ok, so i got out of school and went to crank up my 81 gsl and it turned over one time and then before it would crank it sounded like something broke somewhere and now it won't crank it just clicks. we checked the starter and its not the problem, but we cant get it to turn over at all. any suggestions?

 

charge the battery, try that and tell me if that helps. that happend to me and we charged the battery over night and it turned over. it might or might not be it, just a thought.

 

we did, and the battery charger says fully charged, but ill give it a try, im open to pretty much anything atm

 

Did you try to turn the engine over via the e-shaft pulley with a ratchet and socket?

 

sorry to all yall, but im not very knowlegdable about cars, ill try that though, thanks

 

but i do believe we tried to use a crow bar and turn the flywheel, and it wouldnt budge

 

Rotate the engine backwards, using the e-shaft bolt, slowly, gently. If you can rotate 1 revolution, the try forward, for 3. Don't force it. If it feels like you run into something solid, tow it home.

When you get it home, pull the exhaust mani/header off and look inside. Pull the plugs and have someone rotate the engine, check the seals as they come by, watch for parts coming out,(apex seals), and look to see if the housings are scored.

I would under no cicumstances try to start and definately not run the engine. Since this happened at startup, you may have minimal damage, if you run it, it only gets worse.

 

i have allready towed it home, ill try these things and keep em coming

 

Definitely do what trochoid says... Turn it backwards for a complete couple revolutions.

Something is in there. Best case, it's a chunk of carbon and the damage is minimal. Worst case, it's a broken seal and it's scratched up the inside of the housing.

You do any work near the intake or carb lately. An errant fastener could have found its way into the manifold.

 

not to be a noob, but where is the e-shaft pully. we just rebuilt the carburator about a month ago.

 

Also called the crank pulley or main pulley. The big one that drives everything else...

Just grab a belt and yank, these engines turn over very easily.

Forward is clockwise, if you're looking at the front of the engine.

 

i do believe we tried to do that last night, and it would budge. ill try it again today when i get home though, thanks, what do i do if it does or if it doesnt turn?

 

ohyea.... and if your a dufus like me, check and make sure the trans isnt in gear....lol

good luck and hope for the best...

 

Lol, when I put my car away for the winter, I put it in gear and then tried to turn the engine over to work the fogging oil into the engine. Then I was wondering why the car kept moving forward!

In any case, if your starter is good, and your battery is good, and you can't turn the engine's main pulley, you could be in trouble. The main pulley (the biggest one, on the engine) should be able to be turned by hand with the car off. Might not be as easy with the spark plugs in, but if you've got good hands you can do it. (or you could take the plugs out, that should make it super easy to turn).

If you spin the main pulley and hit something, then there's something *in* your engine. Big problem. Usually that means a rebuild, unless you can coax the foreign bits out the exhaust port. Of course, if the foreign bits are the apex seals that seperate the working chambers, that's still a rebuild.


So go take the spark plugs out, turn that pulley and tell us what happens! More info can only help us figure out what's going on.

Jon

 

What sort of sound was it? please describe to the best of your ability. If the motor turns freely as stated above, and you take the plugs out, and everything looks good. Try turning the engine over with your plugs out. Dont turn the engine over if you see ANYTHING suspicious. If the engine turns over freely now, put the plugs in and see if it will start...

Also take your battery to Autozone, they will load test it for free, thats it walk in set it on the counter and say please load test this battery. Your battery may be holding a charge, but if the battery is bad it wont hold a high enough charge to trigger the starter, thus you will hear a clicking noise. And does it click when you turn the key to the start position?

Also when you heard something brake, did it sound like a high pitched grinding noise when you turned the key forward? Or something similiar to what I described?

Your starter may check out fine, but the brushes may be worn down, If you bench test the starter, which I could explain how to do, you could determane if the problem lies with the starter....

for some reason I am not convinced it is a seal or carbon build up, but if its carbon you could ATF it.... Sorry if this is too much, I would be glad to explain anything I covered in more detail...

 

when i heard the sound it sounded like something fell out and hit the ground. thats about the best i can descirbe it. we test the starter about a week ago cause we had a cable come loose and didnt realize it before we took it off. i have a different battery i might try, but im pretty sure its not the battery. thanks

 

i tried to turn it both ways and it will not budge either way. i did not however take out the spark plugs.

 

Pull the plugs, use a 13/16" socket and 1/2" drive on the e-shaft bolt, (crank pulley for the piston guys). Try CW from the front first, if you have resistance, go CCW. If you hit sometihing again, pull the exhaust manifold and stick a magnet in the exhaust ports, see if you can find anything. Keep turning the engine back and forth to gain access to each rotor face.

If you do have a 68 Falcon, post some pics of it. Old gearheads never die. they just go broke on each new project.

 

If the motor won't budge, then something is very wrong. you should be able to turn it fairly easily by hand using the alternator pulley. if you can't do this, then something is locked up, and pretty good too.

 

Well if it was just running, then I think it could be BBAAAAD (aka broken apex seal). But when they sit for a while, (or sometimes even when they are running) they just seize up from carbon and wont budge. People have used many a product to dissolve carbon. I use Marvel Mystery oil or Seafoam (some say deisel and kerosene, but Ive nere tried it). Good luck buddy.

 

is there an engine rebuild kit i can buy?

 

atkinsrotary.com has some available

 

is there one that doesnt cost 900 bucks, i only paid 50 for the car so im not sure its worth that much.

 

you could probably find a short block on ebay or maybe somebody on here may have one for cheap

 

For anyone who remembers this thread, I gave up on the seized engine, mainly because I went off to college, but I decided to at least find out the problem over Christmas break. I took out the engine, and started the disassembly from the back (clutch/flywheel side) of the engine. The first rotor and housing i came to came off with a breeze, i was amazed how clean it was inside, no scratches or wear or anything. Even after i took that off it still wouldn't budge, and so i couldn't get the next housing(or whatever that thing between the two housings is called) off the eccentric shaft because it still wouldn't rotate. So, we started at the front of the engine, and finally got it out, it was the apex seal, just about crack the housing too. so off to the junk pile it goes, I'm getting an 83 this week, planning on taking the motor out of it and putting it in the one i had. I paid 50 bucks for the last one and got a year out of it, and am paying 75 for this one. Can I sell any of the parts from the old engine?