Hi guys, first post here but I need some advice as I’m rather unfamiliar with these motors. Picked up an 89 f350 about a week ago, thought I turned the motor over a full 360 degrees to make sure the engine wasn’t siezed before I bought it, it was a ran when parked deal. Fast forward to today, new starter, fuel filter, injectors, glow plugs, ready to start.. cranked, bump. Won’t budge. Motor turns over by hand when just grabbing the torque converter, until it hits that spot about 90% of the way through its rotation. Any ideas? How prone are these motors for having stuck valves, no fluid in any of the cylinders from what I could see with a borescope, and I wouldn’t think I could turn the motor over so easily just by hand if it had a bent rod or rust in the cylinders

 

Impossible to diagnosis by staring at a monitor in my opinion. Like I used to say, time for some exploratory surgery.

 

I was thinking something might have dropped into the intake.
Is the screen still over the intake on the manifold? It is round and
about 4" across. Some people want to remove them for better air
intake. Bad idea.

You did say it turned over by hand, now bumps against something.
Remove the Glow plugs and see if she will rotate. maybe some
liquid in one of the cylinders and that will hydro lock it.
By removing the GP`s it will blow it out. Just a thought.

Charlie

 

Hey guys, thanks for the advice! I pulled valve covers and the rear most cylinder on the drivers side dropped a valve, haven’t pulled the head yet to look at the full extent of the damage but I can only assume the motor at this point is gonna need a new set of bearings, a new piston and a sleeve. Luckily my neighbor has a junkyard with probably a dozen different running IDI motors and a wealth of used blocks and heads, so I’m probably going to get a head from him and have a local machine shop fix that cylinder and reseal the motor for me. Got quoted $150 for a new sleeve plus the cost of a piston & bearings, and $200 for a used head and whatever labor I’d have to do on my own to yank the motor and buy the gasket set myself

 

i would pull the broken engine, and drop a running engine in the truck.
then tear the broken engine apart to see what all it needs.
if it sucked a valve, it will probably need a total rebuild.

 

TJ is right on the money. An IDI is an IDI.. you're gonna wrestle away a fair chunk of change saving that broken motorb when you'd likely be doing the neighbor a huge favor and getting 1k lbs of trip hazard out of his yard, lol. Best of luck!!

 

I outta buy a lottery ticket! Dropped valve must have came completely loose only when truck was shut off. Two ~1/16th of an inch divets in the piston top, and a mark where it initially hit heh, but the cylinder wall was in perfect condition. Head looks ok, I’m going to get a new valve guide pressed in and a new seat and valve, motor turns over squeaky clean now, only one cylinder presented issues

 

Wow thats some good luck there!

 

I bought a 2000 Powerstroke engine complete with turbo, injectors and all sheet metal for $450 a few years ago and the guy changed it and said it was smoking and missing bad. I dunno why it was not used for a core? Anyway, a valve had gotten stuck and the piston came up and hit it, nice marks on piston. Someone rebuilt the heads and replaced all the valve guides with bronze, NOT GOOD!

I replaced all the valve guides and all the exhaust valves and seals, they are ready to go spares. Make sure you or the shop does NOT use bronze valve guides on a Diesel, just saying.

The valve was not bent, just seized in the guide.
I used to say “It takes all kinds.” A friend of mine heard me say that once and told me his wife would have replied, “There may be all kinds of people, but we certainly don’t need them all.” This was one of those times!