Engine locked up, help!!!

[nissanguy007]

Ok for starters im new to the 300zx so its possible i fudged this one up but lets start from the beginning.

I bought my 300zx about 2weeks ago and knew it had a miss in it when i bought it. the car was near mint and had 190k miles on it so i said what the heck lets buy it. I drove it for 2weeks with the miss and thats the only problem i really had out of it. So the dumb***that i am decided hey how hard can it be to change the injector?....so i found out the hard way that is want easy lol needless to say i tried the dremal method and stripped the screw. i managed to get it with out even with the stripped screw and changed out the injector. i didnt realize there were different injectors and bought the wrong one and tried using it. <----im dumb i understand.

so i left the injector unhooked and said screw it ive got to be at work in an hour and figured id drive it on 5cylinders like i have been before so i got in the car and tried to crank it and the starter made an awful noise. so i tried again and its like it tried to turn it over but the motor wouldnt turn. at this point i got desperate and tried pop starting, wheels wouldnt even turn in second gear.

I dont know what to do, ive taken the plugs out and tried to turn it over, nothing
Ive taken the started out, checked the flywheel, had the starter tested and it was good so i put it back on, still wont turn over and still nothing.
Ive tried to spray wd40 in the cylinders and let sit and still wont turn over, now im trying marvel mystery oil at the moment
Ive tried turning it over with a 1/2in breaker bar and still nothing, i tried it with the starter out and in neutral and still got nothing.

At this point im totally lost and dont know what to do. im about to have it towed to a garage if i cant fix it by this week cause ive been borrowing my gf's car to get to work and back and have done spent to much money buying the car and trying to fix it.

All advice and help is greatly appreciated!!!!

[t.mcginley.jr]

Ok first, check for error codes. All you need is a screwdriver:

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/nissan ... ostic.html

Next, with the spark plugs out, you can't turn it over with a breaker bar in either direction? Have you tried turning it with the starter out? Sounds like a seized engine.

[nissanguy007]

I've taken the starter out as well and still nothing... I just don't understand because i drove the car, parked it for a few hours and then tried to start it and the starter made a grinding noise. So I sat for a few seconds and tried again and the motor turned over once but that's it and now won't do nothing at all.

I feel like it could possibly be vapor locked but idk if that's even possible.

Wednesday I'm going to try pop starting it one more time and if that don't work I'll have to buy a new motor I guess.

[ThisIsSparTTa]

Sounds like you locked that cylinder up by pouring extra fuel into it. You can clear it out and be okay given that you didn't bend any valves. See if you can turn the engine by hand with a 27mm socket on the crankshaft pulley as Tom said above. If you can still full rotate it, you should be okay once you get the excess fuel out and a proper fuel injector in there.

Also, you should figure out if you have Phase 1 or 2 injectors. The recommendation would be if you're on Stage 1 to move to Stage 2 so you'll stop having to replace them every 3-5k miles as ethanol eats them up. http://z32.wikispaces.com/Fuel+Injector

[nissanguy007]

Tried again today with the breaker bar and 27mm socket with the starter out...still nothing. So in the morning I'm going to do the dumbest thing you could do and roll the car to about 15-20mph and drop the clutch in 3rd gear. There's a good chance something is going to give, it might work or might just break something. I hate to try it but I'm out of options without having to pull the intake and heads off, I don't really have time for it since I work 48-60hrs a week.

time to go all in and hope for the best

[nissanfreak12]

I think you said in your first post you took out the spark plugs, but make sure ALL the plugs are out before turning the engine over. Fuel does not compress and you will bend a rod doing what you are talking about doing. The fuel has to go somewhere if you flooded the cylinder.

Another thing to check is behind the timing covers. If anything take off the timing belt and see if it turns. I would hate to see you ruin a good engine with something that could have been an easy fix. Try the plugs first, then the belt.

[nissanguy007]

Yea all the plugs are out, when I first pulled them I could smell gas on one of them and I looked in the cylinder and it was full of gas. I don't want to ruin the motor by any means...I've drove the car everywhere and I have really fell in love with it and it kills me that this has happened but I've found a motor and transmission set with wire harness and all the bells and whistles for 1k.

[ZL8NING]

Take out all the spark plugs and crank it so all the fuel gets expelled from the cylinders!

"Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?! "

[ThisIsSparTTa]

Do you want bent valves? This is how we get bent valves.

Seriously. Terrible idea. Good luck with your rebuild.

[nissanguy007]

Well I tried it despite all the warnings and well nothing happened. Motor didn't budge and I may have got a couple flat spots on the tires. I pulled all the belts off as well just to check my pulleys but they are good...I'm guessing the motor is straight up seized. Breaker bar won't budge the motor in either direction.

[t.mcginley.jr]

Come to NJ, I'll sell you an NA engine for well less than $1k..

[nissanguy007]

Well I guess I'm buying a new motor

After looking back at the events that unfolded and spending more hours researching the problem then I did sleeping I've come to the conclusion I bent a rod or two.

Any good write ups on pulling a motor and a list of things I should do before putting a motor in would be greatly appreciated.

[ThisIsSparTTa]

Here's a guide someone wrote recently, there's other ones for putting engine together, etc too. Search will help: http://www.300zxclub.com/showthread.php?t=221328

Yea, there's lots of things you could or should do. I personally would recommend replacing your wiring harness, big mistake for me skipping out on that last summer. So many headaches, but so easy to do with engine out. Engine mounts also should get replaced. You'll need a gasket kit probably, and take care of any other maintenance that needs to be done while its out. Plan on cleaning up the engine bay some too.