RTH- method to check for siezed motor

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N

NLXTACY

Wits' End
10 Year 15 Year
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Location
Medford, OR
Ok so I was gone for two weeks traveling the West and Pacific Northwest. Everything with both trucks was fine. Until I got home. My wife took the 60 to Santa Clarita this morning for her monthly hair ritual. On the way there she says this happened:

• The truck lost all power
• Battery and brake light both went on
• She rolled to the side, put on e-brake
• Sat for a minute, tried starting
• She reports it sounded like a hammer was banging against the engine
• She saw a large pillowing cloud of WHITE smoke coming from the engine bay
• Turned off, tried again, same sound
• Called AAA
• Towed in front of our house where I am sure it will collect dust

So before :princess: lights a match to this thing...what can I do to verify it is a seized motor or a thrown rod?

And then anyone have a spare 2F with relatively low miles for cheap :flipoff2:
 
Just talked to Mark Algazy, he said to remove the transmission inspection cover and because of the amount of miles on my engine, I should be able to grab the flywheel and turn it. If I can turn the motor, its not seized, there are other issues to be determined. If it won't budged, I'm fawked. I'll report back in a few.
 
Was it in gear when she rolled to the side? Any massive oil leak? Electrical?
 
RockDoc said:
Was it in gear when she rolled to the side? Any massive oil leak? Electrical?
Click to expand...

Truck was in 4th when she coasted to the side. I can see where you are going with that and it is making me happier. Zero oil leak, zero coolant leak. Battery is at 12.55v. When I put the meter to ground and the 12v+ on the starter I get 12.5. Once my wife tries to turn it over then it drops to 0.0v. When I test across the terminals on the battery when she tries to turn it over, it only drops about 0.5v.
 
Howdy! If you don't want to get under it, just pull the plugs and see if you can turn the engine by hand. Grab the pulleys or just pull on the belts. If it is out of gear, it should move pretty easy. I can spin my 350 this way. John
 
Well I tried both methods. Taking the truck out of gear and yanking on the pulleys and then taking off the inspection plate and pulling on the flywheel netted the same results.

The good news: Having a lift on the truck makes getting under it soo handy.
The bad news: My motor is seized. Fawk me!
 
Sorry to hear it :frown:

Would a seized accessory (smog or water pump) mimmick a seized engine?
 
RockDoc said:
Sorry to hear it :frown:

Would a seized accessory (smog or water pump) mimmick a seized engine?
Click to expand...

You know what....that is a very good question. I've had a seized smog pump before and remember the trouble that gave me. I guess the next step is to loosen all the belts and try it again.

Although.... I just checked my oil level. It doesn't even register on the dipstick. Now I topped off the oil before I left two weeks ago so I KNOW it didn't burn 6 qts in 2 weeks. So I am suspecting its something catastrophic and the oil leaked all out while my wife was stuck on the side of the freeway. There is no oil under the truck parked in front of my house.
 
Did you pull the spark plugs yet? It could just be hydrolocked from a bad HG.
 
OIl pan took two quarts. Just checked the radiator and it was a quart low of coolant. The radiator was fine two weeks ago. So yeah, I have no hope this is anything but a seized motor at this point.

I pulled out the plugs and they look like hell. Crud is all over all 6 plugs. None of them look "clean". These were new plugs in Spring.
 
Alright then. The next most important step, is you need to find a way to blame it all on your wife, who didn't see the white smoke, didn't check the coolant, didn't check the oil, never pays attention to how the car is running, etc, etc.

Drop the oil pan and see what's up. This is an unusual failure mode.

The only good news is that cheap 2Fs come up frequently.
 
Yeah she said it was fine, humming along on the freeway and then suddenly nothing. No noises or anything. The hammer noises only started after she was already stopped and tried to turn it over.

And btw, she 100% blames me :(
 
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