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stats:
97 ford escort
car:180k miles
engine~80k
bought engine with 50k on it from a junkyard when the car had 150k

long story short i get stranded at walmart, and the problem starts when i tried to start my car. as soon as it began to start it stuttered really bad so i immediately turn the ignition off. I try again, but the engine doesn't turn over, not a voltage problem, the crank wouldnt turn

i get towed back to the campus parking lot, and proceed to take all the intake ish off to get to the starter, finally get it off and take it to autozone to get it tested, it checks out fine, so i rotate the crank manually and when it gets to a certain point in either direction it stops dead, like a metal to metal stop

so i then turn to the timing belt, i take off the cover and find that the timing belt is not as tight as it should be, so i got a new tensioner and belt. When i tried to line up the crank and the camshaft i get the camshaft in the correct positioning, however when i tried to get the crank to tdc it stops dead in either direction right before it gets to tdc.

so now i'm thinking i bent a valve since it happened when the engine was starting and not while running (at least i hope there isnt too much damage). So i guess i'm asking if you guys have any suggestions if i'm overlooking something before i pull the head to inspect the valves.

well...at least i'm staying here in fl for school during the summer so i dont have to worry about getting home anytime soon......but this just plain sucks

i wish i had the money to part out this car and get another, but at the moment $ is tighter than a virgin

Pull the plugs and try turning it over by hand, it'll be much easier (no compression.) If it turns over freely without the plugs, run a compression check.

Usually if it jumps time and wipes out a few valves it will still turn over. Actually it'll usually turn over with much less effort (no compression.)

It could be hydrolocking with either water/coolant or fuel, pull the plugs and see what they look like.

Let us know.

forgot to mention i already pulled the plugs, they were in good shape, so now it seems like the only thing left thats stopping a piston is a valve....but i want to make sure thats the problem before i pull the head...sos

Not much else it could be...

Only other thing I can say is pull the valve cover off. Rotate the motor so all pistons are level or low/off the top of the head. Look at the valve position. if you dont have the timing chain on you should be able to rotate that assembly without issue. I dont know your cars motor, so it may not be possible.

yeah, i can rotate the camshaft without issue (timing belt btw), so i'm gonna try that, prolly gonna go to harbor freight to pick up a torque wrench too so i can re-tighten everything the right way

well....i'm really f'd now, i snapped a bolt inside the block, or at least i believe its inside the block i havnt pulled the head yet, and on the broken side there were not any shiny threads, so i may have gotten lucky and gotten a few threads sticking out of the hole, anyone know what i can do now?

loudwagon15s wrote:well....i'm really f'd now, i snapped a bolt inside the block, or at least i believe its inside the block i havnt pulled the head yet, and on the broken side there were not any shiny threads, so i may have gotten lucky and gotten a few threads sticking out of the hole, anyone know what i can do now?

Wow...

Get everything off down to this broken bolt.

If theres enough bolt sticking out you can try vice grips. If you have a welder handy weld a nut to the top of it. I know its a stretch, but possible.

Sounds like a bad situation to me.

Might be high time to turn it over to a shop and bend over.

You may need this type of tool.

Easy Out

You first drill a hole into the center of the broken bolt and then extract the broken bolt with this tool.

i've been wanting to get a set, but never truely needed them, i just borrowed em, so now i guess is a good time.

well, i was able to get the head off today.....and pulled out chunks of metal from the #4 cylinder Dont even know where the metal came from, pics tomorrow