Question for the engine gurus

[Bama_Runner]

I bought a wrecked 98 4WD as a donor to convert my 2WD to 4WD. It was in a light rollover and I was told the engine is good. The engine gets to a point where it will not turn. It's like there is something internal keeping it from turning past a certain point. The starter just clicks but will not turn. I put a socket on it with a cheater bar and it won't budge. I can turn it backward about 5 turns of the crank and then try the starter and it will turn over a couple times and then stop at the same spot. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Avwizz]

Are the spark plugs out? Also does your runner have the same engine as the donor vehicle? you only need the trans for the swap. (forgive me if these sounds like retarded questions but I don't know the entirety of the situation)

 

[kball]

Pull the plugs and see if you can turn it with a ratchet. It could be if it laid on it's side for a while that oil got past the rings and is between the piston and head causing a hydrolock.

 

[ehsolis]

Noise under hood

I have a 1997 4x2 ,back in 03 it started making a knocking/ticking sound ,so my dad ( Was his ,now mine) took to dealer ,was checked out they couldn't find the problem so I just went home drive with noise still there and now 2014 with 22500 miles still running. Since I took ownership I would like to get down to the cause of noise. I've checked other forums and folks post stuff about it but no one has ever said what the problem was( YouTube it too). this seems to be a common thing on this year model. Please need to get to bottom of noise.

 

[TakeitApart]

Pull the plugs and see if you can turn it with a ratchet. It could be if it laid on it's side for a while that oil got past the rings and is between the piston and head causing a hydrolock.

If it's hydrolocked, he should be able to nudge it up against what's causing the stoppage, pull the plugs and then it would turn over by hand. If you wait long enough, the oil/water should leak down past the rings and make it able to be turned over as well.

 

[KidVermicious]

Disclaimer - not an engine guru.

I bought a wrecked 98 4WD as a donor to convert my 2WD to 4WD. It was in a light rollover and I was told the engine is good. The engine gets to a point where it will not turn. It's like there is something internal keeping it from turning past a certain point. The starter just clicks but will not turn. I put a socket on it with a cheater bar and it won't budge. I can turn it backward about 5 turns of the crank and then try the starter and it will turn over a couple times and then stop at the same spot. Anyone got any ideas?

That doesn't sound promising. You can try pulling the plugs and looking inside the cylinders for anything amiss. You could also drop the oil pan and see what's what from the bottom. But generally speaking, if you can't rotate the engine with the starter or at the crank, Something Very Bad™ is going on in there.

 

[Bama_Runner]

Thanks guys. I will pull the plugs and see if I can see anything going on there. I guess I need to explain that the truck was rolled back in July of 2013 and has been sitting since. I don't want the engine to put in my current truck. I just want to be able to sell the engine and would like to get it running if possible. In addition, I would like to be able to test the transmission and transfer case before I pull them to make sure there aren't any issues there. It has had the timing belt/water pump changed within the last 50,000 miles and was previously owned by a Toyota mechanic.

 

[LittleCaesar]

I'd pull the valve covers as well to see if you can see the cams turning. But pull the plugs first.