bigwheels94

1st. DO NOT slide hammer the injecters out on a Volvo. They usually have a copper sleeve in the head that is surounded by eng. coolant. If the injecters won't just come out by hand I'd buy the puller from volvo, & do it right.
2nd. I agree with the guy that said to bar it over by hand before you try the starter. Unless you like bent conecting rods. May be too late for that now anyway.
3rd. I'd test the cooling system to be sure it holds pressure.

OneBigDoofus

I haven't been around here in a while and hope ya'll don't mind me throwing a few things out there.

So the whole time you've been fooling with it, it has never made one full revolution right?

Here's how I'd kinda approach this.
I'd remove all the valve covers and some where on the engine there'll be a exh valve near full open or full open.

Here's a little crankshaft anatomy.

Pistons 1 and 6 travel together

Pistons 2 and 5 travel together

Pistons 3 and 4 travel together.

For instance,...Say the exh valve is open (the most depressed on engine) on cyl.5 will tell you its on the exh stroke but also tells you that piston #2 is on the compression stroke.

If the engine stops at this point then try to open the exh valve by HAND on cyl#2 and see if it relieves the piston hyd. pressure and allows the fluid to pass as you roll the engine by HAND. A helper would be handy.

Opening one exh valve is a lot easier then pulling 6 injectors.

elbowgrease

Thanks all for the great info. I think some of the email notifications are going into spam because I just got one notice, and there are a bunch of postings. Some answers:

Correct. No full revolution in recent months. I parked it last July, and it started fine about a month later. Then I let it sit for maybe 3 months. Batteries were real weak, and engine barely budged. After I got the batteries definitely charged, I got the current situation -- what feels like a lock.

I sure hope I haven't bent a connecting rod, but I find it a little hard to believe that the starter would have enough torque do that, especially after just a partial revolution...but I don't have experience here...and I'm still hoping there' no bent rod, of course.

I snapped a pic of the engine label, and I'll post it with the other pics as soon as I find the photo account info. From looking at the pic, it's pretty clear that the engine family is MVT12.FAA0 and the there are 3 models listed under that: TD123EA, EB, and EC, so I think M671054 is right about the engine model.
.
I also took a pic of the injection pump, which I'll post.

There are no glow plugs (maybe you all knew that). There's a preheater with a "don't blow yourself up with starting fluid" warning. I'm a novice with these big engines, so tell me where I put a wrench on it to try to "bar" it over. I would assume there's just a big nut or fitting at the end of the crankshaft. I didn't look for it because I assumed these big engines are just too big to hand crank.

From the sound of how hard it can be to get injectors out undamaged, I like the idea of removing the valve covers (are there special gotchas there?), which sounds pretty easy...and analyzing it the way OneBigD suggests to find out which cylinder(s) is coming up on compression.

I'm hopeful that I'll find diesel in there and not coolant, so maybe it's just a leaky injector and not a blown head gasket. I'll try to get the additional pics posted shortly.

OneBigDoofus

I guess I missed the length of time sense it run last

So I assume your turning it backwards by hand and if this is the case, does the stopping point feel the exact same either direction when it hits? If this is true then you more then likely have a more serious problem then a fluid hydraulic lock because when rotating backwards the intake valve opens allowing fluid to be pushed out the intake.

I got a good ideal whats going on there but will wait and hear back from you.

I've got a vid on my computer at home that might help explain whats happen from sitting. I'm traveling now but will be home tonight if your interested in the vid.

M671054

if the injectors are stuck the would be stuck to the upper steel retainer that locks the copper downnot the copper, these can be reset in the heads and tapped in with a dead blow hammer if they come out, just trying to save the cost on oe tools.

M671054

dumb question, why is it assumed to be coolant locking up the engine? is the coolant low?, have you pressure tested the cooling system and are dropping pressure?, is the oil overfull or is there coolant in it?

elbowgrease

I'm not assuming it's coolant anymore. I'm hoping it's a leaky injector. I won't get to it during the next few days. I uploaded the pics of the engine label and the injection pump.

http://s819.photobucket.com/albums/z...grease_bucket/

Coolant not low. No pressure test. Oil looked good last I looked, sometime ago.

M671054

i dont think with a pump line nozzle type injection system one could have enough fuel leak into a cylinder to cause an issue, the combustion bowls in the pistons can hold a good amount of fuel, sounds like you might have something else going on

elbowgrease

Hoping to get to the Volvo before the weekend is out. Here's a side question for y'all. I've been browsing around for an alternate semi tractor, and I've been searching for a 3406b engine, preferably, although the electronic 3406e is also around in the '95/'96 years I'm looking at.

Question: What are your opinions on a 3406b or 3406e vs. a '95 Detroit 60 series? I want at least a rated 425HP. I know I won't get that with an older engine, but I want to at least have the timing set up for it.

I know a little bit about the Cat, but next to nothing about the 60 series...but I do have a Detroit engine in my 1969 dump truck, and that thing keeps chugging along, even with the oil pressure dropping to 20psi when it's warm.

1-5-3-6-2-4

Everything has its particular quirks and such, I'm a fan of the Series 60. a 3406E is a proven good engine too though. that engine in your dump is likely a 2 stroke Detroit. totally different animal than a OHC 4 stroke 60.

elbowgrease

2 stroke diesel? I'm just reading about it Wow. I had no idea. My Detroit engine has an oil fill, dipstick, etc. Could that still be a 2 stroke?

1-5-3-6-2-4

those are thing all engines have. if it has a blower on it . it a 2 stroke. if its a V engine it'll be in the valley, if its an inline engine. it will be hanging in the side of the block opposite the exhaust manifold. i could say what series engine though.

elbowgrease

Putting aside the Volvo engine for a few days. Looking at buying a Detroit DD94 SER 60 12.7L,4 (DD06R0277095) tomorrow morning. Anyone know the spec'd HP on this by looking at the numbers? I'll look for a placard tomorrow. Thanks.

1-5-3-6-2-4

holy carp thats an OLD girl/
with that serial number I can likely tell you about it tommorrow after work.

if you want to verify the model and serial #. they are stamped in a pad on the driverside of the block on about a 4x5" square machined pad. above the ECM.

you might need steel wool and some wd40 and brakeclean to scuff any rust off it so you can read it.

elbowgrease

I saw the placard, and the numbers looked fine. I forgot to take a pic of it...was too busy checking everything out. The highest tested hp was 470 at 2100 rpm, 380 at a lower rpm, as I recall. It's not a young engine, and I don't know anything about its rebuild history (tractor was an impound)...so its real power output is certainly less than spec. It's a 95 engine in a 96 volvo. I can swap the nice tires from the the locked up 92 volvo onto the 96...and other parts too, as needed. This one has a differential for the 3rd axle too, which has already come in handy. The 92 volvo doesn't drive the 3rd axle. The gauges or senders or sending wires need some playing with, as I'm getting some wacked out readings. I want to calibrate oil pressure and coolant temp. first thing, because I hate to see the readings I see, even if I know they're wrong. I'm pretty optimistic about the engine and the whole drive train too.