3B troubleshooting seized engine

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L

Levron

Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Threads
6
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I've bought BJ60 with seized engine (I need OME suspension out of it) but looking at it got me thinking if the engine could be rebuild or is it even worth rebuilding it.

First I am trying to figure out what happened to it. PO told me that he lost power rapidly while driving on the highway. No smoke and no loud noises. Though he didn't look at oil pressure or coolant temperature when it happened. When he pulled over the engine stalled and he was able to crank it at that time but it doesn't crank now.

I pulled the front end today with the radiator and was surprised to see how little coolant it had (about 5-7L) which got me thinking that maybe it overheated.

There is no coolant in the oil and oil level is good. Also engine looks clean with no leaks and it has 310,000 km on it. Also I've got it from original owner

What should I look at next? (I don't have the engine hoist to take the engine out at the moment). If it indeed overheated is it even worth rebuilding since it could damage so much
 
3Bs are VERY robust engines. The first thing I would do is pull the glow plugs, shoot a bit of oil down into the cylinders, take a long coffee/beer break and bar the engine over by hand ( socket on the front drive pulley nut). See what happens.
It sounds like an overheat seizure, and may be wiped pistons... While you are waiting for the oil in the cylinders to work dwn past the rings, drain the crankcase oil, have a look at what comes out, then drop the oil pan and check for debris in the pan, and have a good look at the engine from underneath. It's a reasonably quick job, an hour or two,depending on skill, and let us know what you see.
 
Levron said:
I've bought BJ60 with seized engine (I need OME suspension out of it) but looking at it got me thinking if the engine could be rebuild or is it even worth rebuilding it.
Click to expand...

You wont know until its fully diassembled.
Rebuild kits dont cost much but if the head,crank or block are damaged it will push the price up a bit.
You will also be up for machining costs
 
If you are going to part it out I would be interested in some parts.


Pm sent
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I'll try the oil trick tommorow. The best case scenarior as I understand is that it starts crancking after that?

Will drain oil as well.
 
roscoFJ73 said:
You wont know until its fully diassembled.
Rebuild kits dont cost much but if the head,crank or block are damaged it will push the price up a bit.
You will also be up for machining costs
Click to expand...

Got it, I'll let you know how it turns out
 
I bought a 3b with a similar description from the PO, turns it was a rod bearing. If you pull the oil pan all the rods should be able to move laterally on the crank if one is stuck pull the cap and check it out.
 
halljames10 said:
I bought a 3b with a similar description from the PO, turns it was a rod bearing. If you pull the oil pan all the rods should be able to move laterally on the crank if one is stuck pull the cap and check it out.
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Is there a way to tell which one is stuck? Or should I just pull all of them?
 
I'd take the caps off one by one and take a look. If nothing was found, next would be to yank the head off and look from the top side. Good luck!

:cheers:
 
And we are talking about taking these off, right?



If so do you need to hold the bolt on top of it?
 
If you cranked it without oil id swap the engine.


Because you aid the coolant was verry low when you checked i assume that was since the PO starved it ? if so the whole engine has been overheat and i think a swap would be cheaper.

Aldo complete rebuild is nice to do apart from the costs..

If not id put oil pan back and new oil in make sure fuel suply- air filter supply- and al are funtioning inject some fresh engine oil thru the glowplugholes then put the gear in 5 and push/pull the car to see if the pistons can move.

I dunno its good to electricaly try to move a possible seized engine

Is the thermostat good ? maybe thats the reasan the collant escaped ? if not where has it ?

If you put air pressure to the coolant system where is it sising ?

because the PO drove till it starved chances are many internals are damaged to a point not worth rebuild.

Isnt it possible to visual inspect the thicknes of the crank bearings while theyere mounted ? (im not an expert or anything)

Aldo some expensive parts can still be good to sale for finacing a engine swap.

I hope its not all that bad but keep us informed !!
 
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Hm, is it general consensus that it is not worth rebuilding this guy?

As for coolant I have no idea where it went. I suspect there was about 2 gallons in radiator and engine. What is the total amount that should be there?
Po also had the coolant heater for Canadian winters. That is the first time I seed one, usually it us the oil block heater instead

Just so wer are on the same page, engine didn't cranck without the oil.
 
Levron said:
...Tried looking for the socket but turns out I've lost my 21 and 22mm ones. .....
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Well I'd get another socket then.

Trying to rock the crank back and forth with a socket and bar is the best way to check what's holding it.

Other methods (like using the starter or towing it and dropping the clutch) are likely to cause more damage.

Levron said:
Hm, is it general consensus that it is not worth rebuilding this guy?........
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But you haven't even seen any damage yet.

(Just odd-coloured glow glugs is all I've seen.)

:cheers:

PS. You can indeed remove the nuts on the big-end caps (to see the state of the bearing surfaces there) without having access to the heads of those bolts (because the con-rod design will prevent the heads from turning).
 
lostmarbles said:
But you haven't even seen any damage yet.

(Just odd-coloured glow glugs is all I've seen.)
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Im wondering if the odd coloured glow plugs have something to do with the engine seizing. Too much heat maybe?
 
roscoFJ73 said:
Im wondering if the odd coloured glow plugs have something to do with the engine seizing. Too much heat maybe?
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I'm wondering too.

Maybe someone mistakenly filled the tank with petrol instead of diesel?

And all the glow plugs I've ever bought have had rounded tips so those flat-ended tips look odd to me too.

:meh:
 
Levron said:
Hm, is it general consensus that it is not worth rebuilding this guy?

.
Click to expand...

We dont know the damage ,nor do we know how much you want to spend.

If the engine was fully rebuilt by an expert,you could look forward to 400000 klms + of trouble free engines.

They are talking about driverless cars that can talk to each other by the end of the decade. Maybe our dumb old cars that cant talk will have to be scrapped,so take that into the equation.:D
 
lostmarbles said:
I'm wondering too.

Maybe someone mistakenly filled the tank with petrol instead of diesel?

And all the glow plugs I've ever bought have had rounded tips so those flat-ended tips look odd to me too.

:meh:
Click to expand...

Maybe they were rounded at one stage?
 
Timing too far advanced causing odd glow plug colors?
 
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