The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop engine locks up ...prob&answer

ok.....go out to start my '40, has a 350 with TBI. Nice chrome air cleaner on the throttle body.....truck sitting in the driveway. While cranking-the starter just stops, like the motor is locked up. Re-engage the starter and you can hear it hit the flywheel, also hear the starter try to turn, but engine will not turn over. Bump the starter a few times and eventually it will turn and start. Engine misses then for first few min. Last time this intermittent problem occurred broke the nose off starter. Sometimes you go out and no sign of problem. When replacing starter I found the cause of all problems....Do You Know What It Was?????
PS.....it has headers
post your guess and i tell what prob was in a couple days....have fun this one will git 'cha

hydrolock? spark plug wire shorted to header?

how about starter not being shimed correctley.
tony'n weatherford(TEXAS that is) :rolleyes:

Are you loosing any coolant?,if it does it again pull the plugs and see if the motor will spin and check for anything coming out of a cylinder. If its green you might have a head gasket leaking of possibly the intake leaking or if its gas you might have a bad injector filling a cylinder full of gas after the motors turned off

Improperly shimmed or overheated starter. Loose flywheel. Wires shorted to header. Unlucky cat?

Jeff O gets the booby prize for closest guess
When removing the right header to gain access to the starter bolt it was necessary for me to remove the right-bank plugs. when removing #5 a gush of clear water came out the hole. It would seem that rainwater (intermittent problem) was running down the hood seam and into the throttle body. Thank goodness I got a good seal on the piston rings, no milky oil. Hope you had fun...it took me 6 months,a little luck, and a new starter to figger this one out.