newspeed

I am reaching out for help here....Making a long story short my '88 951 clutch went bad so decided to pull the engine and do a complete reseal. Life happened and the engine sat on a stand for about 2-3 months. Started working on the project again installed the engine back in the car without the timing belt and cam tower off. Problem is now the engine is stuck and the crank will not turn no matter what I try. Im guessing sitting in a cold garage without oil somehow managed to freeze the engine.

I have tried marvel mystery oil soaking in the cylinders for 2 weeks now, starter motor did not break it free, putting car in gear and rocking it back an forth, breaker bar with a pipe on the crank bolt, and none of this has worked.

I am so close to completing the car but stuck because of the engine issue....I'm even contemplating selling the car as-is or parting it out but I really would rather get it running.

Any suggestions to get the engine free without taking it out of the car again? I really don't have the time anymore and have lost my patience for this car.

Joe Jackson

There's no way the cold or corrosion froze your engine in 3 months.

I bought a parts car years ago that supposedly had a frozen engine. Turned out that a bolt had fallen inside of the bell housing and jammed up against the flywheel ring gear. Pulling the bell housing freed the engine. I'm guessing your issue has a similar root cause.

newspeed

Well the thing is I installed the clutch and bell housing while the engine was out and then carefully taped over all the openings to make sure nothing fell inside. I am almost positive nothing fell inside the bell housing.

Joe Jackson

Did you reinstall the speed and reference sensors yet?

newspeed

yes, while the engine was out. I notched the bell housing and installed them with the proper clearance. It's definitely not the sensors hitting the flywheel.

krystar

what about hand turning it the OTHER way?

newspeed

tired it both ways...no go.

krystar

interesting...there should be SOME wiggle room unless something welded itself in.

Joe Jackson

Well, there might have been some wiggle room but if he put a breaker bar and pipe on the crank bolt, whatever was lightly stopping the engine is now pretty well jammed in there. My best is still on something inside of the bell housing. The only other option is that something fell down one of the oil ports and is jamming the crank inside of the oil pan.

newspeed

nope none...that is what is making me think something rusted/seized.

My Next plan of attack is to overfill fill the crankcase with marvel mystery oil so it soaks the crank for a while...

I am also thinking heating up the engine a bit would do wonders (its currently around 30-40* here)....can I pour some hot/almost boiling water into the coolant pipe of the block to warm it up and hopefully allow some of the metal to expand? I though about pointing a heat gun at the block but dont think it will distribute the heat evenly. I am trying not to do more damage.

Joe Jackson

Please, do yourself a favor and simply retrace your steps. I know it will suck pulling the engine back out but you are far more likely to find the source of the issue doing that than what you've just described. 30-40 degrees is not cold at all. Certainly not cold enough to freeze up an engine that had coolant in it that was in a garage. The same applies to rust. Even if you had drained every drop of oil from the engine, unless you filled it with salt water it would not have completely frozen up in such a short time.

944Ross

Did you use something besides oil to prelube the main/rod bearings? I once used Lubriplate on a Healey engine I did in the winter in Chicago. We had to drag it around the block with a rope and dump the clutch to even get it to turn (ruined my rear tires , they'd lock up) Finally got it to turn enough to get actual oil in the bearings and all was fine. Tight clearances, high viscosity = major effort to turn.

Jfrahm

That lubriplate story sounds more like you had a bent crank and just needed to mush the bearings to more-or-less fit.

As for the OP there have been cases of 928 engines locking up after assembly, I do not recall the details. I'll look around.

Jfrahm

OK found it. Supposedly a problem with the rings:

https://rennlist.com/forums/2390460-post1.html

newspeed

I did replace the rod bearing and used lubro moly assembly lube. Girdle and main bearing were not touched. Piston/rings were never touched either. The funny thing is the crank was turning smoothly after the rods were replaced but after sitting on the stand dry it froze up.

I filled up the crank case with 5w30 and marvel mystery oil close to 10 quarts (will be drained and filled with proper fluid once it breaks free)...I'm going to let it soak for a day or two and try warming the block with a heat gun...keeping my fingers crossed that it frees up.