What siezes a 6.2 besides heat? Timing Chain? Valves? GP's?

[914turboford]

I have decided that my new to me 6.2 is siezed. It does not seem to be from overheating. There is no appearance of excessive heat on the heads, intake, etc. I pulled the 4 GP's on the driver's side and they look normal to me based on other GP's I've seen in the past. They do not smell odd. I started taking out one on the passenger side and it is stuck, but I think I'll be able to get it. I have a Banks turbo so that side is hard. I removed the injector and again see no sign of overheating. There is a little bit of rust on the tip of the injector though. Is it possible to see the piston through the injector hole? Can you feel it with your finger? Using a mirror I don't think I can see the piston. I don't see anything cracked and the injector/GP's have all loosened easily. There is evidence that someone was mud bogging with the truck. Could it have ingested water? The turbo to intake pipe does not look like it has had any water in it (no evidence of mud). Will a broken timing chain cause one of these to sieze? I can move the flexplate ever so slightly (perhaps 3 to 4 degrees) but maybe it is just flexing. I was wondering if the trans could sieze up that tight?

Brian

[DmaxMaverick]

Why do they seize? Anybodies guess until you open it up. Could be any of the reasons you list, and more. Water injestion can/will cause a hydrolock, and bend/break rods and valves. If the timing chain is broken, open valves would have easily contacted a piston. Blow off an oil line, and it can spin bearings. Could be a broken crank. The tranny pump can lock up, but they usually self destruct while the engine turns along. The list goes on, but you won't know until you get into it.

You can't see the piston crown through the injector hole. The precup has a small flash hole, and it's at an angle. You may get a small scope in there, but it won't likely show anything. Remove the oil filler tube and you can see the timing chain at the top of the cam sprocket. If it's broke, you should be able to turn the pump gear quite easily, but the cam will turn too, so beware of the valve movement (don't force it). A broken chain will usually just pile up around the crank sprocket and seize the engine, leaving the cam and pump to turn independent of the crank. Very rare, but I've seen a couple.

[Robyn]

Just do a post mortem and see what you find.

Simple as that, in a few short hours you can have it all apart and then you will know for sure just what you have to work with.

Get some boxes and cans and rip away.
Almost as much fun as opening presents at Christmas time. :D

Yank the sucker out and get it on a stand so you can get at it from all sides.

Happy hunting

Robyn

[914turboford]

Thanks for the replies and the tough love honesty. I welded up a flat bar 1"x 1/4" that I could put in between the TC and flex plate. I bent it with my foot but it would not turn. I drained the oil and it looks nice and black but no particles or water. I am rethinking my assertion that no water got in. I see evidence that some muddy water got past the air cleaner and into the intake. Probably not much. It looks like it was blowing in from the turbo like a mist. The air intake is very dirty and oily, but mostly dried, caked oil. It looks like the K&N was not filtering too well. I pulled the vacuum pump and still no turn over. Sounds like you guys are saying there is no hope but I am still holding out some. The story on this truck goes like this. The PO bought it from his buddy. The buddy had taken it into a shop that specializes in diesels because it was not starting or hard to start. The shop quotes $1200 for a fuel system flush, new GP's and a new GP controller. The shop starts the truck while there. The buddy decides to sell the truck to the PO who tows it home. It sits for 6 months. The PO tries to turn it over and it won't. I buy it, assuming it needs a new engine as worst case scenario. If water sat in the cylinders do you think 6 months would be enough for rust to bond the rings to the cylinder walls? If so, would there be any way to break them free without removing the heads?

[DmaxMaverick]

If there were enough water in the cylinders to cause it to not run, there would be evidence of it in the oil. Milky sludge, at least.

You can pull all the GP's and injectors, and soak the cylinders with penetrating oil. I think it's a wasted effort, though. You will end up with a more broken engine. As it sits, it may be repairable. Continue, and you may remove that option.

[oilburnertoo]

I would make an effort to remove ALL the glow plugs. I have seen quite a few 6.2/6.5's hydrolock from leaking head gaskets, they run ok and then you park it and the cylinder[s] fill with coolant then it wont turn over. Pull all the GP's and see what you've got.

[914turboford]

I'll remove those remaining three GP's. My fallback plan is to put in a used motor, not rebuild this one.

[john8662]

I would make an effort to remove ALL the glow plugs. I have seen quite a few 6.2/6.5's hydrolock from leaking head gaskets, they run ok and then you park it and the cylinder[s] fill with coolant then it wont turn over. Pull all the GP's and see what you've got.

Uh huh, experienced this first hand, blew head gasket, drove back to my work shop, shut it down. Popped hood, saw lacking coolant in radiator.

Decided it was probably locked, bumped starter, yep.

J

[914turboford]

If it is true that this truck sat for 6 months then would'nt I expect to find a fair amount of coolant in the oil? I drained the oil and found no water. Or do the rings seal tightly enough that little to no water has leaked past them?

[john8662]

Not necessarily, if the engine wasn't forced to turn during the hydrolock event, then the water would have a hard time making it past the rings.

The engine I locked sat for a week with coolant in that cylinder before I got around to pulling the engine out of the chassis, while pulling it I removed the plug from cylinder #2 and out came the coolant, the engine then turned easily.

I didn't notice any coolant draining out first from the pan when removing the oil. The engine ran with a massive amount of coolant entering the cylinder too.

That piston was pretty clean after too!

J