1999 Challenger 1800 locked up

[godofpie]

I'm a total newbie so be gentle. My buddy is helping me. When I hit the ignition on the port motor I get nothing but a click and the fly wheel would not spin. We have just torn the motor down. Everything looks ok but the motor would still not turn over. We disconnected the starter and the motor turns over AND the starter is not locked up. We have bench tested the starter and it works fine. WTF? I don't want to put this thing back together and get stuck on the lake again.
Jim

 

[howie099]

The motor spins freely? If it does you still might have a week starter, weak battery or battery cable issue.

 

[Dr Honda]

is the motor in the hull... or did you take it out?

If it's in the hull, and hooked to the pump still... you may want to pull the pump to make sure that's not the issue.

 

[godofpie]

The other motor starts and runs fine off the same battery so I think I can rule that out. The pump was the first thing I pulled and It's ok. The motor is in the hull.

 

[CaptSteve]

Check all the connections going from battery to the solenoid and starter. You also may have a weak starter.

 

[godofpie]

But would a weak starter cause the motor to lock up? We could not get the motor to budge by turning the flywheel or manually pushing the pistons up and down but as soon as we removed the starter the motor turned freely but so did the starter and it wasn't jammed and also spun freely.

 

[howie099]

Is the starter bendix broke or something else broke in the starter? the engine should turn over with the starter in place. Take the starter from the the other engine and see if it turns over.

 

[godofpie]

No we hooked the starter up to a power source and it works fine and the bendix engages. The motor is disassembled now. We are going to take apart the bottom end to make sure nothing broke or came loose down there that could have jammed it up before we start putting it back together.

 

[godofpie]

The bottom of the motor looks great. The only thing that looks rough is the stator. I've ordered a top end kit because the cylinders were were different sizes and a new starter just to be on the safe side. I'm gonna take the stator to a local motor shop and see if I can get it reconditioned. Thanks for all the input.

 

[howie099]

Your RAVES could of been adjusted wrong. Sometimes when you get the top end done your have to file the RAVE's to get the clearance. So what was keeping the engine from turning by hand? I would get the crank checked also if you still couldn't spin by hand you found nothing wrong. Sometime has to be bent or off to keep the engine from rotating.

 

[godofpie]

Figured it out when we were putting it back together Howie. The head of one of bolts that hold the stator housing in place was chewed up. We had noticed dings on the fly wheel when we took it apart but just chalked it up to normal wear and tear. We figure the guy that rebuilt the motor before us didn't torque the bolts down and this one backed out and locked up the fly wheel. We finished the motor 2 weeks ago and I just finished my break in period and its running great but I've got water coming in around the metal bushing on the drive shaft between the rubber boot and the PTO