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wont turn over- engine locked? Rotostart

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G

GSIVXR

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Hi all,

today i went to clean and spray some wd40 on the car to clean it and turn the engine over but it wont turn at all, the roto start just gets stuck, i took out the glow plug and its still locked ??

i think i flooded the engine yesterday and i turned it over with glow plug out to get the fuel out but maybe theres still some in there and its gone sticky/gouey??

not sure why its locked? help?
 
Did you try to turn it over while it was upside down and glow plug out? Usually you do so for a couple seconds to clear all the fuel out. If that doesn't free it up you may need to break it down and inspect internals for damage and metal shavings.
 
Zdragon71 said:
Did you try to turn it over while it was upside down and glow plug out? Usually you do so for a couple seconds to clear all the fuel out. If that doesn't free it up you may need to break it down and inspect internals for damage and metal shavings.
Click to expand...

will try turning it upside down!
 
I've just removed glow plug and turned it upside down no fuel came out, tried to turn it over and its still locked.

thought it might be the one way bearing, but if i try to move the gear off the engine with my hand it wont move either.

it ran fine yesterday then i couldnt get it started after i flooded it and left it overnight now it wont even turn over? does the fuel go hard? or shouldnt this matter? I'm a right newbie at this really!

thanks!
 
mmm after a bit of reading i think i need to try some after run oil in there and also heat it up to sofen and remove the gunk
 
Fuel would not gell up that quickly... If you can't turn the flywheel you most likely have internal damage of some sort.
 
If you can't turn the clutchbell on the end of the engine shaft with the kit off the ground then the problem may not be in the engine.
 
Last edited:
Just saw you started break in yesterday. Did you leave the piston at the top when you were done. Is it possible the piston is froze in the sleeve?
 
not that I'm an expert ...... Id take the engine out which is simple enough, then check the truck rolls along ok (diffs etc are ok) if they are ... then id start stripping the engine down to see what the problem is, taking the roto start off first, when off id try and turn the flywheel to see if the roto start has locked up ....... process of elimination
 
Is this a new engine? Have you broke it in already or are you in the process? Use a hair dryer or heat gun and pre heat the engine. If its new and not broke in yet when you shut it down in top dead center and ket it cool the sleeve will pinch the piston in that position and the only way to free it is heat. Thats why you never leave the piston in top dead center(TDC). So put a hair dryer on high held close to top of block where the cooling head bolts to it and heat it up as much as the dryer will heat it. Around 160 then try turning it over with starter. If this doesn't work the. Like snookman said you more than likely have damage inside the engine.
 
Zdragon71 said:
Is this a new engine? Have you broke it in already or are you in the process? Use a hair dryer or heat gun and pre heat the engine. If its new and not broke in yet when you shut it down in top dead center and ket it cool the sleeve will pinch the piston in that position and the only way to free it is heat. Thats why you never leave the piston in top dead center(TDC). So put a hair dryer on high held close to top of block where the cooling head bolts to it and heat it up as much as the dryer will heat it. Around 160 then try turning it over with starter. If this doesn't work the. Like snookman said you more than likely have damage inside the engine.
Click to expand...

Hi,

yes its a brand new engine, i was in the process of breaking it in i did 2 idle tanks and 1 tank half throttle then stopped, but i did do it in winter temps think it was about 1oc outside.

just tried with the hairdryer and wouldnt budge with the rotor start but would move a bit with a screw driver on the freewheel cog, which i prob shouldnt do?

maybe i need more heat? i do have a heat gun also ?

Thanks for your help guys!
 
Use heat gun and get it up to around 180 and that should do the trick.

---------- Post added at 3:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 3:09 PM ----------

Be careful not to force it because i have broken a rod in the past doing just that. You live you learn in my case.
 
Zdragon71 said:
Use heat gun and get it up to around 180 and that should do the trick.

---------- Post added at 3:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 3:09 PM ----------

Be careful not to force it because i have broken a rod in the past doing just that. You live you learn in my case.
Click to expand...

ok will try that! just bought an infrared thermometer, that will help me!

thanks for the help dude! :D
 
Be careful with the heat gun. Some of those get hot enough to melt everything but the engine.

You may want to end up taking the engine off, heating it, then trying to rotate the crank back and forth by twisting the flywheel until it frees up.
 
right update!

took off the heatsink/cooler head and heated it up with a heat gun, freed it slightly but the heat gun only goes to about 80, so out came the blow torch! and heated it more and finaly freed it!!
took out the sleeve and cleaned that up.

when put back together the piston wont go to the top of the engine by hand? just up a bit then back down the other way.

i take it i will have too heat it up enought so the piston rotates fully then start it before it cools down and gets stuck to break it it.

once i have ran the 2idle tanks and half throttle tanks and tuned it, i take it the piston shoulnt get stuck again as its ran in??

sorry if you can't understand what i mean! ha!

Thanks guys! :)
 
right tried to heat it up again to get it going but as soon as i heat it up and put the coolerhead back on i must cool down

when i try to rotostart it, it moves up and then gets stuck!!

dunno what I'm going to do now??
 
with those cold temps, you may have thrashed the engine. engines need to be broke-in at glowplug temps of 190-210 degrees to fully mate the surfaces together and remove the "new engine" pinch. maybe you got a weak motor in the roto-starter. or maybe you melted the clutch to the clutch bell causing no freewheel between clutch and spur when the engine is not running hense it gets stuck because the rotostart is trying to roll the truck? it could also be that you just got a bad engine. hopefully you didnt marr the head when you took fire to it. HPI has pretty good customer service, but its doubtfull they will cover fire damage
 
I dunno doing a breakin at 1c... I would have waited, if the engine got ruined you can try HPI normally the will just replace it outright. just tell them you never made it past breakin.
 

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