jsup

SO, I go to turn the rotating assembly, and it's stuck. Won't turn. goes so far and stops.

Turns out one of the screws I placed in the valley fell down into the engine and prevented rotation.

Luckily, I have the oil pan off and I was able to see in there and get it out.

Be careful when working on engines, keep track of everything.

C4DC

I always have that fear when something can be dropped down somewhwere it can't be retrieved.

Demonic85

This is why its a good idea to invest in one of those little magnetic tool trays to put your stuff on. I've dropped things in there before too, it sucks.

jdraughn

4 years since you posted this and I am having the same problem. I have the intake and oil pan on, and was hoping to fire it up today, but the engine stops when turning it over by hand, if I go the other direction it will turn about 11/12th of the way before stopping again. I am about to go out with a flash light and try to look in the oil plug hole, hoping to see something. I am afraid that the oil pickup got turned up towrard the engine and the crank is hitting it, or maybe something got dropped in the intake and it's in the engine. Any ideas?

JAKE

No way to really know until you have a careful look-see. Anything else is just guessing.

Keep us posted.

Jake

PLRX

I got to congratulate you on the usage of the CF search tool. You searched all the way back to 2007 and found it.

Others ask about an issue with 500+ threads

GREGGPENN

The irony here is JSUP was permanently banned (IIRC). So he (personally) cannot respond. Also, when he pulled a SR intake shortly after this, he dropped another bolt in his motor and trashed it!

Asking the CF a Corvette question -- $5.
Finding a thread on your topic -- $10.
Finding a thread from a banned user who made the same mistake twice -- PRICELESS!!!

hooked073

What did you have apart?? this would be help full in giving you some help or suggestions

turbodiesel

ya what and where r u talking bout , so we dont do the same...lol

jdraughn

Update:

I am reinstalling the engine, it had the heads and lower intake installed, but nothing else on the intake. I usually kept the intake covered to keep it clean but when I started trying to remember how the wires and other accessories went on I had removed the cover (about two years since I pulled the engine).

I pulled the valve covers and one of my the springs for my intake valves is compressed (valve is stuck open). I could compress the spring a bit more by wedging a wrench between the spring and rocker arm and turning the engine, so I tried that while using magnets.

I tried 2 different magnets, 1 was very small but weak, and the other one was out of an old hard drive and it is VERY powerful, but neither one worked.

I also put a shop vac on the intake port, plugged the injector hole and blew compressed air into the spark plug hole while compressing the spring a little more to try and release tension on whatever was stuck, but this didn't work either.

I tried making two different electromagnets. One of them was pretty strong, it could pick up a head bolt, but this didn't work either.

I took apart an old web cam and used about 10 leds all hot glued to a stiff wire to try and see the top of the valve, but there was not enough room to get good light and good cam visibility.

I pulled the intake off and retried everything again from above, but I can't seem to get whatever is wedged in the valve. If I stick my two longest fingers in I can almost reach the valve seat, but not quite, and I can't feel anything there.

I can see the back half of the open valve and it's clear so whatever is stuck there is just out of my line of sight when looking into the head from the intake port.

I tried a stiff wire bent into a little hook to try and hook the bolt, but don't know if there even actually anything stuck there, I couldn't pull anything out that way either.

I am to the point where I might as well pull the head. I already need new intake gaskets and I only have 50 bucks to last me for 3 weeks, gas and food included, so I may end up putting this on hold for a couple of months or longer.

Pete K

Sorry about the bad news.
Other than some time, ripping it down will not cost you anything. Worse case is likely a bent valve and a piston with a scuff. If the piston is scuffed, knock the edges off with a bit of emery paper and run it. If any doubt about the valve, a machinist can chuck it up and kiss it with the valve grinder. That will show if it is bent. If it is, they are only a few bucks.

ex-x-fire

You said you're reinstalling your engine, do you think you might have a torque conver bolt lose & hitting at certain parts of the block as you rotate back & forth?
If you think it's a valve , loosen rocker arms & blow air into the cylinders. The one w/ a stuck/bent valve won't rotate over w/ compressed air.
Easy enough to pull the oil pan to check down there, better that pullin' heads unless you have good evidence.

mattwalker87

i know this wasnt a used engine you bought, but i felt obligated to tell my story.

bought a used 350 a few years ago from a buddy of mine. worked over, 2.02 heads, cam ect ect. i had heard the motor run, and helped him pull it. about 6 months of sitting in his garage he finally sold it to me. needless to say, when i tried to fire it up-no go. wouldnt even turn over. seems his kids were picking up all the nuts, washers, bolts, and garage debris and throwing it down the intake when the carb was off. lesson learned.

jdraughn

Actually, this was a used engine, but with my zz9 cam, my intake and heads, block, crank and pistons is original. I also swapped the oil pump and oil pan. It was a crate engine with about 20k miles on it.

I am pretty sure it's that valve, it's down so far that I think the piston is actually hitting it when im turning the engine by hand. I have been gentle with it so I don't think I hurt the piston or valve. I can't help but wonder if the valve is bent.

Is it ok to reuse the head gasket if it's never been ran yet?

Pete K

No. Do not reuse it. Trust me there.
Like I mentioned earlier, take the valve to a local machine shop. It may not be bent, or look bent, but they will likely check it for free to help you out. Only takes them 2 minutes.