Topic: CLUNK!... crank locked up (Auto)

[maxstu]

I can't think what to advise?

If you are a home mechanic l would separate finaĺ drive from engine then spin again. A least that will determine the area of fault or problem.

I bought a non-runner with a locked engine after a back-fire. It melted the carb and swallowed bits locking the crank against the cam.

[chris7ian]

At lunch today, I called the tranny specialist that fixed the leak and he concurs that it could be the flexplate that's cracked, or that the engine has had it!... He confirmed they hadn't dropped the tranny for the work they did, so it's just 'one of those inconvenient things'.

I wouldn't call myself a home mechanic other than bolting on easy stuff! I have a good engine guy and a good tranny guy, but unfortunately the're not the same and are 10miles apart, so i'm going to look into having it transported to the engine guy first and take it from there.

I really didn't want to bespending chunks of cash this close to the new ULEZ but i have no choice!

Thanks for taking an interest and for the help and advice

[davidoft1]

At lunch today, I called the tranny specialist that fixed the leak and he concurs that it could be the flexplate that's cracked, or that the engine has had it!... He confirmed they hadn't dropped the tranny for the work they did, so it's just 'one of those inconvenient things'.

I wouldn't call myself a home mechanic other than bolting on easy stuff! I have a good engine guy and a good tranny guy, but unfortunately the're not the same and are 10miles apart, so i'm going to look into having it transported to the engine guy first and take it from there.

I really didn't want to bespending chunks of cash this close to the new ULEZ but i have no choice!

Thanks for taking an interest and for the help and advice

Engines don’t just break, check the flex plate bolts

[maxstu]

Can't if engine won't rotate. Only option is to separate final drive from engine.

[davidoft1]

Can't if engine won't rotate. Only option is to separate final drive from engine.

Rotate it backwards by hand, you can undo the engine to gearbox bolts to all them to come apart 5-10mm if it’s the flexplate that’s pretty likely to free it off enough to check

[maxstu]

Good call!

Would you need to remove transmission nose bolt first and a trolley jack to support it?

[davidoft1]

Good call!

Would you need to remove transmission nose bolt first and a trolley jack to support it?

leave all the bellhousing bolts in place and move the engine , you can get 5-10 without unbolting i think, though undoing the 4 engine bar bolts is easy enough then trolley jack to support the lot 

[chris7ian]

I'm not sure I understand - are you saying I can access the bolts and loosen enough to pull the engine away from transmission and then rotate by hand?
I'll have to find a diagram as I'm not familiar with the flexplate or bolts!

As an aside, I have a boroscope inspection camera at my disposal - is there anywhere I can poke that in to have a look before unbolting anything?
 

[davidoft1]

I'm not sure I understand - are you saying I can access the bolts and loosen enough to pull the engine away from transmission and then rotate by hand?
I'll have to find a diagram as I'm not familiar with the flexplate or bolts!

As an aside, I have a boroscope inspection camera at my disposal - is there anywhere I can poke that in to have a look before unbolting anything?
 

You can access the bolts anyway , there’s a hole in the engine case about 1 inch diameter . What I mean is if the engine is jammed on the flex plate then if you move the engine away from the gearbox there’s a good chance you will get the engine to move which will confirm it’s the flex plate , the engine has 2 bolts 2 studs holding it in you can remove the top ones and pull the nuts off the lower ones and the engine and gearbox will be free to move a little, the amount you move them away from each other should be enough to free it off , no need to remove engine/ gearbox etc and no it wont fall out at the lower studs have about 60mm spare

[maxstu]

Any news?

[chris7ian]

Not yet - had a busy week at work and no time at the weekend to look. I spoke to a very good (Aircooled) engine guy at the end of last week who agrees it sounds like the flexplate. In fact I've just remembered I was supposed to call him back today after he'd spoken to a mate of his who builds Waterboxers.

I tried last week to undo the 4 engine bolts to slide the motor back as suggested, but unfortunately just didn't have the leverage to loosen the 17mm nuts. I 'll try again after spraying penetrating fluid and getting hold of a longer spanner!

[maxstu]

Okay and good luck.
Make up some wood spacers about 5mm thick to shove between gearbox and engine. But not touching flexplate, off course.

[chris7ian]

Well...!

After having spoken with an auto-transmission specialist, a trusted (Aircooled) VW mechanic, and the collective knowledge on here, my bus went off to a VW engine specialist on the back of a lowloader to either replace the flexplate or build a new engine...

...but after removal and finding both in working order, a time consuming and expensive investigation took place which caused a lot of head scratching but gave no answers; the motor is no longer locked up but nobody knows why!

It's all back in the bus now and runs as smooth as it did before - I guess I would have just wasted the money on something else

Thanks for the input and help on this - it was very much appreciated

[davidoft1]

Probably just a jammed starter then

[chris7ian]

Probably just a jammed starter then

Ha! If only... the engine was locked up even with the starter removed.

Worse still, after only 20miles of driving and a few uneventful starts... it's locked up solid again!!