Finally made it home from the Bash and tucked the car back in the garage. We had a great time on Saturday. A big thank you to our wonderful hosts, Bob and Cindy and we are looking forward to next year. There is some work to do though!!!
Drove the 1250 miles up there in the group without issue and got over 18 MPG out of a big block on a couple of tanks which really surprised me. The trip home was not as fortunate!!!
We had just left the area around the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit on Sunday getting on I94 and shifted into 5th gear around 50. The car started to shake, I thought a tire came apart. I pushed in the clutch and headed for the side of the road. On the way to the shoulder the engine died. Did a walk around on the side of the road, all tires are good. Under the hood, all looks as it should. Try to start the car, it does not want to turn over.
After a wrecker ride to the nearest hotel, I start looking for the cause.
No water in the oil.
No loss of coolant in radiator.
Pull valve covers, push rods look like they are supposed to, nothing appears bent or out of place.
Pull spark plugs, they appear ok to me. Nothing coming out of the cylinders either.
Used the ignition to spin the motor over. It goes about a turn and a half then stops. Hit the key again, and it spins even less and stops. Popped the distributor cap to look at rotor, it turns as the motor turns.
Loosened all belts, the water pump and all accessories spin freely. No improvement to length of time engine will spin over. I used a breaker bar on the harmonic balancer bolt, I could barely get it to move.
Took a picture through the hole in Scatter shield of clutch and TO bearing. It looks like it should.
I don’t have a oil pressure gauge, to know what the oil pressure was at that moment right before it died, it hadn’t made it high enough on my priority list to install. Wiping the dipstick on a clean paper towel a couple of times produced a few metal shavings.
What comes to mind is a spun bearing, broken rod, thrust bearing is shot allowing the flywheel bolts to contact block, or something worse. Not sure what would be worse. I guess on the bright side, there is no window in the block!!
It literally took all day Monday to secure a tow vehicle and trailer then left Tuesday morning headed for home stopping to see some sites along the way. Such as the Uranus Fudge Factory, General Store, and Side Show in Saint Roberts Missouri, Fantastic Cavern in Springfield Missouri and the Titanic Museum in Branson. Drove through Eureka Springs to visit the Crescent Hotel that was built in 1886.
I will try to pull the pan to see what it can tell me this weekend and get in idea for the plan forward. I don’t see how this will get resolved without pulling the motor. I have a couple of months of work around the house before I can start that!! Keep y’all posted.
Thanks for the help and advice offered on Sunday and Monday.
Last edited by Bolted to Floor (6/30/2019 11:46 AM)
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