Lockleaf Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 I bought a 1985 720 with the Z24 a little while ago. When I purchased it, it had no transmission. I was told the motor ran great when it was parked and the truck was parked for less than a year. I got everything totally put together, transmission put in, diff installed, driveshafts, etc. Everything good to go. I went to start it and only got one solid thunk from the starter. Starter is seated well and motor to trans is also seated. I started wondering if the problem might be my motor, so I decided to try to manual crank the motor via the crank pulley bolt. I could move the motor a maximum of 25 degrees or so before it bound up completely and even with a 4 foot bar on my wrench, I'm just tightening the bolt. I tried backing it up and could only go backward about the same 25 degrees before it bound up again. I pulled the spark plugs to see if it was a compression issue, but that changed nothing. i sprayed some lubricant into the cylinders thinking maybe it had sat for a lot longer than i was told and had rust siezed or something. I put the plugs back in, but try as I might the motor still refused to turn. I decided to get ugly with it. I had my wife get in the front seat and a friend of mine and i started pushing. Three times I had her pop the clutch out and three times the rear tires locked up. The truck moved just fine with the clutch in and locked up solid when she popped it. After that I looked at the motor again. I could tell by the position of the writing on the belts that the motor had turned more than i had ever been able to make it turn so far. I put my wrench on it but could not turn it farther forward, so I tried backing it up. It backed up mayber 90 degrees and then locked up again. I tried the starter from there and it lugged and tried to start then bound up again. I backed it off and this time it started bouncing like I was fighting compression. i had my friend push in the clutch and the motor spun free. At this point we started trying to fire it up. It turned over just fine. Slowly we were getting closer to getting it to fire. It was catching but not quite firing. We had the motor spinning and turning over just fine for over 10 minutes. then right in the middle of cranking it over, we got a solid thunk and it stopped. I jumped out and looked at the writing on the belt and it was in the identical position it had been when this all started. Now the motor is bound up again in that same place as it began. There were no strange noises, no grinding, no evidence of metal in my oil. I will probably try pushing the truck to break it loose again but as of yet have not done so. So in short, it was bound up, then broke free and spun great, then bound up in the exact same place as before. Any thoughts on what could cause this? I can conceive of nothing that makes sense to let it free then bind it up again. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment
izzo Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 Double post not needed dood Quote Link to comment
elmerfudpucker Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 Drop the oil pan and look, if nothing pull the valve cover and check that a valve is out of wack. My Z22 had half a piston skirt in the oil pan when I got it and it still ran. :blink: Quote Link to comment
datto510 Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 The timing could be way off. Could be a valve hitting a piston top? Quote Link to comment
hang_510 Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 i had my friend push in the clutch and the motor spun free. trans was in gear? :rolleyes: that would keep in from turning. timing needs to be addressed now... Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 I bought a 1985 720 with the Z24 a little while ago. When I purchased it, it had no transmission. I was told the motor ran great when it was parked and the truck was parked for less than a year. I've heard this before. "it ran great when parked'. A motor parked for a year won't seize up if the air filter and or the hood is left on to keep the weather off of it. Most likely thing is the head gasket was blown and it wasn't running well and was parked. Coolant dripped into one or two cylinders and rusted the rings and cylinder walls. The tranny was likely stripped out and sold because of this. Truck could have sat for five years. Let me guess...when you checked the rad it was empty right? Probably a leak that was ignored and driven until the heat warped the head and blew the gasket. A good motor can sit for a year with coolant in it. Best thing would be to pull the head off and take a look. If the cylinders are all rusty scrap it and find another motor. Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted February 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 Thanks for the replies. sorry about the double post. None of the replies explain why it would spin free and be just fine making no strange noises while cranking and then lock up again. Any thoughts on that? Quote Link to comment
Sealik Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Thanks for the replies. sorry about the double post. None of the replies explain why it would spin free and be just fine making no strange noises while cranking and then lock up again. Any thoughts on that? Valves were stuck intially...? Then 'broke' loose...literally... :) ...? Pull the cover and see if all the valves are opening and closing. Most likely have to pull head as Mike suggested. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Well the writing on the belt does not turn one for one with the engine. Likely it turns 5-6 times for one turn of the belt so it's probably a random coincidence. Take the valve cover off and look down the front by the timing chain with a flash light. Any loose metal objects down there you can see? Chain look un-damaged? What about the cam and valves on the head? Anything broken or loose or not look right? That's about all you can do from the outside. Was the rad full of coolant when you got it??? Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted February 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Radiator was empty when I got the truck. I can not find anything in the timing set up that would be binding it up and the valvetrain looks completely fine. I will drop the pan to see what can be seen down there but after that I guess its time to rip out motor. thanks guys Quote Link to comment
motavated Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Pics of what you find!!!! Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted February 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 lol, will do. Quote Link to comment
Zombro Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 lol, will do. I will say on my mom's old focus, its generation was prone to cracked flexplates. you could turn it by hand but as soon as there was tension on the outer ring it would flex and stop its self. Make sure the flexplate/flywheel is good. Not sure if this is what is happening, but food for thought. Also I always wanted a yellow 03 MP5. One of the best looking wagons ever. Quote Link to comment
jesusno2 Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Sounds like another z24 goes to the grave Quote Link to comment
mike Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Im guessing connection rod or timing chain tensioner is gone/popped out of place. When you rotated it backwards it probably moved whatever was binding it up out of the way. If you find its totally screwed when you take it apart you should put it back together and toss it in the guys front yard you got it from and put a sign that says "Free Engine... Ran Great" and let him deal with disposing of it. Quote Link to comment
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