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Turning crankshaft by hand.

When turning the crankshaft with a socket wrench and spark plugs not in head, should there be any resistance? I can turn it completely around but there is reasonable resistance. I measured w/ my torque wrench and at it's hardest point it reads about 10, maybe 15 ft-lbs. It rotates almost 180 deg w/ resistance, rotates more easily, and then goes almost another 180 w/ resistance, rotates more easily. It does this over and over. Is this just the pistons sliding up & down in the cyl.s. and at TDC and BDC it is more easily to rotate? I tried to put a few tablespoons of oil through the spark plug holes and it helped a little. The car has not been started in 3 months. Before I installed the head back I cleaned everything including piston tops w/ acetone and blew everything out w/ compressed air. I don't have the fuel or plugs installed yet so I didn't attempt to start it yet though. Should I try and start it or could this cause more damage? Thanks, Jerritt

Reply to
Mr J
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Sounds OK. Remember that you're also turning the cam which is having to compress the valve springs. That's where a lot of your resistance will be. Get the oil pressure up with the plugs out and then go for it.

Reply to
yeha

It only sees resistance at 180 degrees? It should see resistance at more points than that. It's got four cylinders and they fire in a sequence. Thus it should have pressure more or less every 90 degrees. But the pressure here is only from the valve springs so it's not going to be all that much. I've never measured this as it's not something one would normally measure. Why it's different at

180 degrees is odd but I'm not sure it makes that much difference.

As for starting, if you're sure you've got the camshaft timing setup properly then go ahead. Your putting some oil in there and turning the shaft will help. Make sure it's actually got oil in the pan of course (dipstick check).

The biggest risk you have (among the many) is that main cylinder bearings aren't clear or installed properly. But if it's already assembled it's not like you're going to take it apart to check them. And if when you put them in you gave the crank some turns and/or put some engine oil in there it's not like they'd have seized up due to sitting around. They don't generally seize due to just sitting around but that's usually because the engine was running and when shut down leaves a film of oil in there.

Anyway, make sure the timing (both cam and ignition) is correct and give it a try.

-Bill Kearney

Reply to
wkearney99

Forgot to mention that it is an EN engine 1.7L 8v if that helps

Reply to
Mr J

Reply to
Craig Williams

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