Seized 3FE - Huh? (1 Viewer)

[60wag]

Yesterday my neighbor stops by to ask for some advice. The story is:

He’s driving his stock FJ62 on the highway. Its raining pretty hard so there are some puddles on the roadway. He hits a puddle and the engine stumbles. Its running rough so he pulls over. At some point the thing stalls and won’t restart. He has the thing towed home. The next morning he tries to start it and it won’t even turn over. The Cruiser is then towed to a local mechanic that has an excellent reputation for working on Cruisers. The report from the mechanic is that the engine is seized and might need to be replaced. Huh?

If it were mine, I’d need to put a wrench on the crank pulley to convince myself that is in fact seized. But based on the mech’s reputation, I don’t think he’d suggest replacing the engine unless it were truly necessary. Anyhow, my neighbor is now trying to decide what to do.

Anybody got a decent 3FE that they want to part with? Let me know – preferably in the Denver area.

I’m trying to figure what could have possibly happened to the engine. He said it still had oil in it – a little low but still on the dipstick. That would rule out the oil galley plug failure. The oil pressure gauge was still showing some pressure so I doubt the pump failed. I don’t think it overheated. The distributor still has the rubber boot on it. The air intake system is still stock and intact. I don’t think the puddle could have possibly hydro-locked the engine although I haven’t personally pulled the plugs. Any other ideas? TIA

 

[Jason Andrews]

Tell him to pull the plugs and turn it over. Then he will know if it is hydro locked

 

[60wag]

The thing is still at the mechanics shop. I'm not sure if the plugs are out yet. If water had actually gotten sucked into the engine, I wouldn't think it would have run at all.

 

[lowtideride]

I also vote to put a wrench on the crank with the spark plugs out....I have the bottom half of a 3fe if you need it. Maybe the ignitor went south? Does it even crank?

Seems like the water would have just messed up the electronics not siezed the motor. These things run on piss and vingar if need be, So even if a little water somehow did make it in I doubt its the cuase of the problems.

 

[tclndcrz]

I was driving through some deep mud/water pits a couple weekends ago and was going about 25mph. The second time through i felt the engine stumble and i knew it felt all wrong. I made it through to dry ground and it idled just fine but when i pushed on the gas at all it sounded like it was going to die. I turned it off. pulled the spark plug wires off and dried out the distributor. Started right up and drives fine.

soo maybe your distributor is just full of water

just an idea...

 

[Crashly]

So what is the verdict?

 

[Eolus]

I seized a 2F motor on my FJ60. The distributor shaft sheared in half below the cam gear. It stoped driving the oil pump. Having oil in the pan does not mean the engine was geting oil.