Engine seized 2 miles after rebuild

Pull starter before pulling pan. Check easy stuff first.

 

A couple months ago I had a flatty in the shop for a rewire, the first time I tried to start it the starter gear bound up in the flywheel and everything froze up. I was thinking the worse till I checked the starter engagement and after installing a healthy 12V battery al is well again. Simple things first..........................


Sorry, I should also have mentioned that the first thing I did was to pull the starter.....I still can not turn the engine over by hand even with a 3 foot breaker bar....on the front of the crank.

 

OK, now take the torque converter loose, report back...................

 

I would check the timing chain also before taking the engine out.

 

Flat head V8, Gears, no chain, But I suspect the Main bearings seized.....Roach.

 

I would start with the rod bearing just loosen one at time until it turns.Then to mains,Is this a auto trans,Some times you can shim a rod bearing run for while then remove shim.check oil pressure when you get it to turn.Some times all carbon is not removed for piston groves and the rings have no movement.

 

keep us informed,and good luck.

 

If the torque converter and starter investigation is a bust, once you drop the pan loosen up all the mains and see if it spins. Just crack the bolts and back them off a 1/4 turn.

It does sound catastrophic and a definite bummer since it sounds like you did a lot of good things there. The only 2 things I can think of are the bearings or a piston pin retainer let go and you have a pin gouged into the cylinder wall.

Bob

 

Your not reading either, he said it won't turn over with a breaker bar either, very little battery power is required with a breaker bar.

 

will the crank rock at all or is it just solid? had one piston seize in a bore once and you could rock the crank a little each way.

Good advice here even though it is not a good place to learn

be methodical and start at the periphery as said above - Starter, torque converter, oil pan, - and look for anything that may cause the seizure.

Good luck, I know what a bummer this is for you.

 

No squeal,no knock, no thump, no rattle, no noise, no metal, oil clean. run good. Bearings will squeal,Piston pin or rods will knock, converter will rap, fly wheel will tick,just about any thing will give a warning.My bet is something was left in the engine that wraped up. Pay no attention to the H.A.M.B police,we all go through it. Most of us are interested in cause and try to help.

 

If the pistons were fitted to the bores in the old block the .060 may not mean a whole lot as far as clearances in the new block.

 

You tells us you drained the oil and there was nothing in it. I'm sure you mean there was oil in it but no metal or trash. It's hard to imagine a engine seizing up and not putting some metal in the oil. We will know when he pulls it apart. JC

 

Once some guys gave me a new rebuilt 374 Packard V8 that seized. I pulled the pan to find everything inside squeaky clean with new clean oil. New rod and main bearings crank ground -.020. One new replacement connecting rod and no oil pump. They put the damn thing together without an oil pump. Put it in the car and tried to run it. Didn't last. Except for #1 main and #5 rod journal it all still looked new.

 

but would it have oil pressure?

He said he had 45#....that would be hard to do with no pump...just sayin

 

Let me add that if you check for a timing chain and find one in there...that's the problem! He-he.
Please excuse the feeble attempt at humor.
I agree with the suggestion that you should disconnect the torque converter before doing a teardown
Another good thought was offered before...maybe a foreign piece went down the intake and is on
top of a piston. Seems like that would have made a noise though. Can't rotate it backward either?

 

Okay, the plugs are out, nothing found.
The starter's out, nothing found.
As said, this is really sounding like a complete teardown, but also as said, pull the converter bolts (part of the removal anyway), and see if it frees up.
At that point if it's still solid, I would not bother with the pan in the car, I'd go straight to removal. Time to recheck it all, not try to do a little.
That's my 2 cents.

 

Pulling the converter bolts without pulling the engine with the converter attached can be a trick in itself, when the engine is locked up.
Larry T

 

Just pull it it out. Trying to turn it over with a breaker bar isnt good either.
Plus another vote for the timing chain

 

Merc
I actually had a suggestion run through my head but it would be just plane mean to make it. So I'm not going to do it. Trying not to be mean to anyone today and you haven't earned meaness from anyone yet.

The only thing I can suggest is that you tear it down and see what didn't hold up. Don't beat yourself up over it when you find it. just chalk it up to murphy strikes again and build it better the next time.

It happens man. A few years back, actually quite a few now I put a banger together for a lady we knew. She needed to get herself from point A to point B and had zero cash in hand.

Anyway about 2 weeks after I gave her car back to her I get this call. it started hammering so she shut it off and what should she do. I got an all expensed paid trip to pig snarf over the deal. I knew I had done everything that i knew was correct when I put it together for her. Sized the rods, new rod bolts, slight overbore to clean it up, new head bolts, the list goes on.

Took it down and discovered that on new rod bolt had broken. Maybe I over torqued it or maybe it was just defective. Wnet trough it again this time it was a little more costly. It went back toggether and she drove it like she srtole it until she could afford a newr nicer car.

Stuff happens man.

 

The answer is Main bearing: the rear bearing was fine, the center bearing was toast and the front bearing was about to go.

 

That shoulda left some traces in the oil...

 

Bottom of the pan had some, not much...looks like most stayed in the bearing and cap.

 

Merc cruzer, thanks for the results, and Larry T, you are right, the converter bolts are hard when the crank is locked. Sorry.

 

now that we know what caused the thing to lock up,what caused the mains to fry?

 

Sorry for your bad luck-chalk it up to experience.

 

Oil gallery plugged?

 

ouch that should not have happened did the shop who did your boring clean the block after machining?

 

Bottom line is that whoever assembles the engine (around here, me) is responsible for the final cleaning and inspection of all the oil passages and such.
Larry T

 

Did you check the bearing with plastigauge when you assembled the engine?