The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop something is very wrong with my engine

as I've described before, I burned a hole in a piston. put a new piston in, trying to start it today. well, that went bad.
turn it over a few times without the coil hooked up, seems all good. so I hook up the coil, try to start it. engine turns over, that's it. I have spark. carb starts flowing over. so I check if something in the carb is stuck. no, carb is fine. I try starting it a few times more, and then the engine gets stuck. doesn't turn over anymore. !@#$%^&*() is what I thought. so what now?
thinking about it, I did hear something that sounded like an air leak, coming from all cylinders. but that might just be the compressed air coming out of the cylinder into the exhaust?
I'm getting a little depressed..

I know what you are feeling I had a 327 that after doing a rebuild it took me forever to get it going again. All I can say I is re-trace your steps. check timing and cam placement if it is stuck I would try and rotate the engine counter clockwise by hand to see if you can dislodge it worse come to worse pull the head off again.

Seetz, take out the spark plugs and see if you have a cylinder full of either water or gasoline. If the carburetor is over-flowing, you might have a hydraulic lock. A cylinder full of water also means a hydraulic lock from either the head gasket leaking, or a cracked cylinder or a crack in the head. The carburetor won't over flow unless the needle valve stays open- either stuck or held down, or the float has sunk.

It is not unusual to hear air leakage if you listen carefully from under the hood, and you turn the engine slowly, by hand. Otherwise, you probably won't hear anything.

If either the valve timing or distributor timing is off, it is quite possible to have a satisfactory spark, but the engine will not start. And, don't try push-starting until you are sure the cylinders are not full of liquid.

Harvester

If the carb flooded a lot the excess gas could have washed all the oil off the cylinder walls and it siezed up. Take the plugs out and if nothing seem wrong I would put some Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders and let it set of a couple days. Right now its better to take a little time than cause even more problems. Keep us posted.

alvin I like your answer sounds like the least trouble.. by the way, love the color on your panel, it's going to be a beautiful ride!

Sounds like the float stuck? Sure you didn't burn up the starter? Or the starter wire? Do you have it set to fire on the compression stroke or exhaust stroke?

Hi, did You ever find out why the piston had a hole in it to begin with? Maybe this is more of the same problem, did You do a complete rebuild on the motor if the cam timming is off or the dis. is in just one tooth off the motor is never going to run and could cause more failures . Pete

i dont believe it is seized because of gas wash down and if it is you will have cylinder damage if you pull the plugs and it wont turn over it needs to come out and be fixed. even if you get it running it will be on borrowed time.

I always thought that timing doesn't change once it's set? I mean, I've ran this engine for thousands of miles and it ran fantastic. I believe the cause of the hole was this: running too hot, which caused a leak in the intake manifold gasket, which made it run lean, which caused the hole (I actually could SEE the leak in the gasket).
and my 'rebuild' was: valve job and replace one piston. so no timing parts touched, and the distributor didn't leave the engine. so I don't believe the timing thing.

phillip t: it may not be wash down in the end but a possiblity. I remember as far back as 1965 when this happened on a V8 Oldsmobile engine at the dealership. We got it running and it ran many miles but not sure how many! I also saw this some years later on a 6 cylinder.
We're waiting Seetz so keep us posted. We all learn from each other!

Hi, if it turns out to be that You ran the motor that hot to burn a piston the rebuilder should be able to tell , all Your other piston rings may sezed onto Your pistons , try to put some marvel mystery oil into all the pistons but most of the time you are going have to replace all the rings . With that much blowby every thing gas , air is going to blow out of the carb , also do a compression check before You start on the terdown . Pete

Seetz,
It is always hard diagnosing engines over a few posts on a website.
When you say the engine "becomes stuck"....is it mechanically seized, or has the battery and starter just run down and won't crank the engine further?
Maybe not enough power to turn the engine over fast enough or supply enough spark?
You should be able to attach a socket to the front of the crank and see if it will turn over by hand with all the spark plugs removed.

Did the engine overheat when it originally holed the piston, or just die in a cloud of exhaust smoke?

Could be that other damage was caused when the piston holed and you need to strip, clean and inspect all your bottom end.

Until some of these questions are answered, it would be very hard to properly diagnose.
HotRod Lincoln or some of the other 'Bolt engine guru's may find this post and offer some of their wisdom.

Best of luck.............