Need some help. Learning the hard (and expensive) way.

Hey All,

Okay. I'm braced for worst case scenario. Something bad happened with the engine I just built. It's a 22RE Toyota. A little background...

The block came out of a truck, but went into my Celica. So I had a lot of parts. I put the wrong sender in for the oil pressure. The Celica is an ST, so it has no gauge, just a light. Short story- I haven't had any way to monitor oil pressure. There was plenty of oil in the head when I adjusted the valves, and it has a new pump, so I assumed (I know) that it was all working okay.

Engine was running. Running awesome, actually. I had a header leak. So last night I pulled it into the workshop, changed the oil and filter and installed the header gasket. Things had cooled off pretty much by the time I was done. I started the engine for a minute to make sure the oil filter wasn't leaking and to see if my header gasket was all sealed up- it was, btw.

I cleaned up my tools, got ready to pull the car out- wouldn't start. In fact, it wouldn't turn at all. Now, it's been cranking slowly, but it kicked over so fast it wasn't a real problem. I knew I had a cruddy looking ground cable, so i figured that was the problem. This morning I put a shiny new cable on it. The first time I tried to start it after that I heard a horrible noise at the starter. Sounded like it wasn't engaging the flywheel right. So I picked up a new starter (the one that was on the car looked pretty new, so I left it when I did the build). New starter on, still won't turn at all.

So, finally, I thought I'd put a wrench on the crank and turn it a bit to see if I damaged a flywheel tooth. I couldn't turn the engine at all. Couldn't budge it. Totally locked.

I'm assuming the worst- there was an oiling problem and there is something bad wrong. But I'm at a bit of a loss. There was oil in the pan, so the main bearings would washing around in oil, wouldn't they? And if a bearing welds itself to the crank, wouldn't that happen when it was running and hot? It's that short run after I did the work that has me confused. It started right up, ran for just a minute and shut down normally. The engine never made any bad sounds or gave any indication there was a problem.

I'll give it a few days then go pull the starter, all the accessories and the pugs and see what happens, but I don't think it will turn.

I'm into this car so deep there's no turning back. If I have to build another engine, I'll just have to do that. I guess I won't really know what happened until I pull it out and see. But anyone have any ideas based on this very long story?

Thanks,

Ed

I killed the crank in my 2.6 Koln V6 Capri motor by leaving out the plate that retains the camshaft. There's oil galleys that feed the front cam bearing in a really silly manner; without the plate the oil just sprays against the cam gear. Norm Murdock hooked me up with a usable crank core that I had to get turned, and I threw some bearings at it. What a mess. I put a good 20 miles on the thing before it seized in front of a muffler shop; 50/50 mix of STP & 10w30 Mobile is apparently a decent pre-lube after all.

My guess is that somewhere along the line a galley plug or some similar item was left out and good oil pressure never made it to the bearings. You'll most likely have at least one spun bearing on the crank, as a guess; the good thing is you're dealing with a nice common engine and not a 2.6 Ford V6... If you don't have one already, get a good manual for that engine and start researching everything you can about the oiling circuits through the thing and start looking for places where you could remove galley plugs and the like. Also find out (if you don't already know) what is legal for your racing class inre: thicker than stock bearings and what happens if you have to turn a crank and install thicker bearing shells. I think some classes don't allow that.

Good luck.

I'm guessing you're right. Yeah, not the end of the world. I'll tear it apart and see what I have. As you say, it's common as dirt, so coming up with new parts won't be a problem.

I have a Capri with a 2.6 in the garage. I can tell you for sure, I won't do any more work on it until I get an oil pressure gauge I trust on it. You're not kidding - parts for a Toyota are a lot easier to find than that thing.

Thanks,

Ed

Just because there is oil in the pan doesn't mean it is getting to the bearings. That is the purpose of the oil pump. Did you use a lot of RTV in assembling the engine ? Seen engines seized when the assembler used too much and it plugged the pickup screen. Just one possibility .

In reply to iceracer:

Yeah, I know. I was distraught this morning. Wasn't thinking clearly. Just grasping for some sign of hope. Reality has set in this afternoon and I know what I need to do. Just hope some of the new parts are salvageable. If the head is okay I'll be happy.

There were several things I said I would do differently if I had it to do again. Well, now I have it to do again. So at least it will force me to go over everything again. At the end of the day, given what this project is costing, this isn't the end of the world. I just feel stupid for not having an oil pressure gauge. I ordered one today. Still need to see why it happened. I'm guessing I messed up the pick up tube somehow. I had one really late night where I messed up a few things trying to get done. I know I did it that night- then put the oil pan on and mashed the gasket. So I'll get to fix that too!

You know, really, I'm super bummed, but it's really not that huge a deal. Think of all the stuff going on in the word- the middle east, Japan. Shoot, I can't complain. I'm building a fun, goofy car to drive fast around cones in a parking lot. So I hit a set back. Eh. I'll work through it.

Take care,

Ed