Use 6 Jackstands... I do!
-----Original Message----- From: Ken Bogart <[email protected]> To: Chuck <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] Sent: Mon, Jul 12, 2010 10:13 am Subject: Re: engine seized? bad electrical? You need to learn to trust your jackstands.... I have cars on them everyday in my garage. Another good alternative are Rhino Ramps. However, they really don't get the car high enough for the starter. Cinderblocks are NOT good jackstands. Ken Bogart ----------------------------------------------------- 96 Montego Blue FFS Coldside (His) 97 Black & Tan (Hers) 90 Crystal White (sons) ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.miatacare.com http://www.cincimiata.com http://www.miatagathering.com http://www.bcchallenger.org MiataMail.com list owner On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 9:10 AM, Chuck <[email protected]> wrote: Update: a little gentle persuasion with a big wrench and some MMO in the cylinders has done the trick. The engine spins freely now. It wasn't stuck very bad - the real problem seems to be the starter. I'm assuming it's rusted in place, because the drive gear doesn't seem to budge when you hit the key. I don't have it out of the car yet, so I'm going by how it sounds. A few whacks with a hammer didn't make any difference. Tonight I'll take it out and see what I can do with it... or replace it. BTW - I hate crawling under a car on jack stands... wish there was another way to get those $%^#$% starter bolts out. My neighbor was crushed to death under his truck about 2 months ago, so I'm very wary of getting under 2000# of steel. I'm going to stack up some cinder blocks under the chassis "just in case", but I still hate crawling under there. Anybody want to come to Indiana and do this for me? ;) -Chuck [email protected] wrote: Okay, you had no big wrench, but you couldn't get, what, the CRANK pulley to turn? How did you try to turn the engine by hand? What did you do? This is important. In a message dated 7/10/2010 6:37:36 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Hey guys, After almost 3 years off the road, I'm finally trying to get my 97 FM2 running again. I took it apart to replace the wiring harness and ended up doing suspension, cooling system and brakes too. I'm getting close to having it back together, and went to start it today... and got nothing. I haven't done a lot of trouble shooting yet, and thought I'd come here for ideas first. The Link boots up and I get all the dashboard lights. Fuel pump runs. When I turn the key to start, the engine will not spin, the tach goes to 2500 and there's a buzzing under the hood that sounds like a jammed electric motor. I do not hear anything like a starter engaging.... just the buzzing. Then the Link screen goes to all black bars and appears to reboot. The battery has a decent charge, and I've also tried with a charger hooked up for extra boost. So... I pulled the plugs and #3 was really rusty, with a rust spot on top of the piston. I have no idea what leaked... but something did. I didn't have my big wrench handy, but with the plugs out I could not get the engine to turn by hand. Considering the car has been in pieces for so long, it makes trouble shooting a little harder. Any ideas on what I should be looking at first? If the engine is seized up, what's the best way to break it loose? I double checked the wiring harness compatibility when I swapped it 2 years ago, so everything should be good there, but I'm not certain that it's not part of the problem. thanks! -Chuck _______________________________________________ Miatapower mailing list [email protected] http://list.miatapower.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/miatapower _______________________________________________ Miatapower mailing list [email protected] http://list.miatapower.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/miatapower
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