It won't start

[brainbug007]

Pants is probly the oil I put down... I tried turning anti clockwise a bit to see if I could loosen it to turn it clockwise but the pulley bolt just untightens

[twinturbo]

If the plugs are out, the starter is off, it's out of gear, and the plugs are intact...

Then the final logical conclusion is that valves have got frisky with the pistons.

TT

[brainbug007]

so how do i loosen it so it'll crank?

[davedew]

Depends why it won't turn over. If like TT says the valves have hit the pistons you could be looking at a head rebuild. It must be pretty stuck if you can undo the crank bolt when trying to turn it anti clockwise, using I assume only a ratchet.

Was the timing correct when you put the head back on after you had your 'big leak'?

I would say your only option now is to drain any coolant out of the engine, and take the head off again. If you can turn the engine over by hand with the head off, you know that the problem is with the head / timing. If it won't turn over even with the head off, the bottom end has seized up for some reason.

You need to be careful and methodical when rebuilding the engine and getting it to start, as you could soon end up with a big engine shaped paper weight!!

[brainbug007]

Ug I was hoping there was a way to sort it without taking the head off again, but 3rd time lucky maybe.. As far as I know the timing was setup ok when I put it back together, the woodrow key (bit that sticks out) was pointing due north so to speak in line with the oil pump line on the block and camshaft pulley was also pointed due north with the small triangle inside one of the circles pointed at the dot on the head. Once I get the head off what am I looking for? I hoping the bottom end will turn over by hand ok leaving the head to deal with. It just seems strange that it was spinning over fine until I put the new spark plugs in and tried to turn it over again when it then jammed

[will_08]

Have you ever gave it a good hand crank? the engine i mean

has it been rebuilt by you or just a donor engine thats been sat for a while?

Ive been told to put cola down bores before, to free up stuck rings!?!?! might be worth a go?

[davedew]

If the bottom end turns over once the head is off the next thing to do is see if the cam will turn in the head.

If it does you could try just resetting the timing and refit the head. If you had a valve spring compressor you could take the valves out and check none are bent.

[brainbug007]

Originally Posted by will_08

Have you ever gave it a good hand crank? the engine i mean

has it been rebuilt by you or just a donor engine thats been sat for a while?

Ive been told to put cola down bores before, to free up stuck rings!?!?! might be worth a go?

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.

It's the donor engine and all I've done to it is put a new head gasket on it, shorten the sump, put bike carbs on it, and I'm trying new plugs at the moment.

Not sure I want to put anything else down just yet as putting the oil down seems to have caused the problem as it was cranking fine before that

If the bottom end turns over once the head is off the next thing to do is see if the cam will turn in the head.

If it does you could try just resetting the timing and refit the head. If you had a valve spring compressor you could take the valves out and check none are bent.

Hopefully like you say it'll be ok with the head off and I'll be able to hand crank them seperately. I don't have a valve compressor, how much is one of these and how difficult is it to take them out? Also will I need to put a new head gasket on doing this or should I be ok re-using the semi-new one now?

[davedew]

You should really be using a new head gasket and head bolts everytime you take them out.
The valves are easy to do. You will need a cranked end valve compressor something like the below. The flat ended ones won't work on 1.8 cvh.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sealey-Valve...e m43a29ca2c4

[robo]

Putting oil down the bores should not be causing any problems, even if you did over do it by taking out the plugs and spinning it over the excess would just pump out. The fact that it wont turn anti clock or clockwise means there is something jammed up. It might not even be related to the engine, there could be a stray bolt jammed between the ring gear and the bell housing (have seen that before>. Before tearing down the motor just check out the obvious. You could check for a dropped valve from inside the rocker cover, look for a massive clearance between the cam and followers.

Bob