Motor Wont crank Help Please

[aloegamerz]

my motor wont turn over i receantly had change the starter and everything was fine until yesterday i tried to start it it try then it locked up ive try turning over the motor by hand but i cant and i dont think is locked up because at times it will turn over when i try to start it but then locks again what could it be please help thanks and its a 96 gst eclipse 5 speed

 

[Dsmkauai]

Ok but if you can't rotate the motor all the way around with or without the spark plugs in and trans in neutral. Than I'm sorry to say something is bent inside. Do this pull the valve cover off and tell me if you see any of the rocker arms popped off or not. Also how do you know the timing is dead on if you can't rotate the motor?

 

[aloegamerz]

there is one rocker arm that doesnt look good and i know because i can rotate the motor just not all the way

 

[SICK SOCIETY DSM90]

The longer spark plugs and them being damaged the car was not running perfect before you turned it off. I have personally have seen a car running with damaged spark plugs and its not pretty if enough damage was done they wouldn't spark properly so would have been way under powered. On another if you want to rule everything else out possible because you are not wanting to tear into the head then tear into it and see what happens obviously hand cranking it and everything else isn't getting you any where with this problem. Take the plastics off and check all the timming marks and then take tranny off and inspect and try turning the motor some more if you rule everything else out then you check for any play on the crank and cams then after all that if its still not turning by hand then bingo you need to have the head done or just skip right to the head its your money your car and time.

 

[dsmspick]

Sounds like timing is off. I had the same issue when the crank plate was backwards. Would go a bit by hand then stop. Couldn't figure it out. Finally noticed it was flipped. Flipped it right side out and fixed the issue. Are you sure all marks line up at top dead center?

Edit* just saw you said the car was running before the issue.

 

[SICK SOCIETY DSM90]

Well there you go you have internal damage of some sort.

 

[aloegamerz]

am lost because it was running fine no power lost until i shut it off and i have taken my valve cover off and they all seem fine am just lost

i guess ill jst have to go deeper see what i find am going to remove the oil pan to see what i find

 

[Dsmkauai]

Ok so we need to look for what's stopping the motor from turning over. We are all here to help you bro so don't give up on us and we won't give up on you. If something was wrong with the starter than I would suspect the clutch or flywheel. You could have broken fingers on the pressure plate wedging into something. And I'm telling you my car ran fine when it jumped timing. I drove it hard that night and came home and let it idle just like normal, and then the next morning just like that it wouldn't start. But that was my issue yours maybe different. How bout this can you pull the inspection cover off the bell housing and look inside the best you can see if there's any debri/metal chunk.

 

[SICK SOCIETY DSM90]

Yep none of us will give up on you we are all here to help. Just need to start somewhere and report back findings and we can go from there. If you want to start with clutch and move to timming to the head then I say go for it rule out things on the way to the root of the problem. It can be a simple fix or a complex fix but for sure it can be fixed.

 

[Tyeler18]

Have you physically pulled the lower timing cover to look at the crank marks. If you haven't (which I will bet you haven't) you need to. Because I can almost completely guarantee you have bent valves.

What spark plugs WERE in it that were the "wrong" size?

I doubt they were the wrong size as it wouldn't be running good if they were too long. They would have been demolished before. The only way for them to be smashed in is either
A) Something got into each cylinder at the exact same time and smashed all 4 plugs at the same time (highly unlikely)
B) There was some very serious detonation in all 4 cylinders, in which the car wouldn't have run good, and it would be highly unlikely that it would finally just kill them all at once.

C) It has skipped time and the pistons have said hello to the valves and plugs.

 

[DKJson2112]

Listen to Tyeler18. You need to make sure all of the bottom timing marks are lined up. Not just the timing mark for the camshaft. I timed my engine, but I didn't have the belt tightened right, and it skipped timing like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't turn the engine manually more that a few turns either. I took off the belt, and timed it right and tensioned it right. That worked like a charm. For me, I didn't know if my car would ever start. The old timing belt had broken. It used to be my brother's car, but it stopped running in while he was trying to back out of the driveway one day. The engine was at 120,000 miles and the belt had never been replaced... It ended up sitting for two years before I was old enough to drive it and my dad told me if I wanted a car that I better fix this one. Long story short, I fixed the timing and my car ran like a champ. Be sure to check all of the timing marks.

 

[Boostdriven]

If you line up the mark on the crank pulley/harmonic balancer with a TDC mark on the timing belt cover and your cam pulley marks don't line up then your belt has skipped few teeth, that's a quick way to check for that. If it turns out that all the marks don't line up then you might have few bent valves.

To check which ones are damaged, pull all the spark plugs out and pull the valve cover off. Using an air hose try to put pressure in to a cylinder through the spark plug hole. Make sure that the cam lobes are off the rocker arms and the valves are closed on whatever cylinder you're checking, you might have to turn the engine accordingly to make sure valves are close. If you hear air going in to the intake or exhaust while all 4 valves appear to be closed then you have some belt valves.

If the pressure test check out on all cylinders then there is a chance that a foreign object has entered one or more of the cylinders preventing the engine from turning over. While you have the plugs out, bring each cylinder to the very bottom and try to look through the spark plug holes with a good flashlight to see if there is any visual damage to the top of each piston. You said that you tried to use a magnet to see if you can pull an object out of the cylinder but the problem with is that not always will the object be magnetic. If it was stainless or aluminum the magnet wouldn't do you any good.

Another quick indication of bent valves or a foreign object in the cylinder is where the engine gets stuck. Turn the engine clockwise by hand till it gets stuck and then look at the timing mark on the crank pulley. If there is an object in cylinder #1 or #4 that's stopping the piston from going all the way up then the timing mark on the pulley will be somewhere before TDC mark on the timing belt cover. If the object is in cylinder #2 or #3 then the mark on the crank pulley will be 180* from the TDC mark on the timing belt cover. Same situation applies if you have bent valves.

Also sometimes when you get a foreign object in the cylinder it might allow the engine to rotate normal if the object is towards the center of the piston. The piston to head clearance is larger there but as soon as it moves to the edge of the cylinder where the clearance is much smaller it will wedge between the piston and the head causing the engine to get stuck.

Before you rip anything major apart really think about it. When you turn the engine by hand try to feel how it stops, does it feel solid or is it spongy, does it rotate more then 360* each way before it gets stuck. It's hard to guess what the problem could be without actually being there but I would start with those few tests before you go much further. Hope this helps.

If you figure out the problem please post the solution for the next guy who might be having the same problem.

 

[aloegamerz]

so i found the answer it turns out all my exhaust valves were broken the only mystery is to know when or how they broke since it was all 8 valves

 

[Night devil]

Bent valves is mostly from timing issues.

 

[Dsmkauai]

Jumped timing just like I've been saying from the beginning!!