So I just got my car back from the shop bc I ended up having to get a pushrod replaced to get it running again. I posted a thread a while back regarding the car not being able to stay running and it was because I lacked compression in a cylinder. However, a new problem has happened. Today, I started the car and it would stay running as it should. However it would stall a little after putting it into gear. So to warm it up, I gave it gas which resulted in a backfire type sound and stall and now the car won't start. The oil dipstick raised a few inches out of the tube and smoke was coming from it and now the engine won't even turn over. When I try starting it, it basically clicks and the fan will barely move. The car was sitting for quite a while so I am understanding that I will need to make quite a few repairs to get it running the way it was 14 years ago. Any help would be wonderful

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1973 Plymouth Gold Duster
48,000 Original Miles

That sounds bad. Have you tried turning the motor over by hand using the belts and the fan? I would start by pulling all the spark plug and see if the motor will still turn over. Try turning it both ways. If the motor won't turn over by hand then it is time to start disassembling to see why the engine is locked up. Start by pulling the head and see if there is some kind of damage in a bore that it keeping the engine from turning over. If nothing is immediately apparent, then it is time to pull the motor and drop the pan and see what is going on.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

nope, I already tried it. The fan will move but the belt and all of the pulleys stay in place.

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1973 Plymouth Gold Duster
48,000 Original Miles

Did you try turning the motor over both ways? If it wouldn't turn either way then it is time to start disassembling the motor. If you are lucky, it is something like an intake valve hung open and jammed into the top of the cylinder. Maybe you will get luck and be able to just get the head rebuilt and run the block as is. Hopefully it isn't something bad like a connecting rod snapping or the camshaft breaking.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

yeah man I'm hoping it's nothing TOO insanely major, you know? I just have to understand that this car is hold and was just sitting in a garage for so long; so many things could fail and I am sometimes to naive to expect it.

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1973 Plymouth Gold Duster
48,000 Original Miles

The first thing you could do would be pull the valve cover and see if there is anything obvious like a valve sucked too far down in the head. Beyond that you are talking about disassembly time.

It might be easier in the short run to pick up a used running motor and swap it in.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I'm with Reed on this. Pull the valve cover and look closely at all the pushrods, rocker arms, and valves. Pay particular attention to the one that you had replaced. It may be possible that something is going on with that individual valve train section.

Roger

I pulled the valve cover and check everything out- nothing unusual. next step is going to be pulling the head. I am pretty worried about snapping a bolt since I don't know if this thing has ever been removed.

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1973 Plymouth Gold Duster
48,000 Original Miles

That was with the spark plugs out of the head, and some tension placed on the fan belt with your other hand, correct?

You also pulled the spark plugs and they all still have their electrodes and the insulators intact? Are any darker/lighter than the others? (any mystery flecks of material on the electrode?)

If it's jammed up then it's time to pull it and have a real look see....If a chunk of something fell into one of the combustion chamber it would stop turning in either direction when the piston approached TDC. I have a cast crank 225 that had such bad detonation on once cylinder it blew a hole in the center of the piston (owner couldn't understand why the cylinder had no compression all of a sudden after it went "pop").

Good luck on the autopsy.

-D.Idiot

Yup, the plugs were out while the belt was getting pushed

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1973 Plymouth Gold Duster
48,000 Original Miles

You'd have to be extraordinarily unlucky to break a head bolt. It's not like a Chevy where the head bolts go into the water jacket.

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Joshua

so I can just turn them without fear? I was fearing that the heads would just snap off since they are in so damn tight, you know?

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1973 Plymouth Gold Duster
48,000 Original Miles

1/2 inch breaker bar should do it. Those head bolts are only torqued to about 70 lbft.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

oil pump sheared a key no oil
locked up.

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

does that mean I am going to have to replace the oil pump and the oil drive gear as well as check for potential engine damage caused by the lockup?

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1973 Plymouth Gold Duster
48,000 Original Miles