blueacre

I live in Ontario Canada, just north of the border near Niagara Falls. I have an early 80's Internation S Series truck with the 9.0 litre diesel. It has a 16 ft steel dump box on it. A week ago I was hauling a large load of firewood out of my bush. There was frost in the ground but it had warmed up and made the surface real greasy. The back end slipped off the side of the driveway into a deep ditch and tipped the truck over on its side. It went over slowly, laid pretty much on the side of the box and there was minimal damage to the cab, pretty much just the drivers side mirror.

The engine shut itself down within 5 or 10 seconds of tipping on its side before I could pull the fuel shutoff. Within an hour or so, I was able to get the truck pulled back on its wheels with my backhoe and let it sit for a couple of days till the ground firmed up again. When I went to start it the engine would not turn over. I tired turning it by hand with a wrench on the crank pulley but wouldn't turn. I then tried to turn it in the reverse rotation and was able to turn it over, however about once per reveloution it gets hard - like a lot of compression where if you push hard it springs back - but if you hold pressure on it for a minute it frees up and you can then turn it over a little more until it gets hard again - about 3 or 4 tries like that and it gets past the hard spot and turns another almost full reveloution. When I then try again to turn it normal rotation it turns a part turn and then its a spot where it won't go any more. It stops solid and won't move more - it is not springy like it is when it gets hard in the reverse direction.

I am totaly puzzled - can't figure out what is preventing rotation completely in one direction and hard in the other but still able to rotate. Next step I guess is to pull oil pan and valve covers and see if anything looks out of the ordinary. Not sure what the cam drive is like on this engine - chain or gears - and if there could be something jamming there ?

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions on what could be causing the problem.

thanks Gary

patdaly

When it gets to the hard part, can you spin it back forward almost a full revolution?

My best guess is oil or coolant got past the piston into the combustion chamber and you had to slowly force it past the rings, but that should have been only the first time thru.

What does the coolant and oil look like?

torquefan

This is my first guess too. I'm not sure of the specifics of these engines, but is it possible to remove all the glow plugs or injectors, then spin over the engine to see what comes out of the cylinders? It sure sounds hydrolocked to me.

Hvytrkmech

Did it make any unusual noises before it shut itself down? I agree with the others and believe it may be hydro locked and that you can not spin it enough by hand to displace the liquid. Did you check the engine oil and coolant after you up righted it?

blueacre

My6 first thought was that it was hydrolocked as well - figured oil leaked past the piston rings into the combustion chamber. I have turned the engine over about 5 or 6 complete revolutions so I figured that should have cleared any hydro lock but no change in how it acts.

It didnt make any strange noises when it shut itself off - just died down similar to a normal hsutdown with the fuel shut off pulled.

No glow plugs on this engine and it is a bit of a paiin to pull the injectors the way the feed lines are routed but may have to try that - being I have turned it over several revolutions and therefore figuree it probably isnt hydro lock I wasn't sure if removing the injectors would change anything.

thanks for the quick responses so far
Gary

deerslayer1979

I would pull the valve covers first, IF it was hydrolocked it should have cleared out already. My guess is, a valve is stuck and or contacted a piston. Something sounds fishy in how its acting. But defiantly pull the valve cover.
DS79

Darryl&Rita

By pulling the valve covers, you should be able to figure which cylinder is the culprit. Once you know which is the culprit, force the exhaust valve open, and spin past it a couple times. If hydrolocked, this should push enough oil out to turn over.

blueacre

Update on my 9.0 L International diesel engine problem.

I finally got around to working on the engine yesterday - pulled the drivers side valve cover - figured the problem was probably on that side as the truck tipped onto the drivers side. I jacked up the rear wheels and turned the drive shaft with a bar in the U joint. In the normal direction the engine still came to a spot where it would not turn any further. I rotated it in the reverse direction while a friend watched the valves - all valves opened and closed normally. It would get real hard to turn on the compression strokes but if I held presssure on it the resistance would gradually release and I could turn it more. You could heard some "gurgling" sounds like fluid escaping under pressure in the engine. Turned it about 8 complete revolutions and then tried in the forward direction - still locked up at one place and would go no further.

I then pulled the rocker arm assembly, head extension and the injectors from the driver's side bank. I was then able to turn the engine over in teh normal direction by hand. Cranked it with the starter next and I got a fair bit of engine oil shooting out of the injector holes on the rear two cylinders.

Reassembled everything and the engine started on the first crank and ran fine. Obviously it was hydrolocked with engine oil - it must have leaked into those two cylinders while it was on its side - either through the valve guides as the oil would have drained from the oil pan into the valve cover which would have been the lowest point on its side or past the rings or both. What I can't still figure out is why I was able to rotate it in revers direction through several complete turns but not in forward direction

Oh well - alls well that ends well.

Thanks to those who posted replies

regards
Gary

Hvytrkmech

Well the good thing is the engine must be in decent shape inside if it would not bypass the oil without pulling the injectors.

I am glad you got it worked out with just some of your time.

michaelpoteete

I've got an international 9.0l v8 . I'm getting fuel into the engine oil. Any sugestions?
1986 MODEL