starting motor after rebuild, 1fzfe (1 Viewer)

[Photoman]

In general the teeth edges on the ring gear on a flex plate/flywheel will be the tapered on the side that goes to the bendix/starter drive to allow it the engage smoother. If you can see through the inspection plate or where you pulled the starter you may be able to see this. This will be a problem but usually the motor still turns over. A couple of other things along these lines I have seen are the flex plate was not mounted true (Sort of not pulled on with the bolts squarely) which results with it being on warped which leads to tight spots turning over. Also, I have seen trannys pulled on crooked with the bolts on the dowels and resulted in starter binding.
In general if you turned the motor with the breaker bar (and I mean without hanging on it with a piece of pipe) the starter should turn it over. This is not like the old days (when we poured babbet bearings in the Chevy 216's, not inserts) and you sometimes had to drag the car around in gear with a tractor to first get it to fire up. Good luck and let us know.
Bill

 

[Gumby]

Were generous amounts of assembly lube used during the rebuild process?

It really sounds to me like a undercharged battery or a weak starter. The engine is very tight right now. The rings are scuffing on dry, honed cylinders. It might take some juice to get it to spin.

At least that's what I hope it is.

Good luck.

 

[cruiserman]

I'm tending to agree with Todd that the batt/starter are having trouble getting the motor to turn. I took a look at the flex plate last night through the starter hole and the inspection cover, and I think it's mounted correctly.

I'm going to have the starter performance tested after work today. I should have trickle charged the battery, but I think it's probably OK.

Could bad contacts cause this problem?

 

[cruiserman]

Anyone feel like crawling under his rig and verifying I installed the flex plate correctly? Mine is pretty much centered in the inspection hole at the bottom of the bellhousing. There are 2, 10mm bolts holding the cover in place.

 

[Photoman]

This is from my 97 so don't know if it will do you any good or not. Very hard to jam a camera in there to get anything with the oil pan in the way. If you don't have the valves/lifters too tight she should go. As Gumby and others have stated, sometimes they are tighter than a bull's ass in fly season at first.
Bill

 

[cruiserman]

Thanks Bill. Looks like mine.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Just checked (in street clothes, no less). Mine's also centered as far as I can tell. I also used a flashlight and noted that the "bulge" of the flexplate is toward the transmission (rear of car). If you look up there, you'll see one face of the plate has a bulged area - this is what I'm talking about. I can also clearly see engagement marks in the valley of the plates teeth that are on the engine side of the plate (front of car). HTH..

Doug

 

[cruiserman]

Yes, ditto to all of that. Thanks for checking.

It's getting chilly and wet down here.

 

[cruiserdan]

Did yor get the big spacer in between the crank and the flexplate? That's where it goes.

 

[cruiserman]

Yah sure, you betcha.

Autozone guy tested starter and battery. Battery is low under load test, and starter is fine. Battery is on the trickle charger as I type. I may end up buying a new one, but I'll see if I can save the $50 first.

I saw what appeared to be ice at the top of the cells.

 

[cruiserman]

I got the motor started. I think last night the motor was actually turning. I couldn't tell from my vantage point in the driver's seat, and the starter noise was startling .

Anyway, I cranked 5 or 6 times for about 10 sec each time. The oil pressure started coming up on the gauge. I put the battery on the charger and rode my bike down to the school to vote .

I put the plugs and wires in place and after several attempts the motor began to run. Very poorly. I added another quart of oil, and it began to run better over time. It's making various noises, which are disconcerting. I need to borrow a stethoscope to locate the source(s).

I wish I had assembled the block. I don't really know if the shop followed the manual. I hope so.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Probably got lots of oil fouling the plugs and valves that will burn off after a few mile on the road, eh? Was this a total rebuild (main bearings, top end and rings/cylinders? If not, what was rebuilt?

I ask because a rebuilt engine will often make whirring, machining sounds here and there as the bearings literally get ground/seated. Where's the noise - top end or bottom? Stop screwing with the engine and answer these questions - heh.

Doug

 

[Koffer]

I put the plugs and wires in place and after several attempts the motor began to run. Very poorly. I added another quart of oil, and it began to run better over time.

8)
Your ECM needs to learn again . When Wrench rolled his truck the EFI fuse blew and by the time we got it running again after only a hour or so it ran so bad it wouldnt idle . we let it run for about 5 mins and and the ECM was much happier when it warmed up then started just like nothing happened .

Running it up to temp a couple times with no load and it should be in good shape change the oil too a couple of times as who knows what floating around in it

 

[cruiserman]

I'm not worried about the poor running. I know the computer needs to re-learn. I'm worried about some whirring noises I'm hearing. I think it's either bearing noise and/or timing chain.

Timing is right on at steady 3*. Oil level and pressure are good. Temp came up.

It was a rebuild with oversize pistons, new rings and bearings plus a valve job.

I'm concerned about driving it. Should I pull off the valve cover and check the top end and chain, or just drive it?

I didn't know what to expect with this thing.

 

[cruiserdan]

Doug,

He used "the good stuff" throughout, to include the proper sealer.


C-man. tell us more about the noise......... :-\



D-

 

[cruiserman]

I think I've got a small oil leak at the bottom of the timing cover. Not sure yet.

Anyway, the good news is that after the first heat up, cool down, and re-start, the motor sounds very good. All gauges are normal, injectors are clicking away, etc.

I noticed the ATF in the power steering reservoir is bubbling. Never seen that before. I was checking for cavitation and got more than I bargained for .

I drained the tranny pan but not the torque convertor. I added just a few quarts to the pan, and it's shown cold full. How much fluid does the torque conv hold?

 

[IdahoDoug]

Eric,

By "motor sounds very good" are you saying the suspect noise has diminished/gone away?

If the tranny shows cold full then you're good to shift into the various gears, bring it to temp and recheck warm. Even if it's VERY low on recheck warm you're fine as you're not really putting any heat/load on the tranny. Typical procedure after a tranny rebuild is fill to cold full, start and bring to operating temp at idle, recheck level when warm and top off to full warm. This makes a good procedure for your situation as well.

Bubbles in the reservoir simply mean it needs to be bled. I'm pretty sure you have a FSM, but if you don't I'll paste a copy of my recent experience bleeding the PS. As a side note, is the PS pump your noise source? Rev to about 2500 and turn the wheel in park and you'll hear that baby yowl. Mine whined gently at high idle, too. Now it's silent under all conditions. Would be nice if you found this was the mystery noise as it's a 15 min fix if you stop for coffee... You'll need a helper, though.

Doug

 

[cruiserman]

I've bled a few PS systems, but not on my 80. It's a messy PITA, but nice with a remote reservoir. This is major bubbling, almost like water boiling . I'm used to tiny bubbles in the middle of the reservoir. I'm not going to sweat it just yet.

The noises went away, and I hear the normal motor sounds of injectors, fan, and exhaust.

 

[cruiserdan]

The total capacity for a 442 is just over 16 quarts (dry fill). Any idea how much came out?

 

[cruiserman]

Approximately 1/2 of a large cat box . Well, that would include radiator fluid, too.

Dunno. I drained the pan and some fluid came out of the tranny cooler lines. I would guess 8 quarts?