QuestionQUESTION: Help. I have a Chevy 350, the rotor button came off and I bent some rods.
The rods have been replaced, the valves adjusted, timing set and it will not crank. It makes a whirring sound when trying to crank it and runs the battery down very quickly. Neither header gets warm when trying to crank the motor, don't know if that helps with my question or not.
Am at a loss of what to try. The harmonic balancer was a real bugger to get on also. Please advise
ANSWER: Janet,
There is a few things I need to ask before I can give you an educated opinion. What exactly happened to the motor? Is the whirring sound coming from the starter? Can you turn the motor over by hand? Does the starter get hot when you try to crank it, and if so, where? Do the battery cables get hot? Is the flexplate/flywheel in good shape? Auto tranny or stick? Check these things out and get back to me and I'll be able to give you a better informed opinion. Thanks.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I was driving down the highway 65 mph, the rotor button came off, I believe the engine misfired, bent push-rods.
After I got the truck home, I figured that I would need to set the timing, I could not set the timing, TDC was not lining up.
I took the valve covers off and found the bent push-rods. Replaced with new push rods, new timing chain (went with a roller type), while the motor was on the engine stand, the timing chain was replaced, the engine was turned over by hand during the setting of the valves after replacing the push rods.
last night, after removing the starter, I found that the starter feels different from the one I was replacing. The old one turned smoothly with no sound to it. The new one (remanufactured), feels like it is binding, is noisy and it looks as if it did not have good contact with the flywheel. Do you think the starter is the problem. Please advise
AnswerJanet,
I bet that is the problem. If the starter binds up, it will do just what you said it was doing. If it is not turning freely and not making good contact with the flywheel, it will bind up and not work properly. Many times a reman starter, and sometimes even new ones will need to be shimmed to get the proper distance from the flywheel. I would go with a new starter and a medium shim and see if it turns over. Watch from underneath and have someone "Bump" the starter when you get it in and make sure it is connecting with the flywheel right before you go with it. Let me know how it turns out. JIm
