Trying to manually turn engine over Tahoe 5.7 1999

[JohnDoe]

Hello,

I am new to this forum. My engine will not turn over. Starter is new rebuilt. Battery is new and charged. When I turn the key I here the starter kick the engine with a thud, but it will not turn over. (Actually when I changed starter I noticed a couple teeth missing off flywheel). I have fuel leaking into oil. I assume I have fuel leaking down and filling the pistons thereby stopping the engine from turning over. I have removed all the spark plugs(to spit fuel out of pistons) and tried to start and still will not turn over. What do I have to do to manualy turn over the engine with spark plugs removed? Do I need to remove the belt and get to the crankshaft bolt? and turn the crankshaft with a socket wrench?

John

5.7 1999 Tahoe

 

[SunlitComet]

With the plugs removed you can turn the engine in direction of rotation using the center bolt on crank pulley with a ratchet. Longer the better makes it easier. As far as the starter do you hear it spinng or it just engages and just does not rotate afterwards. You need to find out if you injection assembly is leaking if you are filling the cylinders.

 

[JohnDoe]

With the plugs removed you can turn the engine in direction of rotation using the center bolt on crank pulley with a ratchet. Longer the better makes it easier. As far as the starter do you hear it spinng or it just engages and just does not rotate afterwards. You need to find out if you injection assembly is leaking if you are filling the cylinders.

To SunlitComet:

Which way is engine rotation? Would that be clockwise or counterclockwise on the crank pulley? Also I just remove the belt and the fan?

The starter hits but doesn't turn over. It used to do this and i'd leave it alone for a day then try it again and it would kick over. I dont hear it spinning. I guess it could be a bad starter, but I am trying to manually rotate the engine in case it is sstuck somehow.

I am pretty sure the injection assembly is leaking maybe the regulator or the spider or both. I will fix it when I have enough money.

The Tahoe has been setting up for about 4 months because I didn't want to drive it with the fuel leaking into oil.

Thanks,

John

 

[ChiTahoe]

I do believe it's clockwise (when standing in front of vehicle and looking at the steering wheel) If all you hear is a click and nothing else, you may have a bad starter. If it's flooded and the starter is engaged usually you will hear noise and see smoke from the battery cables after a few sec.

 

[SunlitComet]

Rotation is clockwise when standing at front of vehicle looking at engine. If I were you I would strongly consider draining the oil and putting a fresh batch it with filter and manually prime the engine oil system since it has been sitting four months.

 

[wistler1]

If its been sitting too long without the plugs in it then the rings may of ceased up. Try squirting some penitrating lube in the plug holes the working the crank shaft back and forth.

 

[JohnDoe]

Thanks y'all. I drive all week so this weekend I'll try some penetrating oil and try to rotate the crank clockwise from the front looking at the engine. Spark plugs are out.

It needs to be in nuetral to turn it manually?

I need to remove the fan and the top fan shroud and belt?

If I can turn the engine, and it still wont turn over with the starter I will take starter to Autozone for testing.

John

 

[retorq]

I've personally ripped the threads out of the crank snout doing exactly what these guys are suggesting you do ... pull the tranny cover (which is probably already pulled since you can see missing teeth) and use a flywheel tool.

 

[SunlitComet]

If auto tranny it don't matter. just fan off should give enough room if not then upper shroud off too. belt does not matter.

 

[gpracer1]

I usually just put a socket on the alternator since it is small you get a good force multipier, no problem with plugs out.....on a normal engine without problems.

 

[ScottyBoy]

Hopefully this isn't your problem, but my mom had a Chevy Astro van with the same symptoms as you. We thought the starter was bad, so we bought a new starter. Same thing, just one clunk when turning the key, then nothing. Also, the engine quit running on her one day and we never could get it to turn over after that. Tried turning the crank pulley with a breaker bar but it wouldn't budge. Every mechanic we talked to said it was highly likely that the engine had catastrophic internal damage, especially since one minute it was running fine then all of a sudden it seized up.
So we ended up getting it rebuilt. Sure enough, the crankshaft was cracked in two. The fuel spider injector was also found to be leaking gas in the intake, and it was getting in the oil.

 

[JohnDoe]

Thanks y'all.

Any idea what type of penetrating oil I should use in pistons?

John

 

[ExEvolution]

When your starter hits, does it crank, or is it just a loud click? If its the latter, it might be poor connection with the battery. My yukon would have this issue if the bolt wasn't completely tightened, where the starter would make a single loud click when I turned the key, but would not crank. I changed out the bolt in the wire harness for a longer bolt, and padded it with washers and it completely fixed my problem

 

[JohnDoe]

Hi Ex,

I'll check that this weekend too.

Thanks

John

 

[JohnDoe]

ok well I tried the socket on the alternator and camshaft no dice. I didnt use too much pressure. I put wd-40 in each spark plug hole to maybe loosen the piston rings. Ill let that soak til this weekend.

I dont have the transmissionl cover off. It only looks like about 6 bolts to take it off and then ill need a flywheel tool.

John

 

[retorq]

If you can't turn it over with a flywheel tool it's locked. You might be able to get a loaner from Autozone ...

 

[JohnDoe]

Called Autozone today they said rebuilt engine is 1569.00 from Surefire. So is taking the engine out easy? Just need need to mark and remove wires and remove some bolts on tranny remove hood and lift engine out with engine hoist? Put engine on on flatbed trailer haul it to Autozone swap engines with Autozone and install parts in reverse order?

One thing Autozone said was that that the 1997 Tahoe 5.7 had a notoriously bad crankshaft sensor which was causing timing errors causing crankshafts to break along with a host of other problems.

Didn't have time to remove starter this weekend, but I will and then I will try putting it in neutral and turning engine.

I did put WD40 in each cylinder by removing spark plugs then let them soak all last week and tried to start it normally - same thud! each time with no revolution of the engine at all.


John

 

[DustinMcGee]

Called Autozone today they said rebuilt engine is 1569.00 from Surefire. So is taking the engine out easy? Just need need to mark and remove wires and remove some bolts on tranny remove hood and lift engine out with engine hoist? Put engine on on flatbed trailer haul it to Autozone swap engines with Autozone and install parts in reverse order?

One thing Autozone said was that that the 1997 Tahoe 5.7 had a notoriously bad crankshaft sensor which was causing timing errors causing crankshafts to break along with a host of other problems.

Didn't have time to remove starter this weekend, but I will and then I will try putting it in neutral and turning engine.

I did put WD40 in each cylinder by removing spark plugs then let them soak all last week and tried to start it normally - same thud! each time with no revolution of the engine at all.


John

Ever figure this out? Same deal on my 02 Tahoe 5.3