Does this sound like a destroyed engine?

[mysticclam]

A friend of mine with a 2.5L said he was driving home when his truck "just shut off"
It wouldnt retart so he had it towed home.
I went to look at it yesterday and the battery was fully charged. When you turn the key there is a loud clack from the starter then no sound. As long as you turn the key, the voltage at the batter goes down considerabley so I think the starter is trying to turn. We put a wrench on the crank bolt and cant get the motor to budge. I think the motor is siezed. Oil level was just above the add line so a little low. The oil also smelled like gasoline but wasnt thin or anything. He has been saying he is only getting 14 mpg for a few months. Im wondering if he lost an injector and has been pouring gas into one of the cyliders disolving all the lubrication. No check engine light though. You would think that would run it really rich.
I should also add this vehicle was used for courier work and this is the second engine for the truck, it was a rebuilt when put in and now has 180,000miles on it.

 

[killj0y]

I wouldn't jump to conclusions until you bench test the starter, battery, and alternator. Have you tried jumping it? Have you drained the oil to get a good look at it?

 

[shane96ranger]

It sounds like it's turning over, correct?

 

[mysticclam]

we put a breaker bar on the crank pully bolt and couldnt turn the engine at all. I thought it likely to have seized. My friend thought it may be the starter jammed preventing the engine from turning but ive never heard of that happening. Especially because of 2 things
1. the starter sounds like its engaging / disengaging (the clank) the engine just doesnt turn.
2. The starter doesnt explain why the truck stopped while he was driving down the road. (and then wouldnt turn over when he tried to start it back up)
Battery was reading 12.08 volts on my multimeter, that is a bit low. But he had been trying to start it several times before I went and looked at it.

 

[mysticclam]

oh, forgot, we didnt pull the starter or check the oil as it was raining pretty hard. We can go back and look at those items, Its just Ive never heard of an engine you couldnt manually turn over that wasnt in a bad way.

 

[shane96ranger]

I apologize, I interpreted what I read poorly.

I'd pull the starter then and see what happens. Seeing as how the 2.5 is a non-interference motor, it won't be a timing belt break that caused it.

Just want to make sure..... and I'm not trying to be a douche.... but you are trying to turn it over by hand with the trans in neutral, right?

 

[InsaneRedRooster]

Also cant a locked up alternator cause what seems like a seized motor? Take the belt off then try and turn it over. Just a thought

 

[mysticclam]

Not Douchey at all. I appreciate the feedback.
We tried to turn it over in park, as that what its in when the starer turns it.
I hadnt thought about the accessory belt but it was a big breaker bar, I recon the belt would slip if the alternator was siezed. We will take it off though.

I was doing some reseach and realized we didnt try pulling the spark plugs either. Could be hydrolocked. (I knew someone who had an f150, was getting bad gas mileage and then one day his truck wouldnt turn over and it was hydrolocked on gas, injecter came apart and filled the cyl. with gas)

 

[adsm08]

You will slip the FEAD belt before you pop the crank bolt. Take the plugs out and try again.

 

[adsm08]

I apologize, I interpreted what I read poorly.

I'd pull the starter then and see what happens. Seeing as how the 2.5 is a non-interference motor, it won't be a timing belt break that caused it.

Just want to make sure..... and I'm not trying to be a douche.... but you are trying to turn it over by hand with the trans in neutral, right?

Haha, I did that once. I wasn't paying attention and left my truck in gear, was wondering why it was fighting so bad.

 

[mysticclam]

Update:

Looked at the truck again today. Pulled the plugs and took off the serpentine belt. Tried to manually turn over engine, it still wouldn't budge. Don't know why but I tried to turn it backwards and it turned easily. As soon as it started to turn I heard a clunk sound inside the engine. It now turns freely both directions.
My working theory is a valve was in there bent blocking the piston from going up, as soon as the cylinder started going down if fell out so the engine could turn the other way. We pulled the valve cover to see if a valve was missing but couldn't see anything wrong from the top.
Some other stuff. When we pulled the throttle body to get at the valve cover, we found a bunch of bits of metal in the upper intake.
#2 spark plug looked like someone hit it with a hammer.
Im still thinking valve, like the head of the valve was bent sideways and then broke off because something was physically blocking the piston movement, I dont think a hole in a piston would do that.
My friend is really tight for money and I dont have a lot of time to help him but he needs his truck. We could pull the head and see if the pistons are ok, and put another head on or possibly fix the valve but that would take a lot of time I dont have and if there is a piston with a hole in it we'd be looking at pulling the motor anyway.
We could pull the head, and see if the pistons survived or we could go straight to finding a used engine and swap and just spend our time on that swap but that would probably cost more.
Do you think its worth trying to save this motor or just get another one. As I stated above, it does have 188K miles on it.

 

[4b316]

I,d pull the head but it sounds like a valve broke so probably have a damage piston/head but you won't know till you pull it.Maybe you will luck out and just replace a valve

 

[kimcrwbr1]

It sounds to me like the motor was neglected if it was a bad fuel leak the crankcase would be full of oil. What did he do when he noticed a drop in fuel economy.fuel in the oil is never a good sign especially if the engine locks up. Either get a good used motor from the bone yard or put in a long block. I allways look for a engine out of a car fire normally it is shut down properly just do a reseal on it. Low on oil that smells like fuel your looking at possible ring and bearing damage the computer dont monitor hard parts.

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

I just replaced my DD's 2.5 last night.

Wrist pin went bad and destroyed #3 piston, rod went through the water jackets.

Destroyed the head, block, #3 piston and rod. All at only 1500rpm...

Sounds very similar to what you described, might I also add, I have a 2.3 that did the same thing with #3 piston.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[shane96ranger]

I just replaced my DD's 2.5 last night.

Wrist pin went bad and destroyed #3 piston, rod went through the water jackets.

Destroyed the head, block, #3 piston and rod. All at only 1500rpm...

Sounds very similar to what you described, might I also add, I have a 2.3 that did the same thing with #3 piston.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

How many miles were on the 2.5 and 2.3?