Cowboi

today i changed the head gasket on my brothers 1.4 mk3 golf.

at first a thought the crank pully bolt had to come out so get the alternator belt pully off. this wouldnt come out using usual methods so i wedged a breaker bar against the floor and tried flicking the starter motor over, walked back to the pully to see if it had done the job and flet that there was 4 allen key bolts actually holding the pully on.
ripped them off, set it all to tdc and started doing the gasket. all went ok.

crank and cam timed up, new timing belt on.

I turned the engine over from the crank pully a number of times and put it back to tdc to make sure all was well and it was.
carried on putting the rest of the bits together.

when finished i connected the battery and went to turn it over and nothing.
at first i thought i must have broke the starter motor and he had a spare one so i swopped them.
still nothing, just the solonoid clicking but not even trying to start.

i put a socket back on the crank pully and it was totally solid, wouldnt budge either way.

any ideas what could cause this, or where i should start looking tomorrow.

the engine was fine after the head was on and torqued up. one of the last things i did was fit the alternator belt and i turned the engine over then to help slide the belt over the pully.

any ideas would be great as ive left him with no car and need to get it sorted.

as355f1

have you put the water in ? possibly gasket wrong way round or damaged and you have filled a cylinder with water, easy to check just pull the plugs out

JTECH James

iTrader: (13)

un your position, i would now remove the cam belt and see what end has locked up, then investihate why.

Cowboi

plugs are out, still locked up.

cam belt off and the cam turns fine, crank wont budge.

i must have turned the engine over about 10 times since torqueing the head down and fitting the belt.

thats whats making me thing maybe its something to do with the fly wheel or gearbox but dont really see what it could be.

there was no water in it when i first tried to start it

Lloyd

slacken off the crank pully,seems like its locking up when tight.

Cowboi

ive taken the pully on the crank sprocket off (the pully that has the alternator belt on it)

still dosent budge

Lloyd

have you tried turning it backwards?

Cowboi

yep tried going both ways and it dosent move at all either way

Lloyd

if it was turning over before you added all the other parts,then you are just going to have to remove everything,untill it starts to turn again. i would start with the starter motor.

Cowboi

i have taken most things off that went on after it was turning over.

starter motor as soon as i get home. fingers crossed.

escort greg

is it in gear

Garage19

Haven't left a socket down a bore have you?

Cowboi

lol, no. ive been pushing it about

Cowboi

99% sure i havnt, wouldnt that of stopped me from being about to turn it over at all though?

AlexF

without the cam belt on the cam moves? Does the crank also move?

Cowboi

nope, havn't been able to move the crank since i noticed it had gone solid!

AlexF

Plugs out and not full of fuel or water is it?

Cowboi

plugs are out, it didnt have water in it, could have fuel in cylinders but with the plugs out i should at least be able to move the crank a bit. ive even had a half decent length bar on it and it dosent move even a few mm either way

JTECH James

iTrader: (13)

not something like an incorrect length starter bolt touching the flywheel or something like that...

clarke5700

humm sound funny mate all the idears i had have all redy been mentioned

Cowboi

thats all i can think of really, gonna drop the motor off and see what happens.

tempted then to unbolt the engine from the box and see what happens.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

does it turn backwards ok or not at all either direction?

if it was turning when you had the head off then it can only be soemthing stopping it from turning that's int he way now

strip it down

RickRS1976

iTrader: (1)

dont want to sound big headed but the starter bolts are 2 different lengths and if you put them the wrong way it sits nicely holding the ring gear locking the bottom end...ive been there and worried like you most likely are! but i only changed the starter not the head gasket.......

Cowboi

dosent turn either way.

it was turning after the head was on and torqued up and timing belt on.

Cowboi

i remember the bolts being differnt. one really long and can only go in one hole.

the other to im pretty sure are right too but im going to take the motor off and see what happens.

Cowboi

SORTED.

turns out the starter motor i fitted yesterday was slightly different. took it off and it freed up the engine straight away.
oiled up the old one and tested it on the bench, all seamed ok so fitted it back on and it started, well after putting the jump leads on.

i think the reason it didnt start yesterday with the original starter motor was a slightly flat battery. and because i had used it to try and undo the crank bolt i thought i had broke it.

a bloody flat battery lead me all round the car undoing and changing things that was ok.

C4llyT

Lol, years ago at garage we fitted a starter to a renault camper thing with different number of teeth, 2 batterries and a jump pack got it started with a bit of a screech
Matey left it running for when customers came to collect....

Panic over then mate, hate worries like this!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

glad you sorted it mate without a total stripdown

Cowboi

i feel like a prize twat. lol

it was the same starter motor but the cog sat about 1/2inch prouder.
should of seen the smile on my face when it turned over after i got the motor off.

cheers everyone for ur thoughts and ideas!

AlexF

Glad you got it sorted

rst in breaking

iTrader: (2)

cowie you skool boi lol, glad you got it sorted and all is well, bet ian wern't happy thinking you buggered his engine. see you tonight for some drunken shannanigans!!!