I've never heard of a rotary locking up, but here's the deal. Just got an 88 vert in the shop. No Start. Looked underneath, and the driveshaft is disconnected, and the shifter linkage housing is broken off of the tranny housing. So, pulled the tranny, and lo and behold. Tried to turn the engine over from main front pulley. No go. Seems like the car was moving when the motor locked, and "BAM" weakest point (u-joint at tranny) breaks. Any ideas what i'll find inside the motor?

 

I'm guessing you'll see an apex seal that wasn't going back into it's place and tore into the housing when it was supposed to fall into the spring. Sure it wasn't an oiling issue?

 

I have no idea yet. Havent started checking in the motor yet. Had good oil as far as I know. I thought the tranny was locked up. Any other ideas?

 

bump

 

I would go with Josepi, i dont understand any other reasons. If the Eccentric shaft doesn't spin after you've pulled on the pulley, I think it would be the apex seal.

Hope this doesn't cause u to much grief

 

IF you put a 19mm on the front pulley and turn clockwise and it wont budge it is locked. You can try to turn CCW but its probably junk by now.

THe apex seals are pertty small thin pieces of metal. OVer time they wear down to less than half their original height, and simply break crumble or fall out of their groove. WHen they come out in big chunks, at running speed, those chunks get lodged between the rotor and housing and tear **** up. Half that engine is junk.

 

How long was the car not running for. I know when I let my 88 GXL sit for like 6 mo, the carbon build up alone was enough to keep it from spinning. Try spraying some carb cleaner in the sparkplug holes, the kind with toulene. Let it sit for a few hours and try to spin it again. Worth a shot.