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1989 454 Engine locked up

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baysedge1121

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"I have a 1989 original 454 en

"I have a 1989 original 454 engine that had been working fine. I put the boat in 2 weeks ago and it started fine and I moved the boat to it's slip. Shut down both engines, nothing unusual. I went to start engines about 6 days later and the port engine made a "bang sound" and never turned over and won't start. I discovered that water from a severe rainstorm had gotten into the carburator through the flame arrestor cover(there was a small crack around the bolt where it attaches)I tried to manually turn the flywheel but it's frozen solid and doesn't move. I pulled all the sparkplugs and found about a 1/4 cup of water in the #5 inboard cylinder. I removed the water as best I could and sprayed Marvel oil in all the plugs and left them out. Tried to crank engine again. still locked up. Removed inboard manifold and valve covers, no visable damage to rockers, and rods. someone said at the marina, it could be a tranny problem . OH, no water in tranny or oil dipsticks. Prop turns and is free. Any ideas what's locked up."
 
"Recently run, but now locked

"Recently run, but now locked up, spark plugs are out....
A frozen transmission is not at the top of my list of suspects. The best case is maybe the pinion of the starter broke, and is jammed in the flywheel/bellhousing area. Down the list gets progressively worse news, like the #5 piston rod is bent. Is the tranny a velvet drive or ?"
 
"I'd vote with DD.

Pull

"I'd vote with DD.

Pull the starter and put a socket and a breaker bar on the balancer bolt up front. If its not 'frozen' due to the starter, its probably bad enough to warrant a tear down inspection."
 
"I have v drive borg warner tr

"I have v drive borg warner tranny's located to the rear of the engine against the wall. I have to pull the engine out of the boat in order to remove the tranny. the starter is also located at the rear against the wall. It's very tight to get to. I will try to pull the starter out and take a look.I pulled the head off, still no evidence of any bent rods on the inboard side where the water was. I guess I'll have to pull the outboard side too and inspect also. It'll be a few days before I can do this, as I need some help"
 
"Jeff, All the spark plugs wer

"Jeff, All the spark plugs were pulled out and still can't turn the engine. I tried even with a breaker bar both ways. frozen..."
 
"If you can get to the timing

"If you can get to the timing plug, in the back of the bell housing/flywheel cover, you may be able to inspect the flywheel to see if the starter pinion is binding. may need a flashlight and small mirror."
 
"Ok, I will try to see if that

"Ok, I will try to see if that's the problem. I did try to move the flywheel by the bell housing and it wouldn't move for me. I didn't check with a flashlight to see if anything was binding up though. Thanks again for your help. I keep hoping this is going to be an easy fix."
 
"Don't forget, once you ge

"Don't forget, once you get it running again, to address the cause. I don't know anybody that depends upon just the flame arrestor to keep water out of carb, especially where substantial downpours are known to occur."
 
"That goes without saying!! I&

"That goes without saying!! I'm going to have covers made for both engines and genset ASAP. We usually always have plastic over them when they're not being used. The one time they're not covered and this happens! Murphy's law strikes again. Wish me luck, I hope to try to pull the starter this weekend, weather permitting....more rain in forcast though. Thank you Jeff, Makomark and diver dave. This website is great!Regards Carolyn"
 
"Rain Covers ? This one makes

"Rain Covers ? This one makes a bit of sense BUT...I never even heard of it before. My flame arrestors are about 3" from the underside of my hatch covers.... While I have not ever used a cover before...should I be doing it? Man, I would hate to go thru what Carolyn is describing at this point."
 
"Just letting everyone know I

"Just letting everyone know I decided to sit at the dock and watch the others go boating this season. I'm going to pull the engine/tranny this fall when I haul the boat. No sense now.. season's almost gone anyhow. I've come to realize my problem may be that the tranny pump locked up. I tore down both sides of motor with no visable damage to anything, Flywheel looks intact also. I'll let you know when I finally get the motor out of the boat. Thanks for asking.."
 
"Sorry. I hope you enjoyed yo

"Sorry. I hope you enjoyed your seaon anyhow. We sit at the slip lots of times, still enjoying it.

Jeff"
 
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