[69chevelle69]

hello all just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas for me i just put all the pieces together on the motor all the coolant lines filled er with oil spark plugs the whole shi bang thought id go to fire it up and the motor isnt even trying to turn over starter and flywheel were the same from the car i pulled the motor tranny from and just makes a lot of clicking noises thinking the flywheel isnt getting turned by the starter or the starter itself is not getting to the flywheel any ideas on what i can do or if this has happened to anyone thanks in advance

 

[66SSFan]

I'm no expert, but it sounds to me like the starter seleniod might be bad. Is the starter motor turning and not engaging the flywheel, or the seleniod is energized pushing the starter gear into the flywheel, but the starter is not turning?? If it "clicks" on and off while the ignition is held on start, you may have a loose wire or wires at the starter or seleniod. (seleniod is mounted to the starter)
I would check the wire connections and if still no luck, remove the starter and take it to your local autoparts store and ask them to bench test it.

Mike

 

[69chevelle69]

thanks for the quick reply gives me a place to look ill check the wire connections on the starter and solenoid and check the solenoid out see what happens

 

[69chevelle69]

hello all well i took the starter out tested it and it worked fine cleaned all the electrical connections and have reinstalled it and the starter gear connects with the flywheel but cant spin the flywheel..... we tried to turn the motor manually and couldnt get it to budge and i checked the shifter that i installed and it puts the tranny into park but when im in neutral reverse second first drive you can rock the car no problem like it was in neutral soo im confused as what the next steps would be on figuring out my little problem the starter works fine and now the motors locked up with know way to bring it out any help would be appreciated

 

[Jim Mac]

is this a new motor? is it possible the timing chain is installed wrong? valves set too tight? could the pistons be hitting the valves?
I would first pull the plugs back off the valves, and see if you can get it to turn over by hand. If it will turn over then i would go from there.

 

[69chevelle69]

yeah ok ill pull the plugs all off and try to give her a crank and see what happens thats the nest step its not a new motor but was running in a car and we drove it to my house all i did was pull the motor and clean it up only removal was the distributor and the torque converter (tranny) so yeah ill pull the plugs tomorrow and will see what i can do thanks for your help

 

[Jim Mac]

Is there a chance something fell in the distrbutor hole when you pulled the dist?I did that once. try pulling the plugs see if you can turn it backwards be hand. if you only changed the dist and torque converter, check to make sure nothing is interfering down by the flexplate. also until you figure why it's not turning I would lay off cranking with the starter. that things got a lot of torque and you can do some serious damage. Jim

 

[Cameano]

Hmm, lemme guess. You have a nice new motor, and it's all painted up, looking sweet. Try removing the starter, and scraping all that new paint off of the entire pad where the starter bolts to. It'll ground much better, as you won't just be grounding through the bolt threads. I'm not saying this is your problem, but it cured some slow/no start conditions for me in the past.

I'd also crank the engine around at least 2 full revolutions by hand before trying to start it again.

 

[saturnstyl]

I fired my motor once too. I pulled it out and put in another.

 

[69chevelle69]

yeah im almost ready to do so i just pulled all the plugs and the distributor and tried to crank the motor by hand even took off the accessory belts but nothing torqued the bolt down good though frustrating the starter was my first guess and i cleaned everything down (paint ) but now i dont know if there is something up with the tranny when i bolted it on to the motor maybe something went weird and the torque converter/flywheel is incorrect might have to pull the motor out and see any thoughts

 

[dittoz]

Flywheel bolts all the same as were used before? When I pulled our motor apart and removed the flywheel, I found that there were 5 bolts and one was 1/2" longer than the others, blocking the rotation of the flywheel...

Is the starter shimmed properly?

Is the torque converter seated properly?

Check ALL your grounds?

Plugs out, can you manually turn it? Smoothly?


...just a few more thoughts!

 

[69chevelle69]

yeah thanks i cant turn the motor manually without the plugs i am going to pull the motor and tranny because i believe the torque converter has to be installed incorrectly i could turn the motor manually before i dropped it in and then bolted the tranny up with the motor installed so i think thats where it all has gone wrong for me..... somethings not lined up and is stopping it from spinning causing me all the problems

 

[bubba68ss]

Its your battery! Starter isnt getting enough juice so the solenoid is just clicking away really fast, right?
Check connections at battery. Try jumping it also. Has battery gone dead recently? Been screwing around with the lights on? I just tried to fire my 69 up (with 396) and i get really fast clicking too. It was my battery (which i figured because it has been setting so long and lights have been tested many time.. especially with the door open and the dome light on for hours)..

Check the battery..

You in B.C. or Wa. state? I could swing by if you are in WA.

 

[69chevelle69]

thanks i appreciate that im in BC..... i thought about putting the battery from my 1 ton work truck in there to see what it could do but it was side post.. maybe i took all its power away when it had a bad ground? my voltmeter was reading 11 then down to 10 worth a try before i pull the motor and tranny out again. I thought otherwise when i couldnt hand crank it without plugs on...? but i will definetly pick up a new battery and see what it does thanks a lot all the help has been appreciated ill throw a new battery in there tomorrow see what happens and will post with results

 

[bubba68ss]

11 volts on the battery? That is a definite sign. That starter need A LOT of amperage. Try the battery, please. I dont want you to pull the motor and trans and find out it was the battery.
Good luck, keep us posted

Chris

make sure those cables are TIGHT! You could probably even just jump the solenoid with a screwdriver to test it.

 

[69chevelle69]

alright guys after replacing the 550 cranking amp battery with a nice new ac delco 685 or something to that effect got the motor to turn over and fire i guess when i had the bad grounds i wore the already weak battery out but live and learn thanks for the help and i am just as happy to not have to pull the motor and tranny again just one of those car days.... ill wait for this snow to melt and take er for a rip for the first time thanks again

 

[bubba68ss]

way to go, man! Easy fix

 

[dittoz]

Wow, if I had to pull an engine and tranny to put in a new battery...

 

[Natural Born Killer]

seems obvious its not the battery or starter if you cant turn it by hand. Dont pull your motor yet. Just unbolt your converter and slide it away from the flex plate. If it wont slide into the tranny a bit then you have a problem and your converter is installed incorectly. If the converter will slide back a bit so its not touching the flex plate and you still cant turn it over by hand then you have mechanical interference in the engine.

 

[Natural Born Killer]

Well I guess disregard that last message, seems pretty weird that it wouldnt turn over by hand though.