16 replies to this topic

[jbj]

Help!

Just coming to the end of my engine rebuild project (engine in and all plumbed in), I've just tried to turn the engine over by rolling the car in gear and it's not turning...

The gears are engaging fine and I can roll the car but it's not turning the engine. The engine turned over no problem at the crank when it was out of the car. All I can think is that the clutch isn't engaging but I'm not sure what I could have done wrong. I've been finding it difficult to bleed the clutch but I don't think that this would cause my problem.

Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong would be much appreciated. I've think I've gone way beyond what I'm capable of as a home mechanic and am in danger of losing patience with it all. I remember thinking it was great idea to rebuild the engine 2 1/2 years ago! :)

Engine is a 1275 A+ block with standard gearbox & verto clutch.

[albo]

remove trolly jack dumb arse,,

[Cooperman]

Have you fitted the transfer gear? I only ask because I remember some doing exactly that! We found the left-over gear in a cardboard box. The clutch will normally remain engaged if there is a clutch hydraulic problem and clutch drag is normally the problem. Have the gearbox and diff been re-built and if so, are the final drive components correctly assembled? Are both drive shafts correctly fitted and engaged into the inner pot joints? The Verto clutch is self-adjusting, but is the clutch operating arm moving correctly when the pedal is pushed down? If in doubt, disconnect the clutch arm from the slave cylinder and see if the engine will turn over with it in a gear.

[jbj]

remove trolly jack dumb arse,,

Well done, great first post.

Edited by jbj, 17 April 2013 - 10:29 PM.

[jbj]

Have you fitted the transfer gear? I only ask because I remember some doing exactly that! We found the left-over gear in a cardboard box. The clutch will normally remain engaged if there is a clutch hydraulic problem and clutch drag is normally the problem. Have the gearbox and diff been re-built and if so, are the final drive components correctly assembled? Are both drive shafts correctly fitted and engaged into the inner pot joints? The Verto clutch is self-adjusting, but is the clutch operating arm moving correctly when the pedal is pushed down? If in doubt, disconnect the clutch arm from the slave cylinder and see if the engine will turn over with it in a gear.

Thanks for the sensible reply Cooperman :)

I'm all but 100% sure the transfer gear is fitted so I'm not too worried there.

Gearbox and diff have not been rebuilt (apart from removing some parts of gearbox to fit centre oil pick-up - but again, I'm satisfied this was put back correct).

If both wheels are lifted off the ground, when one is turned the other turns in the opposite direction so the diff is working fine. The car does go into each gear fine with the car harder to push as I drop down the gears so I'm fairly sure the gearbox isn't the problem.

I'll have to look if the clutch arm moves when the clutch pedal is pushed down tomorrow morning when my wife wakes up as I'm pretty sure she wouldn't appreciate me waking her up to help me check this!

[tiger99]

This might be a daft suggestion, as I expect that you have assembled it all quite carefully, but is the flywheel torqued up properly, and the drive dog fitted? Actually, you fit the dog before torquing up, I did not write that very well.

[Cooperman]

If the car is harder to push in higher gears that tends to indicate that the clutch is engaged and the engine is turning.
It is hard for the drive not to be engaged with the crankshaft.
I've only ever seen that once in 50 years when the transfer gear was missed out. I was asked to check pre-start-up by a guy who had never re-built an engine before. He wanted me to check timing and settings. The engine then got oil pressure on the starter and started fine when the plugs were fitted. But then it wouldn't drive, despite it feeling like it was correctly in gear. We found the missing transfer gear in the box which he had used to keep the engine parts in. So, 5 hours later it drove perfectly!
My point is that 'sh*t can happen' and it's worth considering this.
The other option could be that the flywheel is not locked onto the crankshaft with the end slotted lock washer in place or the clutch diaphragm not bolted to the drive straps.
I do hope you can identify the problem.

[iwatkins]

Very, very long shot. But I seem to remember a warning about using the couple of bolt holes on the flywheel casing to mount stuff and using too long a bolt that interferes with the flywheel?

Probably not, just popped into my head while reading this...

[Cooperman]

You are thinking of the clutch slave cylinder bolts. They are 3.8" UNC and if you fit the starter motor ones, which are the same thread, they are about 1/4" too long and lock the engine up solid. Then when it's in gear nothing will move and you can't even push the car. It's like having a seized engine.

[iwatkins]

As I said, long shot...

Edited by iwatkins, 17 April 2013 - 11:12 PM.

[jbj]

OK, checked clutch this morning and there's no movement on the clutch arm when the clutch pedal is pressed down. So something not right here...

I've taken a pic of how it looks there, I'm beginning to think I've fitted the slave cylinder wrong, it did find it difficult to fit but not having done it before it's difficult to know how it should be!

[ibrooks]

Looks like the clutch is depressed in that picture so unless someone is sat inside the car with their foot on the pedal then there's the problem. Assuming the pedal isn't pressed pull the slave cylinder off and see if that lets the clutch engage. If it does then we know the problem is with the slave cylinder or pushrod - and problems bleeding it would also point in that direction. If not then the problem is inside the clutch housing which gets messy as it means pulling the wok off (which means supporting the engine and removing an engine mount........).

Iain

[jbj]

Thanks iain

I think that is the problem, I had a feeling I'd done something wrong when rebuilding the slave cylinder.

I'll take it off tonight and report back.

Is there a good dummies guide for rebuilding the slave cylinder properly?

[KernowCooper]

I see your using a mixture of verto arm/slave and non-verto cover are you sure the shaft and bearing are verto type, once as said above the slave is realesed (Be careful when releasing the slave it could be under a lot of load) then if you still find the clutch arm in the position of the photograph then its a cover off job to investigate why the clutch is lifted.

If you find when the slave is removed the clutch arm returns to its normal position, there should then be drive from the engine to gearbox, if this condition is present then its either the slave clyinder jamming or the hydraulic fluid is not returning to the master cylinder, and the check for this would be to slowly release the bleed nipple on the slave prior to its removal and see if the clutch arm returns, if so look at the hose and finally the master cylinder

[jbj]

I got round to looking at this last night and after removing the slave cylinder found it was seized up. One removed the clutch engaged and engine now turns over :)

However... I un-siezed the cylinder and re-fitted it to the car but now I can't disengage the clutch. I've bled the system (which was still a pain in the **** and I'm not 100% sure I got all the air out of it) but still no movement on the clutch arm. Any ideas?

I see your using a mixture of verto arm/slave and non-verto cover

What do you mean by 'cover'? As far as I'm aware it should all be standard verto stuff on there.

Edited by jbj, 25 April 2013 - 12:32 PM.