I just swapped in my motor and tried starting it for the first time today. The motor would turn over a couple times and then completely lock up. I pulled the plugs and tried starting it and it'd turn over again. When I put the plugs back in and try to start it again it would do the same thing and turn over a couple of times then lock up again. Anyone know what I should do?

 

when you say "lock up", what exactly do you mean? does it just run out of steam, or does it seem like it hits something internally?

you might want to double check the cam timing.

 

this is just a wild guess.............

I wonder if the PVC valve is bad. There is alot of initial pressure build up until the car starts running.

Just a thought. That might be why when the plugs are out the motor doesnt lock up. I know they tell you to replace all the replaceable things on a swap if its been sitting for a while. Maybe the PVC rusted shut.

 

Heres a kinda bad analogy. Say you're riding a bike and all of a sudden someone jabs a stick through your wheels so you come to a sudden stop. It pretty much seems like that.

when I try to manually turn the crank, it's kinda stiff and only turns about 2 rotations before it 'locks up' and won't turn no more.

I've replaced the distributor which a buddy told me could potentially throw off the timing, but would it cause something like this?

 

Who'd you get your motor from?

Check your distributor firing order, that could be an issue but not to prevent starting.

Check your wiring.

Worry about your engine.

 

Wow. That sounds really bad. Sounds like something internal. Mechanical for sure. It has nothing to do with timing. Bad bearings? Really weird. Did you build the engine recently?

 

Your distributor should not cause this lock up you are talking about.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by whiteknightef &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I wonder if the PVC valve is bad. There is alot of initial pressure build up until the car starts running.

Just a thought. That might be why when the plugs are out the motor doesnt lock up. I know they tell you to replace all the replaceable things on a swap if its been sitting for a while. Maybe the PVC rusted shut.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That actually sounds plausible. You might want to give it a shot. Or just try removing it and see what happens.

Is it an engine from an importer or did it come out of a known running vehicle?

 

is ur battery dead or mostly shot starter? not having all the juice will do this, and then without the plugs u dont have to overcome the compression. try a good charge and maybe a different known good battery out of another vehicle. is it cold where your at with high viscocity oil? lots of litle cheap things to check. i wouldnt worry too hard yet

 

the motor was out of a buddies car which was running fine before he took it out. I'm using the same tranny and starter that was on the old motor, and those were also good before I swapped them over. The motor has been sitting for almost a year. I remember when I was putting on the flywheel, It was doing the same thing. I'd be turning it from the crank it'd lock up the same way. sooo I'm not to sure, I didn't think anything of it at the time but the problem is definitely around the motor.

 

Oh heres something else that was pretty weird. As I was trying to start the car for the first time to bleed the radiator, the thing pretty much blew up. Keep in mind I had the cap off, but I ended up with 2 random holes which started spewing out all the coolant.

I just talked to buddy and he said he never drained all the fluids when he took out the motor and he thinks the coolant could be frozen inside the block, Which could be causing it. Does this sound possible?

This is pretty stupid, I'm gonna try the pcv tonight.

 

Coolant isn't supposed to freeze, but you could have all kinds of crap in the system from old coolant.

Did you check for rust in the cylinder walls / pistons before swapping? Just a thought...

 

hmm, if the fluid was never drained, it could have possibly corroded the water pump fins, which could break off. I'd tear down the engine and inspect all teh parts.