im doing about 70 mph on the interstate suddenly my temp pegs out and my engine dies..........its a 305 with 50,000 miles edelbrock performer intake edelbrock carb, malloy unilite dist mallory coil,it will turn over about a half a turn then clunk when i hit the key, theres plenty oil and water, its got a three speed auto trans, did i spin a bearing? its got plenty power or had plenty of power got seconds with no problem any ideas before i bust into this thing? oh a small crane cam too thankx 1982 z28

 

Did you lose oil pressure?

Pull the plugs and look for any damage or something not right (water, oil, debris, etc.). Then the valve covers and do the same. Turn it over with the plugs out and see what happens. If nothing is obvious by that point, you may have a bearing problem - although that doesn't explain why the engine quit.

 

Sorry about your car,I spun a rod bearing a few years ago and that doesn't sound like what happened to you.My car started knocking badly at anything over idle,but the gauges all read normal,temp and oil pressure didn't change.You usually spin a bearing when you miss a shift or over-rev,not going down the highway at cruise-speed.Could you have dropped a valve or broke the timing chain possibly?Something has to be stopping it from turning over.

 

I wonder why the temp gauge pegged...

 

Is it possible you blew a head gasket and hydro locked it?

 

that would explain the engine stalling and the temp spike. you may be on to something there

 

You'd think he would have noticed that.


dmp7777777,

You sure your alt didnt die, followed by battery failure? Electronic gauges do really wacky things when voltage is below 12volts. Who knows.

The half turn and a clunk sounds like not enough voltage to the starter. I'd see if you can rotate the motor by hand, check connections, battery voltage, etc before assuming a mechanical problem.

 

i drove about 30 miles on the interstate,the rpms are always at about 4000 at that speed. i just went out and tried to start it and it just clunked and the interior lights dimmed out, the oil smells kinda burnt, i take real good care of it,and have an ear for anykinda weird stuff (i have an after market tach).and it definetly got hot i have a oem temp guage but a new element. the timing has given me issues, the mallory unilight is pretty touchy and im thinking i might be like a tooth off, but ya all of a sudden no power i looked at my guages and it died and thats it i think the starter is on the weak side so ill do a swap real quick and get back to you seems like a good start, hell the thermostat could have failed overheated the starter anyway thanks

 

sounds like an electrical problem to me. Get that Battery and Alt. checked out..... the battery isnt putting out enough juice to crank that starter over.

 

i sure hope its as simple as that, i got alota beers and tears in this one, i just got my 90rs as i want it and a van just rolled right over the front end, the insurance co totaled it since the blue book is only like 2300.00 and the damage was about the same, so i bought it back for 750.00 and that left me with sh** to do the repair so i took that and added a little more and bought this 82 z28 all stock, got board with stock, and now this, im not crying??? thanks for the assist,
mark

 

Hopefully it is just an electrical issue, but with the hydro lock it can do it and you never know what happened. I've seen this twice with the junky plastic intakes on GM 3.8's once in a 2000 Impala and once in a 98 Bonneville, cars are going down the road just fine then they just quit, try to crank them and it will hit for a second then just sit there (lights and such will dim, and you will burn a starter up if you keep on trying to crank it). Have you pulled the plugs out and checked them yet?

 

i havnt done squat yet im in iowa and its pretty freakin cold and i work like a hebrew slave but this weekend looks good and i cant stand it any longer, im not familiar with this hydolock thing at all but from what ive read on the subject its a possible especially in my weather conditions thanks

 

Just start with the battery...The battery is the heart of the system.....work yur way from there. A multimieter will work wonders if you know how to use it

 

Are you saying that you drive 30 miles at 4,000 RPM regularly?

 

yup ,about once a week, thats where town is, its not my mode of transportation, but i do like to drive it,maybe twice a week sometimes

 

i pulled the plugs, they all looked wet,then i tried to turn it over, clunk ,so i tried to turn over manually aint happening, stuck tight, im pretty much screwed i imagine, but what the hell happend?????? sludge is in the oil.........anyone have a 350 for sale?

 

sounds like you blew a head gasket,did you try a jump start?
does the oil look like a chocolate milkshake?
how fast are you going @ 4000 rpm?80 mph with 4.10 gears????
Eric B

 

Ok, this is still freash in my mind. Out raising hell, had just rebuilt carb. Car running great then, if went dead. Car ran down quick, which happens when alot of amps are being pulled. Which happens when bearing go in the starter. Wet plugs could be flooded engine. I also could not turn engine over manually. (bearing locked up) When I tried to start it just got a clunk, like something had came off.

 

Blew a head gasket and hydro locked at high speed, bent a rod is my vote. Take her down and see if you can rebuild what you have.

 

dont jump into stuff so quick.........pull that pan off and check things out....yur oil pressure woulda went whack if you spun a bearing.....

 

I second that, I only have a theory here so it would be best to drop the oil pan and find where you're snagging at.

 

ill do it tomorrow

 

Just so you actually know what hydrolocking is heres the short way of a discription,

Liquids can't be compressed you know this correct? It's the main fact that allows hydraulic clutch/brake setups and other systems with liquids work. Instead of compressing a liquid it generates equil pressure throughout the system.

What happens when you hydro lock is you get liquid (water and antifreeze) down in to the cylinder bores and as the piston comes up *smack* you now have a lower deck height so to speak. Most likely you bent a rod if this is what happened but, maybe not.....

Good luck and i hope it's something simple for you .

 

thanks, im headed out in this dead cold to pull the pan, i too hope its simple

 

my guess is damage to the valvetrain or pistons caused something to break off, locking the cylinder, detonation,can do this, Ive seen piston lands break off and do this and valves also
once that happends the rod trys to compress the busted part and the rod bends locking up the engine if the broken part fragments jammed between the head and piston did not already do so

 

i got to the point of removing the motor mount bolts, the oil is real black and thick but seems like it has no viscosity with lumps of sludge in it, smells burnt up and it looks like the harmonic balance has moved closer to the block???oh and lots of oil on the underside that wasnt there before i think its safe to say shes broken im a wrenching fool but im not really versed on the high tech stuff (inner workings) so i cant rebuild and dont think i wanna rebuild a 305 anyway... im in the market for a 350 if yall have one laying around that you wanna sell, igot a real clean ford 98 f-150 xl that i can use as a barganing tool, give me a holler,and again, thanks for your help,
mark

 

try pulling the crank in and out of the block....like grab the harmonic balancer and pull it forward and backwards.....if its got a lot of play yur thrust bearing is most likely shot as well as yur crank....not only that but you need to find out why that happened......

 

IF someone wanted to reuse the crank, they could have metal added to the crank and then machined down to proper clearences.

 

Yeah thats an option but he might as well replace the 305 with a 350...its not worth rebuilding a 305. Then again the problem is still unknown

 

and i still havent got passed jacking the engine up yet to remove the oil pan, instead ive been in the market for an engine, i have a few im gonna go look at this weekend i just know its fried