Hi guys I have a 1995 4door 4x4 blazer with the 4.3 "W" engine. I just replaced the spider, and went to drop the oil, and had 2 gallons of antifreeze it, so I took it apart and put in a new intake gasket which fixed my leak. I then removed all the plugs and and sprayed the cylinders with wd-40, replaced the oil and filter. And hit the key and it spun over and stopped. Now it seems like the motor is locked up. So I took off the fan and tried spinning it by hand no dice, on the crank bolt and then the water pump with extra belt tension. Anyone got any ideas or suggestions? I'd like to keep the vehicle its only got 118 on it and ran and drives perfect until the spider issue.

Thanks Scott

 

pull the plugs and see if it will spin .possibly have a cylinder full of AF.

 

Right now I have all the plugs out and I can't spin it by hand or using the starter.... Any ideas? Had the plugs out and spun over fine blowing antifreeze out the open plug holes. Is there a way to rotate the engine backwards?

 

LONG breaker bar, with a socket on the crank (or crank pulley).

 

like Schrade said, or you could try by hand. jsut grab the harmonic balancer and turn it back.

it's sounding like you might have dropped something down inside the engine, when you were doing the lower intake gasket.

my dad had a 400 in one of his trucks lock up 'cause he had somehow managed to drop a 3/8 nut down the carb (found it after he pulled the head).

 

Everything was accounted for all nuts and bolts. The wierd thing is that it spun fine and then stopped. Do you thing that it could still be AF in a cylinder? I think I'll try a turkey baster with hose and see what I get. then maybe oil the cylinders down for a few days and see where that takes me. Anyone ever make up a rig to spin the harmonic balancer? the bolt doesnt seem like it would take much abuse. and when i go backwards it loosens. and forwards it spins...

 

it's possible that there could be AF in there, but you really need to find out why the engine won't rotate anymore.

as for oiling down the cylinders for a few days, don't waste your time or money (on the oil). when i had the 5.7 in my other 'Burb get flooded (it filled 4 cylinders almost completely), i just pulled all the plugs, drained the oil, and turned the engine over by hand using the HB. re-filled the engine with fresh oil, gave a squirt of light oil (way-lube oil or a 5W30 synthetic will do) in each cylinder, rotated the engine again a few times by hand. installed the plug after cleaning them with some carb cleaner, and she fired right up! a little smokey, but ran fine.

i wouldn't recomend using anything with excessive leverage on the HB bolt, you more likely to shear the bolt or jam the HB into the crank.

are you taking off the belt before you do this? it's a hell of a lot easier to turn over an engine without any of the accesories dragging.

when you mention that it loosens when you spin it backwards, were you refering to the bolt, & using a j-bar or ratchet? if so, just try doing it by hand-after you take off the belt.

GL, keep us posted.

 

It definitely sounds like you are still hydro-locked somewhere. Pull all of the plugs again (all at once) and try to rotate the engine. It should move very easily without the plugs in.

If it does not move freely without the plugs in then there is a possibility that your starter may have jammed when you reached the compression stroke of whatever cylinder is/was full of AF or fuel or whatever it may be that is causing the hydro-lock.

You can try giving the starter a good whack with a hammer but that rarely works with how the starters are positioned on these trucks. You will more then likely need to unbolt the starter form the engine to get it to disengage from the flywheel without damaging it.

 

you know, when you're used to doing something yourself..................you kinda assume it's a given.

now i hope he was pulling them all @ once......but if not..................well, now i know why my old machine shop teacher in HS always said you never ***ume anything.

 

I've learned the hard way over the years that it is easier to just say it when it comes to these kinds of things. Better to ignore the potential eye rolls then it is to spend hours later trying to figure out why something that always worked for you didn't work for the other person.