Hi all, love these boards...they are a huge help. So here's the deal...1985 GSL-SE sitting in a driveway for a couple years waiting to be rescued. Everything is stock on the car. I struck a deal and after MMO in the plug holes and turning motor by hand I replaced all the essentials before trying to fire. NEW battery, terminal connectors, plugs, wires, cap, button, fuel pump, fuel filter, air filter, oil filter. Changed all of the fluids. Gave the car a few cranks and she came to life, a bit rough but running. Over the next month did some more tuning and cleaning and putting a few miles in to test the suspension and drivetrain. Had a few times where starter would only click and not turn motor over, cleaned connections at the starter and I'm off and running again. Went to emissions and failed co2 and hydrocarbons, tech said it felt like it had a miss...true it was still running a bit rough at idle but seemed to smooth out under throttle. Drove the car home and pulled the plugs for a look and all looked to be ok except for rotor 1 leading that was black and kinda gooey. Cleaned the plugs, put them in and connected wires all in correct order, turned the key and click, click not turning over. Put a new starter in and still the same click with no turn over. Tried to turn by hand and it will not turn at all, completely frozen!! I have read the posts on decarbonizing but am not sure if that is the case or if it is apex seal or what. Why would it freeze now?? Any ideas would be appreciated!

King Ott Racing

 

it won't turn over by hand? As in you put a 19mm socket on the crank pulley and it won't budge? will it turn backwards by hand?

black gooey plug = either an oil seal is leaky or too much MMO in that rotor.

 

this might sound a little crazy, but check the plug and make sure its the right one. then pull all the plugs and see if it will turn over.

 

You may want to remove the new starter, then try again to turn the motor by hand. Maybe if they gave you the wrong starter, there could be some interference involved.

Also, bad battery cables are usually the cause of most "starter" problems. The cables are aluminum, and are prone to internal corrosion. Find some good universal copper type cables for replacement.

 

Usually I can rotate an engine by tugging on the belts.

Sometimes a 'remanufactured' or 'rebuilt' starter is defective. But the most common cause of starter not turning over is corrosion between battery posts and cable clamps. Sometimes it's corrosion or a loose connection for the battery ground wire from the negative post. A simple voltmeter can detect the unusual voltage drop across a corroded or loose connection.

 

Thanks for the replies...I will have to try pulling the starter out and turning engine over. Plugs are out and still not turning. I checked, cleaned and volt tested all wiring related to the starter and all is reading correct voltage as is the battery.

 

Sometimes a rebuilt starter is defective: more often than you'd suspect. Usually they just have a weak bendix and don't engage, but it could be that the pinion gear is bad/wrong and it jammed. Or it could be they gave you an automatic transmission starter which has different teeth.

 

Pulled the starter today and let some MMO squirted in through the plug holes soak in over night. Put the breaker bar on the front shaft bolt and tried to go counter-clockwise if facing the front of the car. This only loosened the nut. Tried to go the other way and snapped the 1/2" to 3/8" adapter between the bar and the socket. Tooth marks on the starter looked to be aligning ok but crazy thing will not turn. How can this be stuck so bad all at once. Seemed to give no real warning.

 

Did you put the starter on a test bench? Parts store can test it for you. Back when I used to work at Chief I have seen doa rebuilds.

Is your vehicle manual transmission? Try an old school push start. I have done it bunches of times in both of my FB's.

 

was your car in neutral?............ i know it seems stupid but something to check lol

 

Sounds like carbon lock or a broken seal that is jammed in a bad place. Don't use that much force trying to turn it again. You'll only make it worse. You should be able to turn the engine with moderate effort at most. As bliffle mentioned with the belts.

Here's some good info
http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/cfaqtext.html#CLOCKED