I just got to drive my truck for the first time and bam was going up a hill and the engine cut out. Now it wont crank. We towed it back to our hotel. I don't see any rods sticking out of the block or anything through the oil pan. It had brand new oil in it and I was watching the temp and oil pressure carefully and they were both good. Its a 351w. with I dont know how many miles on it but it ran so so so good before. I'm going to pull the starter first. Could it have seized? Im thinking the worst but im going to go through the accessories first and all of that and drain the oil. If this engine seized I guess my old that still ran i6 is going back in with the new pistons and rings and bearings that I already have. My 300 i6 is still sitting right in my storage ...this is gonna be fun swapping in just a few days.....but I absolutely have to or ill be on the street.

 

Put a socket on the crank and see if it turns. That is the easiest way I see to check if the engine will turn. You say it wont crank, will the starter engage and try to spin it? Or is it just not doing anything? If it is not doing anything the culprit could be in the electrical system rather than it being a mechanical problem.

 

X2
Yep see if motor will turn by hand first..
And when turning the key what happens?
Any lights come on, click from under hood or ?
Dave. ----

 

No argument there. Deep breath. Slow down. You made the huge jump from the engine simply stopped running (for unknown reasons) straight to having to replace it. Now if such a jump were an Olympic event, you might as well get up on the podium to claim the gold. But in the real world, this should be easy enough to figure out.

If the engine had suffered any catastrophic damage, such as a thrown rod, seizing, etc., you'd have known right away. You'd have seen big clouds of steam and smoke, and heard some rather unpleasant sounds. As previously suggested, turn the crankshaft with a big socket on the front. I think you will be pleasantly surprised to find the crankshaft still turns.

Heck, the problem could be as simple as a failed charging system, letting the battery run down while driving. Once the battery gets below a certain point, the ignition cuts out and your only choice is to coast to the side of the road with a dead engine. I would suggest beginning the troubleshooting by measuring battery voltage. Anything below 12.2V and your battery is dead. Regardless of the voltage reading, charge that poor battery before digging deeper elsewhere. Don't waste your time with a trickle charger. I highly recommend an automatic charger with at least a ten amp output to bring the battery back to a full charge.

After that, please tell us exactly what happens when you turn the key to the start position. Any response at all from the starter? A click or hum? How about the headlights? Do they work?

Please let us know and we can walk you through some further steps.

 

Yeah it just stopped on me going up hill and all I get is a thunk type noise from my starter. Everything electrical is good. I have the simplest of setups for electrical, all brand new 0 gauge grounds and positive wires to the starter and motor. All of it checked out when I was on the side of the road. Im about to go outside and take off the starter to see if it still spins at all. Could my carb have dumped too much gas in and hyrdolocked it? It is a cheapie china one. I was only going 25. On the upside I did feel my new c6 transmission shifting so so so crisp and perfect.

 

You must like laying on your back taking the starter in and out. Why not do what the other guys said and see if the engine will turn by the large bolt on the lower pulley?

 

I tend to look at the simplest things first. Could it have just stalled? If the ground isn't perfect you would get a clunk only from the solenoid and no action. Make sure you have a good ground connection and try to turn the engine as others have suggested.

 

oh yea, my 5 disintegrated discs and MS absolutely love laying on rocks Sorry I'm just stressed out

 

I suggest trying the above steps. As previously mentioned, see if the motor spins either by hand or with a socket. Next, check the battery voltage. As previously stated it could simply be a bad alternator and the battery is completely dead.

 

Any updates? Did you get that poor battery charged up? Note how I keep stressing that, because it's a very important preliminary step when troubleshooting.

Still waiting to hear back if you're able to turn the crankshaft using a breaker bar and socket. Once we know that's good, we can suggest some next steps.

 

Yes I got it charged up. Shes definitely locked up. I didn't see anything in the oil though nor did I hear anything weird besides the last rev before it just stopped. I'm pretty sure its my bearings. My oil was full and so is my trans fluid. It just lost power going up that hill and died. I've never ever seen this happen where you dont hear a bunch of racket like a wood pecker trying to get out. Im pulling the pan asap, and how I have it mounted I can get it right out of the engine bay because I custom made my own motor mounts. If nothing is too bad I'm going to try and sneak bearings in there like I did with my moms old car...it went 100k more after that nasty rod knock even with a scored up crank and that car was a hyundai cheapie from the 90s. Don't remember what motor that was but it was SUPER hard on that little car.

 

You'll have to excuse me, as my mind-reading ability is limited to what I learned from watching Carnac the Magnificent. Can you please elaborate how you determined the engine is "definitely locked up"?

Did you actually try turning the crankshaft with a socket and breaker bar? I see no mention of that. Or are you basing your diagnosis solely on what happens when you try to engage the starter?

Not trying to bust your butt, but would hate to see you running down a rabbit hole. There are plenty of reasons why a starter could bog down and stall, and most don't involve a seized engine.

 

Yes I did. It does not want to budge. Im going to try again when I have my strength back. I freaked out when it broke down and I have EXTREME PTSD, and it got so bad my neck hurt like someone punched me in it 50 or so times. I think I barely avoided a stroke from stress

 

Could my flex plate have broken and made the engine impossible to turn since it is on the back of the crank and maybe its lodged against the starter or bellhousing? Could that even happen? I'm going to remove the inspection cover to just check. I did all the normal stuff like checking my fluids, my rad was top full and all green and I don't smell any burnt in the oil and my trans fluid is bright pink as it should be. I'm just thinking because wouldn't I have heard a REALLY bad noise if I did have a bearing go?

 

You not hearing any bad engine noise, is why the experts here are questioning why you think you have bearing issues.

Normally you hear a knocking well before the engine stops. Back in 1991 when my dad drove the truck into my driveway with 96,000 miles on it, I mentioned the rod knock to him. A short time later we had the engine replaced. Normally these things don't happen in an instant without so visible damage.


Your first sentence has the word "bam" in it. That's misleading, did the engine in fact just stop running in an instant ?


I may have missed it, but what year truck is this ?

This is also not the engine that came in the truck...?