5.7 won't turn seized

[bill chisholm]

This is kind of a long story but the history I think is important.
We are working on a 1980 350 GM hooked to a Stringer 800 The OD was rebuilt last Spring top and bottom, Intermediate was not rebuilt.

Last November when coming in from a long day in the Ocean the engine started to miss or cut out. By the time I got to the dock it quit and would not fully restart, but would fire a lttle and spit and sputter maybe run for 5 seconds. It turned freely using the starter a week after the breakdown

I stored it for the winter without finding out what was wrong.

Last week I took it out of storage and DID NOT try to start it or roll it over with the starter

I replaced the Carb, fuel pump,and added pointless ignition.

I was all excited to start it with all of the new goodies on it. I hit the starter and the crank turned about 2 inches and stopped.

I disconnected the OD and by the way it turns free.

I have removed the starter, distributor, and all spark plugs and put a BIG cheater bar on the crakshaft on IT WILL NOT TURN CW or CCW.

Maybe the timing chain has it locked up somehow or?????

How would you proceed from here?

 

[Bondo]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

How would you proceed from here?

Ayuh,... Pull the Heads,+ the Oil Pan to see Why it won't turn...

 

[Fishermark]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

How did the plugs look when you took them out? Rusty? Sounds like salt water sat in the cylinders over the winter... if that's the case, then you are looking at rebuilding or replacing that engine. AND finding out how the water got in before destoying the new engine as well.

How to proceed? If it were me I would remove the heads and take a look and then decide from there.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Before you put it away you do a oil change, winterize it, drain the water?

How's the oil look now?

By the way you find saltwater in it now after sitting all winter use it as a anchor cause thats all it will be good for.

Here is a thread you may find interesting.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=291317

 

[bill chisholm]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

The plugs looked absolutley perfect no rust no water and the oil was changed before putting it away, and it turned over fine before the winter rest.

I have one local mechanic that thinks the timing chain and gear might be kapoot so I am going to pull the cover off of that before I pull the heads. He thinks that's why it was missing right before it was laid to rest.

 

[Don S]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Disregard, missed the part about you having a stringer drive.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Nah timing chains are pretty reliable now-em-days, and if it jammed surely you would be able to turn it backwards till it jammed the other way.
Probably overheated it to high heaven and fried the bottom end out of it.

Could happen to anyone, atleast small block Chevies are a dime a dozen.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Nope not the timing chain and gear, that wouldn't matter 1 bit with the plugs out. I would get a small tube and stick it into each cylinder one at a time and draw on it as if it were a straw in a milkshake, suck out the water and spray some penetrant in and keep working at it. If you can break her loose then do a compression test and see how bad it is.

 

[Bondo]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

I have one local mechanic that thinks the timing chain and gear might be kapoot so I am going to pull the cover off of that before I pull the heads.

Ayuh,... The Oil Pan has to come Off before the timing cover.....

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

I disconnected the OD and by the way it turns free.
How would you proceed from here?

seeing as the drive is off, I'd spend 15 minutes pulling the shaft out of the intermediate before pulling the heads off....
or at least check the lube in it.

 

[bill chisholm]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Got the motor to turn freely last night by turning the crank. I am sure there was a rusted corroded spot in one piston. I will pull the heads tonight and see what the problem is and if I can hone our the corrosion.

 

[krisnowicki]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

if the ring was rusted to the side then those will probably need to go tooo.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Keep us posted and a pic of the cylinders.

Heres a post about overbore's.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=290146&highlight=overbore+.060

 

[meesh]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

You could have gotten lucky by breaking it free. I know of one boat that sat for ten years. It was winterized before it was put away and was found to be locked up when pulled out of storage. It was broken free, cylinders oiled up and run for ten more years trouble free. That's a pretty rare case. At the very least I would pull the heads and see what you have. You might get away with cleaning up the cylinders if it's light surface rust.

 

[bill chisholm]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Didn't get the heads off last night, too many honey do's and rain. I live in Portland OR. But I did get the left side manifold off. It looks like the riser gasket failed. I'm not sure exactly how to tell but there is a rust trail about a 1/2" wide runnning down the inside of the exhaust chamber and it looks like some rust collection in the 1st two exhaust ports. A tiny bit of rust collecting in the other 2 ports.

I guess a radiator shop can check the mainfolds for leaks. The risers look like a ball of rust but the mainfold don't look too bad, not sure what I'm looking for.

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

What happened is that you ingested some water into the cylinders while you were trying to restart. Then you left that water in the cylinders all winter. Your rings are rusted to your cylinder walls.
Before you pull the heads off, pull all of your spark plugs and flood your cylinders with penetrating oil and let them sit a while. Then take your breaker bar and carefully wiggle the crank back and forth as much as you can without forcing it. You can usually break the rings free. then clean and check compression.

 

[artificialreef]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Ya man what havsu said, why is everyone here so quick to say the engine is toast before you trouble shoot it. I have ressurected an engine that sat for probably 7 years by pouring a quart of transmission fluid down the carb and waiting a week, then turning it over (after changing plugs and all fluids). Had that for 10 years after that and it still had good compression when I junked it.

 

[bill chisholm]

Re: 5.7 won't turn seized

Got the heads off last night.

Two cylinders has a little rust around the top of the rings not much, but I would say there was enough to seize the engine up. It turns very easy now with the heads off, as it should. Because I had gotten the engine to turn BEFORE i pulled the heads I can't tell what the position was when it was stuck.

I am sure the riser gasket on that side had a breach in it and water ran down into those cylinders as there is rust in all of the exhaust ports on that side.

How can I tell if the manifold is leaking or not?

I am going to carefeully clean up the rust on the cylinder wall, soak the holes on that side with PB blaster for a while to free any rings that might be stuck and hope for the best. All it can do is blow to smitharines.

The cylinders show absolutley no wear at all and no scoring. I must have bought a boat with a farily new rebuild.