Lehman seized

[TopperHarley]

Hi folks,

A few weeks ago my 4cyl, 80 hp lehman made a horrible metal on metal sound during start up, ran noisily for 10 seconds then stopped firm. It is very tightly jammed up, and won't turn at all,.

So far, the only investigation that has been made was to remove the injectors and try to turn it over with a bar. She would not budge.

Valve assembly looked OK with the rocker cover off.

I am unable to get a mechanic to look at the engine in the near future, and have been told the potential problem could be:

1) damaged damper plate
Or
2) some part of the starter gear assembly breaking, causing the jam.

I want to exclude these as the cause before considering more expensive options (rebuild? Etc).

Are any of these problems able to be diagnosed by someone with only elementary mechanical skills?.

Anything else I should consider?

The motor was old, unknown hours, regularly serviced and run weekly very reliably prior to this occurring.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Comodave]

If you have room to slide the transmission back it is fairly easy to separate it from the engine and get a look at the damper plate. i did new damper plates on our last boat. Took a couple of hours to do. There will be bolts holding the bell housing to the engine that will need to be removed. Then slide the transmission back and look at the damper. If it has springs, a spring may have broken and a piece can get into the teeth and that will stop an engine from turning. You can get a couple of long bolts and replace the bell housing bolts with them to slide the transmission back on so you don’t have to hold up the transmission. But some engine setups have motor mounts on the transmission and complicates it.

It can be easy or difficult depending on the available room behind the transmission. Good luck.

 

[Lepke]

Also you should be able to unbolt and remove the starter.