a strong flashlight and better glasses.
I won't be able to look in each cylinder with the piston 3/4 down, though, because I can't rotate the engine that much.

I did have the carb off for a while, but knowing me, I think I would have freaked out and remembered if I dropped something in the intake manifold.
There was a rag over it.

And the valves don't open enough to pass a carburetor nut.
I think.

I need to look at the rocker arm assy really hard and figure out which pistons are approaching the top.
I was also thinking of removing the timing belt and seeing if the camshaft and valves move normally independent of the motor.

[tercle]

could any liquid be in the cylinders? did you try turning it with the spark plugs out? sometimes if the cylinder had even a little moisture the rings can rust in place, put AFT or LPS or PB Blaster down the sprak plug holes and let it sit over night, and than try turning. Make sure the trans is in neural and not in park (if automatic), or not in gear if a manual.

I sprayed WD40 in each spark plug hole and didn't notice anything at first.
Later, I got past the mark where it got stuck before.
Added a little more penetrating oil and turned the engine a few more revolutions.
It got smoother each time.

It is really incredible to me that it was just a line of rust, because it felt like a solid chuck of metal jamming something.
I put the spark plugs back in, set the valves, put the distributor back on, lubricated the rocker arm assy and camshaft and all that stuff and started it up and ran it for a few minutes.

Thanks, Petros.

[MR2Di4]

I would really start checking out how so much moisture got in. You may be suffering a slow head gasket failure. My only reasoning is that I live in a really wet climate* but it takes years of sitting outside for most motors I've seen to get to where they can't be turned over. My T4WD sat for three years before I rescued it and yet it turned over without a problem.

(* Yes, wetter than Seattle. I went to college there and my classmates looked at me funny when I commented on all the nice weather.)

MR2Di4

[rer233]

+1- picked up an '87 4wd dx saturday that had been sitting in a driveway for 9 years- engine turned right over! took about 2 hours to get running. Good luck!

[tercle]

I thought 5 months was pretty quick for this to happen.
Strange, but the way it loosened up from penetrating oil indicates that's what it was.
This was the best 3A engine I've owned.
I wish I had the equipment and space to swap it into my 85.
But it looks like it is going to be towed soon, one way or the other.

[tercle]

something in the combustion chamber can happen, but is pretty rare. If so it does not seem likely to be from sitting for a few months, I have had cars site for over a year sometimes, and only had to put in a new battery, and put fresh fuel down the carb to get it to start.

I had no carb on it for a couple months.
During this time, I worked in the engine compartment in the rain and drizzle 10-15 times (because if it rains in Seattle, it rains on the weekends).
Could enough water have entered the open intake manifold during these times to explain the rust in the cylinders?

[Petros]

Could enough water have entered the open intake manifold during these times to explain the rust in the cylinders?

Yes! it does not take much. for future reference put lots of moisture displacing oil down the cylinders if there is any risk of moisture. It will displace the moisture and prevent rust. this is lube spray like LPS, CRC, Corrosion-X. I would not use WD-40 for this function, it must be specific for moisture displacement, they cost more than WD-40 but well worth saving the bore and future trouble.