It won't start

[brainbug007]

Just out of curiosity, if it does turn out the engine is shot would a zetec with bike carbs and a cat get thru emmisions at iva?

[mark]

Originally Posted by brainbug007

Just out of curiosity, if it does turn out the engine is shot would a zetec with bike carbs and a cat get thru emmisions at iva?

If you find a 94 or older zetec it wont need a cat

If you use a newer one i think it is possible with the correct mixture across the range, but cats dont like being abused so if it ran rich at some point in the revs you could ruin the cat quickly

If your cvh ran before you stripped it and it hasnt ran since it should run again!

There isnt that many things that would physically stop it turning over so im sure you can find the culprit easily enough

[brainbug007]

Well I had it to bits now and I couldn't see anything jamming it up. I have no idea if there was something by the flywheel but there was no way to see in there really. So I took the timing cover & belt off and there was nothing there. Then took the inlet & exhausts manifolds and finally the head. I then tried turning the head and it cranked on its own fine with no resistance. I then tried to crank the bottom and it still wouldn't budge indicating it was the bottom end that had seized up

I got the head off and onto the bench and couldn't see anything that looked different like gaps in the followers looked ok with no gaps and the valves on the bottom looked ok. I then turned my attention to the block and as expected there was about 3mm of oil sitting in each cylinder and at first it wouldn't crank by hand but after a second or two of pressure trying to turn the pulley with a socket it started to move! Slowly it got easier till eventually it would turn round without much resistance. I guess the inside of the cylinders are nicely oiled now although it doesn't look like any of the oil had seeped past the pistons into the sump?

[mark]

Maybe had some light rust due to the water you got in there holding it in place

[brainbug007]

Wouldn't surprise me, just strange how everything was ok for and then it stuck all the sudden like that

[twinturbo]

You may get away with reusing the gasket and bolts for testing. But I would plan to replace them before using the engine.

TT

[brainbug007]

Well I've ordered a new set so I'll replace them when they show up. Hopefully when I get it all back together it'll start this time!

[twinturbo]

Bolt it back up with the old gasket anyway, don't do the bolts mega tight.

Then check it turns over by hand so we know that's fixed..

There is one possibility that I forgot although it's slim but should be checked anyway. It's possible the water pump is very very seezed.

TT

[brainbug007]

Ok well I'll try turning it over by hand again tonite with the old gasket, shame it's not really re-usable as its only been on for a couple of weeks Is the water pump the pulley directly above the crank pulley and below the tensioner? If so I tried turning this by hand this morning and no issues there.

[Enoch]

Originally Posted by brainbug007

Yup it was cranking fine by hand and electrically up until I put the new plugs in after putting a bit of oil down each plug hole as suggested by someone else earlier in this thread.

Daft question but were the new plugs the same length as the old plugs? If it was cranking fine until you changed them then that's the first thing to check.
It's unlikely putting a drop of oil down the bores knackered it unless you put way too much down there and have created a hydrostatic lock.