Update:
a little gentle persuasion with a big wrench and some MMO in the
cylinders has done the trick. The engine spins freely now. It wasn't
stuck very bad - the real problem seems to be the starter. I'm assuming
it's rusted in place, because the drive gear doesn't seem to budge when
you hit the key. I don't have it out of the car yet, so I'm going by
how it sounds. A few whacks with a hammer didn't make any difference.
Tonight I'll take it out and see what I can do with it... or replace it.
BTW - I hate crawling under a car on jack stands... wish there was
another way to get those $%^#$% starter bolts out. My neighbor was
crushed to death under his truck about 2 months ago, so I'm very wary of
getting under 2000# of steel. I'm going to stack up some cinder blocks
under the chassis "just in case", but I still hate crawling under
there. Anybody want to come to Indiana and do this for me? ;)
-Chuck
[email protected] wrote:
Okay, you had no big wrench, but you couldn't get, what, the CRANK
pulley to turn? How did you try to turn the engine by hand? What did
you do? This is important.
In a message dated 7/10/2010 6:37:36 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
Hey guys,
After almost 3 years off the road, I'm finally trying to get my 97
FM2 running again. I took it apart to replace the wiring harness
and ended up doing suspension, cooling system and brakes too. I'm
getting close to having it back together, and went to start it
today... and got nothing. I haven't done a lot of trouble
shooting yet, and thought I'd come here for ideas first.
The Link boots up and I get all the dashboard lights. Fuel pump runs.
When I turn the key to start, the engine will not spin, the tach
goes to 2500 and there's a buzzing under the hood that sounds like
a jammed electric motor. I do not hear anything like a starter
engaging.... just the buzzing. Then the Link screen goes to all
black bars and appears to reboot. The battery has a decent
charge, and I've also tried with a charger hooked up for extra boost.
So... I pulled the plugs and #3 was really rusty, with a rust spot
on top of the piston. I have no idea what leaked... but something
did. I didn't have my big wrench handy, but with the plugs out I
could not get the engine to turn by hand.
Considering the car has been in pieces for so long, it makes
trouble shooting a little harder. Any ideas on what I should be
looking at first? If the engine is seized up, what's the best way
to break it loose? I double checked the wiring harness
compatibility when I swapped it 2 years ago, so everything should
be good there, but I'm not certain that it's not part of the problem.
thanks!
-Chuck
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