Like the title states, the mini clutch job has taken me to the cleaners. Ive posted a couple of threads during my mini clutch job and has helped out tremendously. The car is virtually completed and everything put back together EXCEPT, now something seems to be blocking the engine from turning over at all. My friends and i seem to think that maybe something is blocking the flywheel from spinning and causing the system to lock up. Here are some of the symptoms and what we tried to get the vehicle started:

1. With the front wheels off the ground and the car in gear, we can not get the wheels to turn at all. In nuetral, the wheels spin freely (they spin opposite direction since it is an open diff). My thought is, in gear, shouldnt we be able to get the wheels to spin in the same direction with some force?

2. Also with the front wheels lifted off the ground, we tried to put a socket on the harmonic balancer and turn the crank, still nothing. We had also pulled the spark plugs as to not fight compression.

3. tried to push start the car(I was very reluctant to try this but i got out-voted by my two assistants.). The car would roll with the clutch fully depressed but as soon as the clutch would engage, the car would come to a dead stop. And i mean that literally. DEAD STOP.

4. The starter motor only makes a clicking noise when trying to start the car. The battery is full and we also tried using another battery that is basically brand new.

We are all a little puzzled as to what could be stopping the engine from turning over. We seem to think that something is blocking the flywheel from spinning since the starter motor ony clicks.
Is there something that we are missing?

 

#1 confirms it's not a transmission problem, I'm assuming you can put it in gear and turn the wheels, while holding clutch in
#3 confirms engine is fine
#2/4 confirm you need to look in that bottom plug with any luck you can get whatever is binding out.

I would remove the starter and see if it is bound up too, see if you can turn it over with the starter out

failing luck I think you already know what you have to do

I would not force it, whatever is stuck in there is gonna break something when it comes loose

 

I have EXACTLY all the same conditions as you. I did my clutch job months ago and the car drove perfectly fine for many many months. I just replaced the starter and battery as well and that made no difference.


Subscribing......

 

Are you saying that you drove the mini after the clutch job? I just put mine back together and cant get it to budge.

 

You need someone on each wheel or you're just spinning the diff. In neutral you should easily be able to spin both wheels the same direction. We know from test #3 that the clutch works and that you can turn the transmission while in gear.

Clutch out, 6th gear, plugs pulled - can you turn both wheels the same direction? It'll require some force as mentioned to overcome engine friction.

I would say this confirms it's locked. I assume this was tried in 3rd gear or higher? In 1st you'll probably just lock the wheels regardless.

 

I had been driving it for months after the clutch job. Car started right up and commuted with it a total of about 7,000 miles. My current thread is here:


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tart-lost.html

 

Im a little nervous to ask what you mean by "bottom plug"? Are you talking about the oil drain plug? And by "you know what you have to do", im assuming you mean "scrap the car"?

 

I think he means tear the transmission off the car again and check the install......I wouldn't want to do that again either after ding that job

 

Yes, we can spin both wheels in the same direction while in nuetral.
The tests of trying to get the system to turn when trying the harmonic balancer, getting the wheels to spin in the same direction while lifted off ground and while trying to push start the vehicle, were all done in 1st gear.
I was also wondering if it would be beneficial to remove the belt while trying to turn the harmonic balancer?

 

It'll eliminate anything on the belt (frozen SC etc.).

If you were in 1st I would consider tests #1 and #3 inconclusive, that's a lot of reduction. #1 should be 6th and the manual recommends push-starting in 3rd. Test #2 is still worrying.

I'd remove the belt, put in neutral, and try to turn everything on the belt plus the crank again. If you still can't turn the crank, I'm no expert but unfortunately unless folks have more points to check externally...

 

It takes very little time to take the belt off, can't hurt to try

Also, have you tried it after removing the starter?

There's only so many things that would prevent it from turning over. The starter has to come off to pull the tranny so no reason not to try that too.

Like mega said, the tranny is going to need to come off if the engine refuses to turn over. From what you have told us something is stuck. You just put a clutch in, the only thing that has changed since it last ran was you pulling the tranny and then putting it back on. The only parts that touch the moving engine are the starter, clutch and flywheel. You can put it into neutral so it's not the transmission itself.

So unless a completely different part just happened to fail without you touching it, one would have to assume it's something you installed.

 

if the flywheel bolts are too long they would keep everything from moving they are short little buggers do you remember if yours were short?

 

Very likely that the clutch disk is installed backwards? It's very easy to do, and the clutch springs would bind up and catch.

 

I'm with some of the others, pull the starter, since you can engage the clutch and roll the car, it sounds like something is binding the flywheel. Pulling the starter and trying to turn it over by hand will eliminate the starter from the equation and it'll have to come off anyway to go farther.

 

So, ive developed a small game plan. It sounds like the first thing i should do is to pull the starter, spark plugs, put the vehicle in 6th gear and try to spin the front wheels in the same direction. My next step will be to pull off the belt and check all moving parts to see if they turn freely. After that, might as well go get the starter tested to see if it is nit getting stuck.
Very curious as to what could have caused the transmission to lock up while replacing the clutch? I did buy an aftermarket clutch and aluminum flywheel from a member on here. Everything seemed to workout fine with the install as far as i could tell. The flywheel was spinning when we put it on the crank and during assembly.
I really do not want to pull the tranny out again at all. Hopefully i can catch a break on the starter or something